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Materials for the Arts (MFTA) program and its resources for schools
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Audrey St. Clair describes the Materials for the Arts (MFTA) program, a unique resource providing free supplies and training for arts education in New York City schools.
- All 1,600 DOE schools are eligible to access MFTA's programs and warehouse
- Nearly 700 schools received free supplies from MFTA last year
- MFTA offers field trips, teacher training courses, and in-school residencies
- New initiatives include After Hours Teacher Shopping and off-site events to bring the warehouse directly to schools
Audrey St. Clair
0:44:33
DCLA's Materials for the Arts program is another amazing one of a kind source of support for arts education and our city's schools.
0:44:42
All 1,600 DOE schools are eligible to access MFTA's programs and warehouse, which offers a huge range of free supplies that art teachers can receive completely free of charge.
0:44:55
Last year alone, nearly 700 schools received free supplies from MFTA, and the team in the MFTA Education Center works closely with DOE to make sure that teachers are aware of this remarkable resource, and to train educators how to bring creative reuse into the classroom.
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For example, MFTA's field trip program brought over 6,000 students from schools serving low income students to the warehouse for arts enrichment and education activities.
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This year for the first time, thanks to support from a number of donors, these field trips were offered to hundreds of schools free of charge.
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MFTA's teacher training courses offer week long intensives of thirty six hours each for over 250 public school teachers with 90 scholarships targeting educators from schools and low income communities.
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MFTA's in school residencies embed teaching artists in 20 schools across NYC reaching over 8,000 more students and their teachers each year.
0:46:02
In 02/2023, MFTA launched a new program called After Hours Teacher Shopping.
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One day a month, the MFTA warehouse is kept open late specifically to accommodate the schedules of teachers.
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Along with off-site events co hosted by MFTA and the DOE Arts Office to bring the warehouse directly to schools, MFTA has made a concerted effort to engage teachers and students in every corner of the city, and the high level of engagement from DOE teachers proves that it is paying off.
0:46:36
Suffice it to say, MFTA is a major way that DCLA and DOE collaborate to bring innovative, sustainable, and affordable arts programming to city schools.