Cultural Affairs Department puts in money for field trips

Iowa’s Department of Cultural Affairs is coming to the rescue of the endangered field trip. Director Anita Walker explains.says in December, her department called some 40 cultural organizations around the state to see if they’d felt any effect from the economic slowdown and September 11, and found they were seeing school visits being canceled. Walker says field trips are more than a day out of school, they’re a unique opportunity for many kids around the state.Walker says the “Big yellow school bus campaign” grew out of her agency’s concern over the vanishing field trips. The department found 15-thousand dollars to offer 200-dollar grants to pay for local schools to hold field trips to local arts venues. Walker says it’s a one-time offer, and it’s first-come, first-serve for schools interested in getting a grant. Money for the “Big Yellow School bus” program came from the National Endowment for the Arts. For information, surf to www.culturalaffairs.org