Foundation funds arts and learning

Utah arts and community groups recently received more that $80,000 from the PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning to help broaden and preserve worthwhile cultural programs.

• Ballet West — Support for Inspiring Children About Not Dropping Out (I CAN DO), which encourages students to stay in school and teaches the art of dance through hands-on movement training. Funding will help provide weekly dance classes to fifth-grade students in eight at-risk elementary schools in Salt Lake and Davis counties.

• Salt Lake Art Center — Funding for KidsmART, which provides art education for elementary-school students in low-income neighborhoods; and ArtWORKS, which provides art-education classes taught by professional artist-instructors for high school students from Central High School, Granite School District's alternative school.

• The Children's Museum of Utah — Support for Reaction Time, a hands-on chemistry experience teaching the scientific method to fifth-grade students, offered through the Utah Outreach Program in Schools (POPS).

• The Leonardo at Library Square — Funding for "The Leonardo Online," a new, Web-based science outreach program to increase science-based learning for students and teacher education.

• Utah Symphony and Opera — Support for education outreach programs, including a five-day residency program, bringing performances and workshops to schools and rural communities that may not otherwise have access to music education.

• Hale Centre Theatre (West Valley City) — Support for eight daytime performances of "To Kill a Mockingbird" for students in Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Summit and Utah counties.

• ARTS-KIDS, Inc. (Park City) — Support for an after-school art program to encourage positive expression through artwork, for a diverse group of students, including at-risk youths.

• Orchestra of Southern Utah (Cedar City) — Funding will assist in providing reduced family ticket prices for the Orchestra's "Children's Carnival," to help expose children to classical music.

• Utah Shakespearean Festival (Cedar City) — Support for the annual Shakespeare in the School tour, which provides a 75-minute adaptation of a Shakespearean play to approximately 60,000 students in rural, urban and at-risk schools throughout the Intermountain Region and southwest area of the state. The program also includes "Talk Back" sessions with the actors and a series of student workshops.

• American West Heritage Center (Wellsville) — Funding for a preparatory and follow-up CD-ROM to support second- through seventh-grade learning in history, math, science and literature — for use prior to and after a site visit to the Heritage Center.