Cultural Experience Project

Cultural Experience Project Celebrates Its 18th Anniversary

The Cultural Experience Project was launched during the 2005-2006 school year to afford every Atlanta Public School (APS) student from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade the opportunity to experience the city’s premier art and cultural venues. The City of Atlanta’s vision is for every student in APS to have minimally one onsite cultural experience at a cultural venue each year that directly ties to Common Core Georgia Performance Standards and curriculum goals. Teacher and student educational materials further the students understanding of arts and culture and compliment the age and grade level-appropriate experiences.

The idea is, “one grade, one venue, guaranteed”. Art or cultural venues agreed to provide a cultural experience for each APS grade level. The City of Atlanta envisions the opportunity for every student to experience the wealth of Atlanta’s cultural venues at no cost to the student.

The purpose and learning outcomes of the initiative are:

• Further students understanding of art and culture
• Increase students exposure and knowledge of art and cultural institutions
• Enrich student’s education beyond the walls of the classroom and reinforce Georgia Performance Standards for core curriculum subjects (language arts, math, science, and social studies), visual arts, literary arts, and music.
  
  

During the 2020-2021 school year, the CEP program experienced a one-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic. In 2022, the program returned with a limited schedule. But in its 18th year, CEP made a triumphant return with a full schedule of experiences for the 2022-2023 school year. During the 2022-2023 school year, we provided 510 CEP trips for 40,843 students across the metro Atlanta area and raised $387,206.50 in funding. The Metro-Area’s cultural venues have supported our efforts every step of the way—providing experiences rich with opportunities to learn and to have fun.