Arts & Creativity
The Decatur Education Foundation’s (DEF’S) arts and music grants fuel creativity and inspire artistic expression for the next generation of artistic visionaries.
Zara’s Fund
Zara’s Fund is the arts-infusion fund of the Decatur Education created to honor the creative spirit of Zara Yee Hawthorne. Zara was a City of Decatur kindergartener who passed away in 2013 at the age of 6.
This fund supports arts experiences for Decatur students in 2 ways:
through need-based grants that support art experiences for school-aged children, and
through grants made to schools for arts infusion projects.
With the support of Zara’s Fund, DEF is able to spearhead arts-infused education programs throughout City Schools of Decatur. We collaborate with teachers and visiting artists to engage students across the curriculum. Our holistic approach accommodates diverse learning styles, nurtures innovative thinking, establishes meaningful connections between subjects, and sharpens essential problem-solving skills.
Since 2023 DEF has been proud to partner with Paint Love for fiber arts residency programs at Talley and FAVE Upper Elementary Schools.
Your donation to Zara’s Fund serves as an investment in arts education, as an acknowledgment of the profound significance of creativity and the arts, and as a tribute to Zara.
Music Education Grants
Established by Decatur parents and Louisiana-natives Emily and David Berg, the Mead Road Mardi Gras has donated over $35,000 to DEF to fund music and arts grants in the City Schools of Decatur. Over the years these grants have purchased musical equipment for almost every school in the district, including instruments and sheet music for the Beacon Hill Middle School band, West African drums for FAVE, ukuleles for Talley, and a portable amplifier for Decatur High School. More recently DEF’s music grants have supported the purchase of a bucket Taiko drum ensemble at Oakhurst Elementary and a diverse collection of music-centric literature for every elementary school in CSD.
