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March 1, 2004
The Fulton Ross Fund for Visual Artists, Incorporated, Sarasota, Florida has begun an outreach and education project whose aim is to foster positive social change through study of the arts for at-risk and underserved children as well as young adults.
The project is funded by a $15,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan.
"Art is an essential part of every person’s education because it contributes to critical thinking, problem solving, analyzing, personal expression and knowledge of history and culture," said Fayanne Hayes, artist/educator and collaborator on this project with Gale Fulton Ross, founder of The Fulton Ross Fund. "This project will create a diverse learning situation meant to encourage our young people to find personal meaning in works of art."
Efforts will focus on providing troubled youth with unique art experiences while learning about new modes of expression, and different cultures. They will be given the opportunity by artists hired by The Fund to express themselves through a variety of media and arts disciplines. This will be accomplished by helping them find something in their own lives and cultures to express--to make the ordinary--extraordinary.
A community partnership will be formed with schools, libraries and afterschool programs; regional artists will lead discussions and workshops in various classrooms in Sarasota and Manatee counties designed to engender appreciation of art and to emphasize the importance of creativity and imagination. Professional artist will work with various art teachers in local schools on projects that showcase the talent of our designated children and young adults in collaboration with Master artists.
"Our Outreach and Education Program at The Fulton Ross Fund for Visual Artists is meant to enhance the appreciation of art and artists and to build support for creativity from young people and individuals who are often overlooked in our community. In this effort we aim to serve the entire Sarasota community with emphasis on at-risk, under-served and developmentally challenged youth," said, founder Gale Fulton Ross.
The Fulton Ross Fund for Visual Artists Inc. is a nonprofit arts organization under Federal Tax Code 501© (3) formed in 2002 to give a Merit and Purpose grant to professional career-committed artists and to educate citizens about how art, artists, creativity and imagination can enhance the quality of life and understanding of the individual, society, and culture through appreciation of the arts.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in l930 "to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations." Its programming activities center around the common vision of a world in which each person has a sense of worth, accepts responsibility for self, family, community, and societal well-being; and has the capacity to be productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive institutions, and healthy communities.
To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: Health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to the cross-cutting themes of leadership; information and communication technology, capitalizing on diversity, and social and economic community development. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. |
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