The Links, Incorporated

The Arts

The Links support of the arts can be traced to our cultured co-founder Margaret Roselle Hawkins. Her innate artistic talent, discovered at a young age, earned her a four-year scholarship to the Women’s School of Design, later known as the Moore Institute of Art. Her passion for creative expression later led to her appointment as an art teacher, and helped give root to the establishment of The Arts facet in 1964 at the 14th National Assembly.

Throughout the nation today, Links Chapters partner with museums, symphonies, arts councils, educational institutes and corporations in order to support art programs, especially where there is a focus on artists of color. Links are creating and supporting opportunities for educating minority youth in the arts and presenting and supporting performances by youth and accomplished professional artists in a diversity of disciplines.

The GOAL of The Arts facet is to increase and expand art activity, and elevate our programs through arts integration and effectively create an arts renaissance within our organization and programmatic efforts.

The Links, Incorporated is proud to salute Dr. Dorothy I. Height and sponsor the Benjamin Banneker Memorial. This flyer was created by Link K. Joy Peters.

Download a copy.

Signature Arts Program: Classics Through the Ages

Classics Through the Ages promotes art education among youth of color to pique their interest, increase their knowledge and encourage their continued study in classical arts. This program seeks to afford exemplary student artists the opportunity to hone their talents and skills and earn recognition and support for their educational and career pursuits. The development of education and community partnerships optimize the program’s impact and leverages chapter resources. Classics Through the Ages strives to recognize, reward and develop avenues to support excellence in artistic education. read more »

The program runs annually from May 1 through April 30 of the following year. Chapters sponsor one or more artistically gifted students in a selected classical art discipline (visual arts, performing arts or humanities). Student sponsorship carries over from year to year until the student graduates from high school.

Links Chapters assign a mentor to offer guidance and assist student artists with networking as well as set up opportunities for mentoring and exposure to established, professional artists in the student’s artistic discipline. Students are further supported through the funding of advanced training, instruction, classes and workshops and the purchasing supplies and/or the updating of equipment. Internships or scholarships are awarded to expand the learning experiences of student artists. A master class, lead by a professional artist, is provided as the culminating event each year.

Student artists commit to performing or exhibiting at no less than two events each year, and to mentoring peers unfamiliar with their discipline. Chapters help coordinate these performances and exhibits for the students.

Poster Art Contest - Project Walking Fete: Make Health A Habit!

Project Walking Fete: Make Health a Habit! Poster Art Contest was created in 1995 in conjunction with The Links, Incorporated’s National Walk-A-Thon. From 1995-2010, the contest themes celebrated walking. The 2011-2012 National Poster Art Contest theme, “Healthy, Active and Wise”, serves to broaden our health message, align it with our new Health and Human Services facet and expand our health message to include a wider spectrum of healthy lifestyle choices. This will allow for a more meaningful; educational experience for the participants and a wider array of ideas to inspire their poster designs.

Our goal this year is to have all 274 chapters submit at least one poster entry into the 2011-2012 National Poster Art Contest. If we are able to promote a “Healthy, Active and Wise” lifestyle we should experience changes in everyday living. read more »

The contest is divided into four grade categories:

Category I:	Grades 1-3
Category II:	Grades 4 -6
Category III:	Grades 7 – 9
Category IV:	Grades 10 -12

The National Poster Art Contest runs biennially from October through June, commencing in uneven years. Chapters conduct local competitions between October and March. In April and May, chapters submit their first place winners from each grade category for the selection of Area winners. A National Poster Art Contest judging event takes place in May or June and National winners are selected from the winning Area entries. All Area entries become part of the National Poster Art Exhibition.

The 2011-2012 National Poster Art Exhibition will be displayed during the 38th National Assembly in Orlando, FL, June 27 – July 1, 2012 .

2009-2010 Poster Art Contest

The 2009-2010 National Poster Art Exhibition took place at the 37th National Assembly in Detroit, MI. The Links Foundation, Incorporated awarded scholarships totaling $12,000 to 17 talented students.

Congratulations to the 2010 National Poster Art Winners:

Category I: “Feet First”	Lizet Alonzo, Las Vegas (NV) Chapter
Category II: “I’m Walking”	Trevion Brown, South Suburban (IL) Chapter
Category III: “Walk the Walk”	Lorenzo Richardson, Bergen County (NJ) Chapter
Category IV: “Feet Do Your Stuff”	Carson Helton, Louisville (KY) Chapter

Chapter Highlights

Julliard Scholar Program, North Jersey (NJ) Chapter:
Music As a Career, Queen City (OH) Chapter:
Sustaining ART SMART through the Theatre, Missouri City (TX) Chapter:
Urban Youth Harp Program, Atlanta (GA) Chapter
The Gift of Life, Metro-Manhattan (NY) Chapter
read more »

Julliard Scholar Program, North Jersey (NJ) Chapter: Through the chapter’s three-year partnership with The Julliard School, two talented high school students studied in Saturday classes to learn the ABC’s of their art discipline, received performance opportunities, and exposed other youth to the wonderful world of classical music.

Music As a Career, Queen City (OH) Chapter: The chapter’s partnership with the Cincinnati Symphony supported the artistic development of talented high school students with a passion for string classical music. The program provided instruction, mentoring, performance opportunities, and scholarship for participating students, who served as classical music ambassadors to their peers.

Sustaining ART SMART through the Theatre, Missouri City (TX) Chapter: In partnership with The Ensemble Theatre, the chapter supported the artistic and personal development of two high school students through the theatre’s Young Performers Program, which included arts education and a variety of performance and peer mentoring opportunities.

Urban Youth Harp Program, Atlanta (GA) Chapter: The chapter partnered with the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble to support two students with training, mentoring and scholarships. The student harpists served as mentors and role models as they conducted several harp education workshops for students at Coan Middle School.

The Gift of Life, Metro-Manhattan (NY) Chapter: In 2010 the chapter produced the video “The Gift of Life: What African-Americans Need to Know About Organ Donations”, and supported The Arts through hiring a young, black filmmaker – Andrea Williams – to create this documentary that gives viewers a look at the increasingly important issue of organ and tissue donation. One of the most compelling stories in the film is about a member of the chapter, Denise Perry, who is the recipient of two kidney transplants. The film was sponsored by HBO during the 2010 Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival, where it received national attention.

For more information about The Arts facet, please contact arts@linksinc.org