The VAPA Enhancement Program, which enables teachers in the San Dego Unified School District in grades TK–12 to provide arts enrichment beyond the school budget, is now open for applications for the 2021–22 school year.
Applications will be accepted through October 8, 2021. Recipients will be announced on Oct. 30.
Interview opportunities: Several SDUSD teachers who were selected to receive funds in the last round of VEP grants are available for interviews.
VAPA foundation is proud to be supporting SDUSD teachers, today we showcase:
Don Masse, Visual Arts Teacher at Zamorano Fine Arts Academy:
“I applied for a larger VEP grant because I wanted my students to have a firsthand learning experience with San Diego artists whose work they had studied in our elementary visual arts curriculum at Zamorano. I wanted students to see artists that look like themselves so that they feel valued and supported. These artists are role models. I wanted students to see the processes and elements we work on in class being applied by living creatives on site, so they can see the relevance of the content- sketching, revising, reflecting, refining, using value to create 3D form.
The funds were used to have two San Diego-based artists, Gloria Muriel and Max Moses, create murals on our campus during the school day, so that students could see the creative process in action and the positive power of public art. The artists also worked with small groups of students who had learned about their work in class prior to mural creation.
I have also received a VEP grant that allowed me to bring 21st century technology into my art curriculum.”