Fort Worth, TX, May 9, 2011—The Amon Carter Museum of American Art announces that it has received a $75,000 Picturing America School Collaboration Project Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Only nine such grants were awarded nationwide, and the Amon Carter is one of three museums to receive this prestigious award. It is the second consecutive year the museum has been awarded the grant, which will fund a professional development conference for Texas teachers this summer, classroom resources, student field trips, interactive videoconferences and online curriculum.

“We are grateful and honored to receive the grant so that we may build upon the success of last year’s conference,” says Sara Klein, teacher and school programs manager. “We received great, positive feedback from teachers whose students benefited from the program, and we look forward to helping train many more educators about American art and how it can be used in the classroom.”

The Amon Carter will host the 2011 Picturing Americans teaching institute on July 27 and 28 for Texas K–12 public, private and homeschool educators who own a Picturing America poster set from the NEH. The conference will use images from Picturing America and the museum’s collection. Teachers will receive Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits for attending the institute, a $250 stipend from the NEH, plus free classroom resources like digital images of artworks, posters and classroom activities tied to state and national teaching standards. Conference participants will also receive funding for a free interactive student videoconference from the museum or reimbursement of transportation expenses for an onsite school tour related to the conference theme at the museum.

After attending the 2010 conference, Michelle Aguilar, a teacher from St. Mary of Carmel Catholic School in Dallas, brought her first- and second-grade students to the museum for a school tour; the grant reimbursed the transportation expenses. “My students absolutely loved the Amon Carter,” she says. “I still get comments when they make connections to something that reminds them of the Amon Carter and what they saw on their field trip. I know the experience wouldn't have been the same without the information I learned last year at the institute.”

The museum has also recently launched an online teaching resource in conjunction with the 2010 NEH grant that gives teachers even more resources to incorporate American art into their classrooms. Background information on artists and artworks in the Amon Carter’s collection, as well as discussion questions, can be found at cartermuseum.org.