CCRC Research Associate Andrea Lopez Wins AERA Education Research Service Projects Award

CCRC Research Associate Andrea Lopez won a grant from the American Education Research Association (AERA) to study how nonprofit arts organizations have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lopez’s project, Beyond Music: Exploring the Experiences of Latino Students and Parents in a Nonprofit Arts Organization During COVID-19, will center on INTEMPO, a Connecticut-based arts nonprofit. Typically, INTEMPO focuses on infusing music into children’s lives, but the pandemic forced the organization to shift its resources and priorities. For the last few months, INTEMPO has distributed essential materials, food, and books to help meet the needs of its predominantly Latino families. Lopez’s project will not only describe the INTEMPO community’s experiences during this period of upheaval, but will also discuss the role of music education in students’ lives amid a pandemic.

The project is part of an initiative from AERA’s Education Research Service Projects that focuses on how COVID-19 and systemic racism are affecting education. Lopez is one of 13 grantees, selected from a pool of more than 120 proposals.