Bow Seat Receives Multiple Grants to Expand Its Educational Programming in the Commonwealth

December 10, 2019

This fall, Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs (Bow Seat) received two grants to help increase the reach and impact of its award-winning creative environmental education programming in its home state of Massachusetts.

Bow Seat received a $10,000 grant from The Island Foundation to support its 2020 Ocean Awareness Contest, a global arts program that empowers teens to raise awareness of issues impacting ocean health. Since 2012, more than 12,000 students from 106 countries and all 50 U.S. states have participated in the program. The 2020 Contest, “Climate Hope: Transforming Crisis,” is now open and invites middle and high school students to create visual art, writing, film, music, or multimedia that shares their visions and solutions for tackling the climate emergency.

The Island Foundation’s support will help Bow Seat meet new objectives: increasing the number of Commonwealth teens who have the knowledge and skills to be creators of positive change, as well as increasing the number of Massachusetts educators who integrate the Ocean Awareness Contest into their curriculum, encouraging interdisciplinary climate change education in schools. Thanks to the generosity of the Island Foundation, these new awards will be offered in 2020:

• The $250 Bay State Award, to honor students who call attention to how the climate crisis impacts Massachusetts communities;
• The $250 South Coast, Cape & Islands Award, to recognize participants from these coastal regions whose works illustrate climate action and hope in their communities; and
• The Bay State Educator Award—a $750 cash prize and $500 classroom grant—to celebrate an educator who creatively and effectively teaches the Ocean Awareness Contest.

Bow Seat has also received a $2,500 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), a state agency, to help expand its art exhibition program to new regions in the state. These exhibitions multiply the reach of student work by showcasing their pieces to broader audiences, thus inspiring greater community awareness, dialogue, and action around ocean conservation. With the MCC’s support, Bow Seat aims to expand its exhibition program to regions such as Central Massachusetts to highlight how inland communities are connected to the coast, and new neighborhoods in the Greater Boston area that are particularly vulnerable to environmental challenges such as pollution, coastal development, and climate change.

“We are so thankful for the generous support of the Island Foundation and Massachusetts Cultural Council; it is a wonderful recognition of the achievements of our innovative programming and the power of art-making to educate, inspire, and activate youth,” said Linda Cabot, founder and president of Bow Seat. “We are at an exciting time of growth and opportunity, and these grants will enable us to offer more student and educator scholarships, forge new community partnerships, and provide additional educational resources—all with the goal of empowering young changemakers in Massachusetts to drive stewardship for the ocean through their art, stories, and voices.”