United Arts Council

Wheels on the Bus


A fund to bring Wake County students to area arts and cultural destinations!

The Wheels on the Bus Fund covers transportation and admission costs for one grade level per school annually at Wake County Title I public elementary schools for field trips to area arts and cultural destinations.

Schools must choose their field trip destination from a list of available options. Field trips must take place during the school day.  Schools may submit only one application per school year.

Updates for the 2024-25 School Year

For next school year, we are offering the following three options:

  • 2nd graders may see Carolina Ballet’s Nutcracker on Friday, December 13, 2024
  • 3rd graders may visit the North Carolina Museum of Art between October 2024 and April 2025
  • 5th graders may see Raleigh Little Theatre’s School House Rock on Wednesday, May 7, 2025

The fund will cover transportation and admission costs for one grade-level field trip.

An online application will be available in August. As a limited numbers of seats will be available for each field trip, and we’re only able to award a single trip per school, schools will have the option of ranking their preferences in the application.

Funds will be awarded on a rolling basis, first come first served, until November 1, 2024 for the 2024-25 school year.

Why is there no 4th grade option? All WCPSS 4th graders already attend a performance of the North Carolina Symphony, so this funding opportunity makes an arts field trip available to other grade levels.

“Thank you so much for providing our third grade with the Wheels on the Bus award. We value all that the United Arts Council does for WCPSS and for our school. Thank you for providing our students with a valuable learning experience!”

-Kelly F. Wilson,  Assistant Principal, Combs Elementary

Wake County Public School System Logo Wake County/NC Museum of Art



Jul 29

WTF Town Hall

7:30 pm–9:00 pm

A series of weekly Town Hall forums curated by The National Women's Theatre Festival about, for, and with theatremakers.

Wake County Arts & Cultural
Events Calendar

Artists in Schools
Directory

The Arts Mean
Business

Cultural Equity
Statement

Instagram

Find us on Instagram
unitedartswake