Community Arts Partner Funds

Our goal is to create a community network that supports and sustains the arts-rich life of every child. Austin artists and community arts organizations are vital in helping Austin ISD continue to be an arts-rich school district. Community Arts Parter (CAP) funds are designed to provide students with access to in-school or out-of-school arts-based experiences.

Looking for an arts partner to bring to your classroom or campus?

• For a user-friendly database of Austin-area community arts partners by genre, offerings, and grade level, visit the MINDPOP Matchmaker tool at mindpopmatchmaker.org.
• We also encourage campuses to look through the Fine Arts & Creative Learning Partnerships Approved Vendor List (via the SSA app in the AISD Portal) for on-campus services.
• And check out the Texas Commission on the Arts’ Texas Touring Roster. Grant funds are available to defray up to 50% of the total cost of partnerships with Touring Roster artists & organizations, and AISD’s new ERP makes it easy to find the required end-of-year financial reporting TCA will need.

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Community Arts Partner (CAP) funds are located in CLI campus budgets (L J funds).

These funds are:

• Designed to provide students with access to on- or off-campus, arts-based experiences with Austin-area artists, cultural instutions, and arts organizations
• Meant to increase students’ access to arts experiences not already provided by the campus
• Support the goal of each student experiencing at least two arts experiences in the academic year
• Directly allocated to campus budgets
• Able to be used on AISD bus transportation to an arts venue (e.g., theatre or art museum)

These funds are not:

• Designed to offset the existing budget for purposes besides community arts partnerships
• Meant to support arts students receiving more of an arts experience that they’re already experiencing
• To be used to purchase materials (with few exceptions that must be approved by the CLI Department)
• Able to carry over from one school year to the next

Please contact your campus bookkeeper for more details.

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How to Access Community Arts Partnership Funding

Here is a flow chart of AISD bookkeepers’ process for booking arts partnerships. Please ensure many weeks lead time for everything to get into place!

There are four major steps to accessing your campus’s Community Arts Partner Funding:

1. Plan your experiences for the semester (both CLI-funded and campus-funded).
2. Several weeks in advance of any proposed events or start dates, submit your Chart of Expenditures to CLI Department and wait for approval before proceeding with CLI-funded experiences.
3. Enter Budget Change Requests.
4. Enter RQs, make p-card purchases, and submit transportation requests (as needed).
5. Submit invoices.

Detailed directions for each step are available in role-specific resources. CLI campus bookkeepers: We have enrolled you in a CLI Bookkeeper Training BLEND course. Navigate to BLEND in the AISD Portal and check your list of BLEND courses to find it; contact Christy Davis (christy.davis@austinisd.org) to be added.

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Note: The Creative Learning Initiative office does not directly pay for individual campus experiences. All paperwork and payments must go through the campus bookkeeper. It is the responsibility of the campus to make timely and appropriate arrangements for student transportation. Late requests (within 10 days) may not be approved for the use of CLI funds. Any expenditure that was not approved by the CLI Department will be changed to charge a campus account number.

If you have questions or need support with brainstorming or developing community arts partnerships, please reach out to Lydia Nelson. Bookkeepers, account technicians, and partners who have questions about the logistics of using funding and vendor contracts/purchasing should reach out to Christy Davis.