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 Big
Yellow School Bus, a partnership between the Bank of America Charitable
Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), provides
grants to help schools meet the transportation costs of educational
field trips to cultural institutions and events.
Big Yellow School Bus meets a growing need to help schools fund
student field trips to art and science museums, historic sites,
and music, dance, and theater performances, which are often eliminated
due to the pressures of dwindling budgets.
Exposure to creative learning at cultural institutions is critical
to a child's academic development. These visits help foster creativity
and innovation, which Governor Deval Patrick's 21st Century Skills
Task Force identifies as among the most important skills for students
to develop today. Big Yellow School Bus is designed to foster partnerships
between schools and cultural institutions, so students across the
state can explore their creativity and experience all that Massachusetts’
cultural life has to offer.
Funded by Bank of America and the MCC, the program invites any
K-12 school in Massachusetts to apply for a $200 grant to be used
during the 2009-2010 school year. Grants provided by the Bank of
America Charitable Foundation will support schools with more than
50 percent low-income students.
In the first year of the program (2008-09), more than 57,000 Massachusetts
students attended field trips funded in part by Big Yellow School
Bus. The students visited 175 nonprofit cultural organizations across
the Commonwealth, from large Boston destinations such as the Museum
of Science and New England Aquarium, to regional venues such as 
Nuestras Raíces in Holyoke, Harwich Junior Theatre, and Lowell's
Tsongas Industrial History Center.
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Massachusetts Cultural Council 2010 |
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