Brainerd Public Schools has been chosen as an award recipient for Minnesota’s 2025-27 Comprehensive Arts Planning Program.

206 different school districts have participated in CAPP since its inception in 1983. The program is designed to create a district-wide, three-year strategic arts plan.

“With the 2018 Arts Standards from the state of Minnesota, one of the requirements is that for our K-8 students, we offer three art opportunities in the areas of either dance, theater, music, media arts, or visual arts,” explained Christina Lundgren, Brainerd Public Schools Director of Teaching & Learning. “We were currently only offering visual arts sporadically for K-8 students.”

Some arts education improvements the Brainerd School District can expect include the development of leaders in arts education, policies adopted to support arts education, professional development opportunities for district arts staff, and more.

“Our hope is that with the addition of those classes, we are able to develop a K-12 scope and sequence that has a progression of learning for students in those different art areas,” said Lundgren.

Granted through the Perpich Center for Arts Education, the Minnesota Comprehensive Arts Planning Program is expected to have a substantial impact on the Brainerd Public Schools’ arts programming and plan programming, while also strengthening community partnerships.

“For students that maybe have a struggle finding their voice in a traditional classroom, art expression is a way that they can really develop those skills,” Lundgren said. “It’s about responding to art, it’s about reflection, and then being able to present your art to the communities.”

Selected as one of eight districts for the 2025-27 program, Brainerd Public Schools is looking forward to seeing the profound impact the opportunity will have on its art-centric courses, extra-curricular activities, and more.

“It’ll help us give kids an opportunity, and our community, also,” said Brainerd Public Schools Superintendent Peter Grant. “Our community is very arts-directed.”

“Music education in particular has been very well-developed and is very prominent in our community,” Lundgren added. “We’re excited to have opportunities to develop students and capacity in those other art areas and to know that art is in many spaces.”

Little Falls Community Schools is also among the eight districts chosen for the program. This year’s CAPP kickoff event will take place on August 13th at the Perpich Center in Golden Valley.