Nineteen San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) teachers will receive awards to underwrite visual and performing arts – VAPA – related activities and purchases funded by the VAPA Foundation’s 2018-2019 VAPA Enhancement Program. The VAPA Enhancement Program, or VEP, enables any San Diego Unified teacher to apply for funds to enhance the quality of and access to arts education in the classroom or school. The VAPA Foundation funds arts enhancements not covered by a school’s budget.
This year, the VAPA Enhancement Program will fund field trips, artist residencies culminating in student performances, murals, ukuleles, new music and more. Each successful applicant linked the request to ongoing curriculum goals. Eight teachers will receive up to $2,500. Eleven teachers will receive up to $500. Recipients span elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the district (see list below), with over 1,350 students benefitting from this program. The reach extends onward to future years with new equipment and to the community via student performances, such as the theatre production presented by Michelle Yepiz’s students for over 800 classmates at Zamorano Fine Arts Academy. As intended, these awards create a ripple of arts awareness at each site.
Larry Baza, VAPA Foundation President, says, “The VAPA Foundation exists to provide support for teachers of music, dance, theater, and the visual arts throughout the San Diego Unified School District. The VAPA Enhancement Program reaches across grade levels providing needed funds for special projects, materials and transportation for field trips. Nineteen teachers were successful in securing VAPA Foundation funds to create exciting student experiences for learning art forms.”
The VAPA Enhancement program is supported, in part, by a partnership with UC San Diego and by donors from the community that recognize the value of arts education. For more information, please visit vapafoundation.org.
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2018 VAPA Enhancement Program Recipients |
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Teacher |
School |
For |
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$500 or less |
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Isabelle Farrell |
Wegeforth Elementary |
Field trip to Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad |
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Michelle Hesse |
Harley E. Knox Middle |
Transportation to a theatrical performance |
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Mary Jennings-Mull |
Fletcher Elementary |
24 Diamond Head ukuleles |
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Judy Johnson |
Johnson STEM |
24 SAGA Soprano ukuleles |
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Billie Jonason |
Fulton K – 8 |
Field trip to Classics 4Kids “Sing Me a Story,” a performance connecting music and language/storytelling |
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Monica Levacy |
Vista Grande Elementary |
Field trip to CYT’s Cinderella to see literature come to life. |
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Matthew Mulvaney |
Mira Mesa High |
Acquisition of new, innovative works to be performed at annual winter concert. |
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Kim Oliver |
Carson Elementary |
Field trip to Classics 4Kids “Music Takes Flight,” a performance focusing on things that fly, including literary/film characters. |
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Mimi Quach |
Audubon K-8 |
Workshop/assembly with Classics 4Kids to learn the science of sound and how instruments make music. |
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Katelyn Staszkow |
Sequoia Elementary |
Battery-powered speaker and microphone for dance program. |
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Michelle Yepiz |
Zamorano Fine Arts Academy |
Script, accompaniment CD, teachers guide for “Harmony High”, a 5th grade musical theatre production. |
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$2,500 or less |
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Caitlin Black |
East Village High |
Photographic artist residency by Outside the Lens. |
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Jessica Curiel |
San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts |
Artist residency by Malashock Dance, San Diego Dance Theatre, and San Diego Ballet to work with students on technique and two set pieces. |
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Nathalie Faustino-Kuglen |
Madison High |
Reincorporate dance at school via a dance team in collaboration with San Diego Dance Theater. |
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Matthew Lyons |
Oak Park Elementary |
Equipment including Macbook Pro, microphone, microphone cables, studio monitors, headphones, audio interface, beat production system, and midi controller to create a digital music production class in partnership with the David’s Harp Foundation. |
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Donald J. Masse |
Zamorano Fine Arts Academy |
Artists Gloria Muriel and Maxx Moses will create two murals on campus with student participation. |
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Madelyn Murphy-Cristal |
Dewey Elementary |
“Math in Motion” artist residency provided by Malashock Dance. |
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Philippe Poncey |
San Diego High |
Field trip to “Julius Caesar” at the Old Globe and work with an Old Globe teaching artist to rewrite the play using modern English and a contemporary setting. |
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Maj Xander |
Montgomery Middle STEAM Magnet |
Artist residency by PGK Dance Project in two performances for students and community. |
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Source, San Diego Unified School District; Original article posted here >>