Mobile, AL—The Mobile Arts Council (MAC) was a recipient of $15,000 through The Community Foundation of South Alabama’s Arts and Culture Grant that will go towards supporting arts education via Amp Up Arts.  This funding will significantly bolster MAC’s efforts to expand and enhance arts education and outreach throughout the Mobile County Public School System.

In 2023 MAC joined the first statewide collective impact initiative for arts education with Amp Up Arts (AUA). This is a collaborative effort with other organizations and agencies, including the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Its mission is to provide fully funded, high quality arts education that enlightens, inspires, and develops in every Alabama student the creative and innovative thinking necessary to ensure college and career readiness.

Amp Up Arts is an innovative initiative designed to provide comprehensive arts education and enrichment opportunities to underserved youth in our community as well as offer local artists paid teaching opportunities. So far this school year, Amp Up Arts has expanded to 11 schools in the Mobile County Public School System.

“We are so grateful to the Community Foundation for their support and belief in the importance of arts education in the development of every student in Alabama,” said Kat Kirk Stoves, Site Director for Mobile’s Education Collaborative. Angela Montgomery, MAC’s Executive Director added, “This grant will allow us to broaden our reach and deepen our impact, delivering high-quality arts programming to even more schools within the Mobile County Public School System. It marks an important step forward in our mission to make the arts accessible to everyone.”

“We remain steadfast in our support of nonprofits and programs dedicated to our local youth because we believe in the power of young minds to transform our community,” said Community Foundation of South Alabama President & CEO Rebecca Byrne. The Community Foundation of South Alabama strives to aid families, specifically kids, in its eight-county footprint. Annually, grant funding supports programs that address mental and behavioral health, family, education, work, racial equity and arts and culture.

ABOUT THE MOBILE ARTS COUNCIL

Mobile Arts Council is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1955. Their mission is to enrich the quality of life in the Mobile area through increasing accessibility to the arts and promoting a vibrant cultural community. Projects of Mobile Arts Council focus on serving three components: community, education, and membership. For more info: www.mobilearts.org.