The benefits of arts education have been proven time and time again by various studies and research spanning decades. From students improving their reading, writing and math skills, to preparing a 21st Century workforce, to curbing drop out rates among at-risk youth, the advantages of investing in arts education are numerous. Though arts education continues to prove its value, education budgets and resources continue to be cut across the country. In the meantime, STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), has gained great support from some of the largest corporations and foundations across the nation, as well as within the education field. Yet, STEM education overlooks one very important component, which would result in a more balanced curriculum – the arts. Taught in tandem with traditional STEM subjects, the arts build skills of creativity, improvisation and open-ended thinking that are critical to innovation. For this reason, The Ovation Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Ovation, along with our partners, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and Americans for the Arts, developed a grant award program to recognize model STEAM (STEM + Arts) programs in K-12 education. Not only do we share a commitment to the arts, we firmly believe the arts play a critical role in education and must be incorporated in every student’s education in order to provide our children with the best opportunities to compete for the jobs of the future. The innOVATION STEAM Grant Awards aim to provide the education field with national models. We believe the moment is now for the arts to be incorporated into STEM education.

The Ovation Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Ovation, in partnership with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) and Americans for the Arts (AFTA), and in consultation with the Congressional STEAM Caucus and the Rhode Island School of Design, developed the innOVATION STEAM Grant Awards Program. The program was created to raise awareness of the value of integrating the arts into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curricula and to highlight existing K-12 public schools across the country that have developed successful, measurable and replicable STEAM programs, which could serve as national models. The innOVATION STEAM Grant Awards Program represents the first funding program of its kind for STEAM education.