Schools get $800,000 boost for arts

But come this fall, 120 lucky pupils at the Mattapan school will pick up a flute, clarinet, violin, or trumpet for the first time, thanks to $800,000 in grants for arts programs for Boston public schools that will be announced today.

The money will allow 40 schools to introduce or expand arts programs, ranging from cultural dance instruction to set-design training, for more than 5,000 students in kindergarten through Grade 12 next academic year, according to the Arts Expansion Initiative, which raises private donations for the schools.

Created by the school district last year, the initiative aims to provide a minimum of weekly, yearlong art instruction to students up to Grade 8 by 2012.

More than 11,000 students in kindergarten through Grade 8 across the district — about 12 percent — have yet to take an art class.

“These kind of opportunities are inherent rights for kids,’’ Ababio-Fernandez said yesterday. “It’s really important for me to create opportunities for the same kind of access to programs that their suburban counterparts would have.’’

Like Mattahunt, many Boston schools have been unable to build or sustain arts programs amid funding pressures, opting instead to direct their limited resources toward improving academic performance.

Recognizing that arts programs are often the first to go, the initiative aims to expand access to arts education at schools with limited or no access.

“There are schools with no access to the arts, and there are schools where 100 percent of students get two different art disciplines,’’ said Laura Perille, executive director of EdVestors, a Boston-based nonprofit that manages the initiative’s funds. “We need to take a systemic approach to even that out.’’

Last year the initiative supplied $500,000 in grants, and Perille said she hopes to raise at least $900,000 next year.

When Ababio-Fernandez became Mattahunt’s principal last year, the school had no art or music teachers and only one physical education teacher for its 600 pupils.

“I’ve been thinking about physical and mental health and wellness, about creating a well-rounded educational experience,’’ she said.

Ababio-Fernandez, who played the clarinet in school, stressed the importance of providing diverse learning experiences for young students.

“I was awful,’’ she confessed, “but I appreciate the opportunity to get to know that I’m awful at it.’’

For next year, Ababio-Fernandez has hired another physical education teacher, and Mattahunt will join five other schools in offering Making Music Matters, a program started last year that will receive $130,000 to bring in instructors from the New England Conservatory of Music. Making Music Matters will be one of 31 unique arts programs supported by the Arts Expansion Initiative next year.

Schools will partner with professional arts groups across the city, including BalletRox, the Huntington Theatre Company, and Opera Boston. Many programs awarded grants are tailored to the demographics.

The Hyde Square Task Force, for example, will be coming to four Boston schools — the John F. Kennedy and Agassiz elementary schools in Jamaica Plain, Guild Elementary School in East Boston, and Fenway High School — to teach Afro-Latin and contemporary dance to a largely Latino student body.

“It’s a big thing for the school to be able to offer our children that piece of who they are in terms of where they come from,’’ Agassiz’s principal, Maria Cordón, said. “It’s very important for children to be able to express themselves in many ways besides paper and pencil, through talking, dancing, singing — all those beautiful ways.’’

At Mattahunt, more than half of the pupils grades 3 through 5 will not be able to participate in Making Music Matters because the grant will stretch only so far. “We’re going to leave no stone unturned to secure more resources,’’ Ababio-Fernandez said. “But when things are kind of tight, it’s hard.’’

June Q. Wu can be reached at jwu@globe.com.