Program to transport students to arts events

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. State Council on the Arts is using a $20,000 federal grant to create a program to help pay for transporting students on arts and cultural field trips.
The “Big Yellow School” grant program will provide up to $400 per school to pay for school buses and substitute teachers so that students can attend events in Rhode Island. The program is based on similar ones in Massachusetts and Iowa.
“The arts have been designated by our state’s Board of Regents as a core subject area in Rhode Island schools, the same designation as math and science,” said Randall Rosenbaum, the State Arts Council’s executive director. “While math and science can best be learned in the classroom or laboratory, the arts are best experienced in museums and in the concert hall.” •