The Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts is now accepting applications for its 2022 summer program.
The tuition-free arts education intensive runs for three weeks each summer. It offers training in artistic disciplines including visual arts, film and photography, music, drama, musical theater, dance, creative writing and design. It takes place on the University of Kentucky campus in Lexington and is open to high school sophomores and juniors in Kentucky.
GSA was recently awarded$2,850,000 in funding from the state Department of Education.
According to a news release from earlier this month, the money comes via COVID-19 stimulus dollars, specifically the American Recovery Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Summer Enrichment funds (Office of Teaching and Learning).
The money will allow the program to double its class size to 500 students for the next three years, starting with the 2022 intensive.
“This is a transformational moment for GSA, but also for the entire state,” Nick Covault, the program’s executive director, said in the release. “This increased investment not only means more of Kentucky’s creative youth will be empowered, validated and affirmed as artists, it also means the Commonwealth will benefit even more from the powerful skillset of our next generation of creative leaders: artist-citizens who bring innovation, connection, joy and healing to various sectors of our communities.”
The news release said administrators are working to get additional money to keep the expansion going beyond those three years.
A public-private partnership between Kentucky Performing Arts (formerly the Kentucky Center), the state and private stakeholders, next summer marks GSA’s 35th anniversary.
The deadline to apply is Jan. 9.
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