Arts Partnership Project - African American Forum, Inc.

The arts enhance our lives, stimulate our creativity, and allow us to express our emotions, thoughts, and aspirations through countless forms of artistic expression.

From music and dance to painting and sculpting, the arts allow us to explore new worlds and to view life from another perspective.

Our creative efforts through the Arts Partnership Project communicate our commitment to ideas that shape the lives of our community’s future!

The Arts Partnership Project was established to invest in one of the greatest assets in our community – the artistic, cultural and educational endeavors of our children. This program, funded via the African American Forum, provides support to our community’s inner city and rural elementary schools’ arts programs.

Since 1996, thousands of dollars in cash and in-kind resources have been donated to four elementary schools, within the Lexington-Fayette Urban region, to enhance and support their arts programs. Through the generosity and support of our donors, children at M.I.A.M.I at Russell, Booker T. Washington Montessori Magnet, Northern and Russell Cave Model Magnet elementary schools receive the benefit of arts programming. A majority of students who attend these schools receive 90% free or reduced lunch.

AAF Commits $100,000 to Elementary Schools in Lexington-Area Over The Next Six Years!

On February 28, the African American Forum, Inc. announced its commitment to arts programming at high poverty Title I public elementary schools in Fayette County. At a news conference held at the School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA) at Bluegrass, the organization presented eight schools with checks totaling $18,000, and committed to a total donation of $100,000 over the next six years. Kentucky Education Cabinet Secretary Helen Mountjoy and Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman were present to offer comments about the AAF’s Arts Partnership Project.

The elementary schools chosen to receive funding, based on their Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) scores and percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch, were: Booker T. Washington, Cardinal Valley, Harrison, Johnson, Linlee, Northern and Russell Cave. SCAPA at Bluegrass was also recognized and rewarded for their accomplishments in academic and artistic excellence.

In order to receive full funding, schools must inform the AAF how they plan to use the funds; the number of students that will benefit; the anticipated results from the initiative for which the funds were allocated; and written follow-up on outcomes from the chosen initiative. As part of the outcomes measurement, schools are encouraged to have the students submit a brief essay on what the chosen initiative meant to them.

Why Is Arts Programming Important?

In addition to promoting self-expression and building self-confidence, many sources cite that exposure to the arts has a positive impact on students’ learning experience:

“Learning experiences in the arts contribute to the development of academic skills, including the areas of reading and language development and mathematics. Arts learning experiences contribute to the development of certain thinking, social and motivational skills that are considered basic for success in school, life and work.”

– Critical Evidence: How the Arts Benefit Student Achievement (2005), a booklet published by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies in collaboration with the Arts Education Partnership.

“Improved student behavior and attendance rates were attributed to schools’ arts programs. Teachers and district officials credited their schools’ arts programs for the improved scores of students on standardized tests, including improvement in reading and mathematics.”

– Outcomes from Third Space: When Learning Matters (2005), a book published by the Arts Education Partnership, based on a three-year research study on the impact of an arts-centered curriculum on school improvement.

One study, “Champions of Change – The Impact of the Arts on Learning,” performed by the Arts Education Partnership in cooperation with the President’s Committee, concluded that, “involvement with the arts provide unparalleled opportunities for learning, enabling young people to reach for and attain higher levels of achievement” and “that the learning in and through the arts can help ‘level the playing field’ for youngsters from disadvantaged circumstances.”

Our goal is to increase the level of support provided to our community’s schools via the Arts Partnership Project. This goal will be realized through the generous support of both corporate and individual financial contributions.

As our funding grows and we’re able to provide more support to schools’ arts programs, a special advisory committee will be set up to formalize the process of addressing the needs of the schools supported by the African American Forum Fund and the Arts Partnership Project. This will include documenting outcomes achieved over a period of time. In addition, we’ll work in support of goals of the Kentucky Department of Education to better assist the schools targeted in “Reading to Achieve”, and making higher scores on their Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (C.A.T.S) exams.