Omaha Performing Arts recently received an Art Works award of $20,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The grant money will help OPA expand its Musical Explorers program. Kendra Whitlock Ingram, OPA’s vice president of Programming and Education, says Musical Explorers launched in 2015 and is geared toward elementary students, Kindergarten through 2nd grade.
Ingram says one of the cool things about the program is even though the curriculum was developed in conjunction with Carnegie Hall, the curriculum features musical artists from Omaha.
"We’ll actually be able to double the number of students that participate in the program so the grant helps us provide for more students to participate through additional teacher training and being able to produce more curriculum guides. So this is very exciting for us on several fronts.”
Ingram says Musical Explorers exposes students to different types of music within their own community.
She says receiving the grant was positive for Omaha Performing Arts because it helps them spread the word about the benefits of music education.
For more information on the Musical Explorers program, the website is omahaperformingarts.org.