JeKits – Instruments, Dancing, Singing for Every Child

JeKits – Instruments, Dancing, Singing for Every Child is a statewide, free cultural and educational program for public primary and special schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. In close cooperation between schools and extracurricular educational partners such as music or dance schools, children in grades 1 to 4 receive weekly mandatory and voluntary lessons focusing on instruments, dancing, or singing. The aim is to promote cultural participation regardless of individual and socio-economic conditions. The program emphasizes making music, dancing, and singing together as a class to strengthen aesthetic experience and artistic activity as social practice. The program accompanies children throughout their entire primary school years and provides pathways to early childhood education offerings and secondary schools. Through consistent integration into the open all-day school program, JeKits becomes a profile-defining part of everyday school life and sustainably enriches the municipal educational landscape.

Funding is provided as a grant over a period of up to 48 months. Eligible costs primarily include teaching expenses for the educational partner’s instructors as well as expenses for coordination and communication. A simple expression of interest by email is sufficient for admission; placement is via a waiting list, and applications can be submitted at any time. Eligible participants are public institutions, non-profit organizations, and companies with a public primary or special school in NRW and a concluded cooperation agreement. Selection is based on the capacity of the educational partners and a municipal decision regarding program inclusion. With approximately €16.3 million in state funds annually, the JeKits Foundation in Bochum supports quality assurance, evaluation, and training for all involved to ensure equitable cultural educational biographies in the long term.