The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Awards Grant to Grow A+ Schools Endowment

The North Carolina Arts Foundation is excited to announce that The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation has approved a grant of $25,000 to support A+ Schools of North Carolina, which has achieved remarkable success in utilizing the arts to encourage innovation in the teaching of all subject areas of the state’s Standard Course of Study. 

The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation’s grant is designated for an endowment that will help bring sustainability to A+ Schools. In October 2023, Windgate Foundation established the endowment with a gift of $1,000,000 and followed this investment with a challenge grant of $500,000 to the private sector to build the endowment. The grant from The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation is the first response from North Carolina to Windgate’s challenge and will be matched dollar for dollar.

The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation has a longstanding commitment to youth and to arts education. The foundation makes grants to help children, especially those in underserved communities, acquire the knowledge, skills, and behaviors they need to succeed in school, career pathways, and life.

Mimi O’Brien, executive director of The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, said, “This grant is an enthusiastic endorsement of A+ Schools of North Carolina, which has demonstrated the power of the arts to help students learn.”

“The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation has a stellar history of advocating for and supporting the arts,” said Wayne Martin, the executive director of the NC Arts Foundation, “and it is truly a great honor to receive this support from such an important arts leader in North Carolina.”

For more information about the public-private partnership to sustain A+ Schools, visit News + Stories.