MCOE’s Arts Now Performance Opportunity Project (Merced POP) Approved for Three-Years

The Merced County Office of Education's (MCOE) Performance Opportunity Project (Merced POP) was approved for a three-year expansion after its pilot year in 2024-25. The project, which will enhance music education in the city of Merced, worked with multiple arts organizations to collect data, combine arts curriculum and expand programming.

Funded by the Central Valley Opportunity Fund (CVOF), the three-year expansion will allow the initiative to provide professional development for educators and students, increase access to arts curriculum and offer students more opportunities to engage with music and performances in diverse settings. 

"The Merced Performance Opportunity Project is about affecting students, teachers and schools through arts exposure and experience,” said MCOE Arts Program Specialist Noelle Chandler. “Our goal is to gain sustainability for effective programs, while building additional ways for students and teachers to network and gain valuable arts development opportunities. We look forward to seeing results that the performing arts are known to produce: increased literacy skills and the building of social emotional management capacity."

The funding from CVOF will allow the Merced County Performing Arts Festival to host the first-ever Central Valley Play Festival through the California Thespian Society. The event is planned for 2026 and will bring together student performers to celebrate and showcase their theatrical work. 

The project will continue to collect data to assess the impact of the programming and refine the systems developed during the pilot phase over the course of the next three years.

Merced POP is part of Arts Now MCOE, an initiative aimed at enhancing the role of arts in education across Merced County. For more information, contact Chandler at nchandler@mcoe.org or visit www.mcoe.org/arts.