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John W. Walker, Jr.
Post-Secondary Scholarship
The John W. Walker, Jr. Post-Secondary Scholarship is a fund established to help
Foluké Cultural Arts Students to obtain an education beyond high school. It is limited to students who have participated in the Foluké programs at least one school year (9 months), and has successfully completed 12 grade coursework resulting in graduation. The funds are to be applied to tuition for College or Trade School. This scholarship program is named after Rev. John Wesley Walker, Jr., the former Pastor of Lane Metropolitan CME Church. This organization was founded under is tutelage, and was fiercely supported by him during his tenure in Cleveland, OH. He is now the pastor at Central Metropolitan CME Church in Jacksonville FL, and remains as a member of the Foluké Board of Directors.
ArtsLinc - Learning in the Arts
ArtsLinc or Learning in the Arts is Foluke newest program, implemented after March 2007 pilot projects at George Washington Carver Elementary School in the Central area and the Murtis Taylor Multi-Purpose Center in the Mt. Pleasant area.
The ArtsLinc program was created to address the accessibility of arts education in underserved areas, and the educational achievement deficiencies in underserved areas. The goal of Foluké Cultural Arts Center (FCAC) ArtsLinc-Outreach program is to introduce the discipline of the arts both performing and visual, as part of the curriculum, to at-risk children and youth who are economically disadvantaged. Through this programming FCAC planned outcome is an increase in academic achievements, most notably, improved reading and math scores. In addition, to having these children and youth demonstrate levels of appreciation, knowledge, and understanding of and skills in the arts.
The economically disadvantaged Children and Youth of Cleveland Ohio need innovative intervention to overcome their environment. In order to reduce the number of juvenile offenders, encouragement through mentoring and positive stimulation and reinforcement, must be provided for them to become productive and successful adults.
The arts prepare students for school, work and life: As this country works to strengthen our foothold in the global economy, the arts equip student with a creative, competitive edge. To success in today’s economy of ideas, students must masterfully use words, images, sounds, and motion to communicate. The arts provide the skills and knowledge students need to develop the creativity and determination necessary for success.
It is the specific goal of the ArtsLinc program to help children to:
Understand the role of the arts in peoples lives;
- Create a dance story based on everyday life and use daily movement as its basis (i.e. the Waking up dance, the Sleeping Dance, the Dream Dance)
- Develop and share scenes or improvisations to express ideas and feelings about special events (i.e. a celebration, family reunion).
- Identify and describe examples of art in their environment.
Communicate through the arts;
- Improvise, create and perform dance sequences with a beginning, middle, and end that are based on stories or personal experiences.
- Initiate and develop dramatic ideas based on personal experience, imagination, and other stimuli.
- Develop a series of preliminary art works depicting one theme, event, or mood. Create a mask relevant to one’s own culture/environment.
Respond to the arts and ;
- Identify and demonstrate the basic elements of dance and its relationship to other art forms
- Use age-appropriate terminology to describe visual, aural, oral, and kinetic elements in drama/theatre.
- Identify the elements and principles of visual arts and other art disciplines: explain how color affects subject matter; identify the focal point/center of interest
Value the arts.
- Switch roles as a performer and a viewer; articulate how this affects the performance and viewing of the work
- View or participate in drama that marks a specific community event. (i.e. Centennial celebration, the opening of a park). Demonstrate appropriate skills of an audience (i.e. listening, observing, and responding)
- View artworks that reflect specific viewpoints
As a result students will:
Develop “achievement motivations” – Improved self-concept, self confidence, and ownership of learning;
Improve cognitive and social skills – Reasoning ability, creativity, problem-solving skills and expression; and
Improve literacy skills – Re-enactment of favorite stores helps to motivate students to learn. Drama is also effective in improving the quality of children’s narrative writing.
