“NewARC”: THE NEWARK ARTS RESOURCE CENTER

NewARC (Newark Arts Resource Center) is dedicated to seeking out highly motivated, underserved Newark adolescents and providing them with the necessary support systems to ensure their completion of high school, entrance into college, and successful transition into young adulthood. NewARC strives to expose underserved youth to positive life-changing experiences so that they may realize their potential to express themselves creatively and excel academically. By connecting young people with the resources they require to achieve their goals, NewARC challenges the youth of Newark to believe in themselves, to stretch their imaginations and reach for the stars, while keeping their feet firmly on the ground. The support systems NewARC provides include:

1. A one-on-one mentoring program to continue throughout the student’s high school career, beginning in 9th grade.
2. A strong creative arts initiative to provide the opportunity for self-expression, community building, social change, and an expression of diversity.
3. PSAT/ SAT tutoring, academic support, and college counseling to level the playing field for these students, helping them to be accepted into colleges and universities.
4. Stress and anger management programs to help adolescents cope with a challenging and changing environment.
5. An opportunity to study abroad during the summer following the student’s junior year in high school.

The goals of the NewARC initiative are to have our graduates finish high school, attain university degrees, become established in rewarding and meaningful careers, and return to their community to serve as mentors and role models to end the cycle of poverty, despair and violence in the inner city of Newark.

OUR NEW HOME AT 765 BROAD STREET
A center for a city-wide collaboration for young people, their art,
and the “arts in prevention”.

The Barat Foundation’s new 13,000 sq. ft. first floor space at 765 Broad Street in Newark, granted to the foundation by Cogswell Realtors, provides new opportunities for collaborations with agencies schools and churches in Newark. Our grand opening celebration in collaboration with Arts High’s 75th Anniversary gala year, featured the unveiling an 8’ x 80’ mural interpreting our scholarship theme “Newark Meets Van Gogh”; and the works of two of our French artists in Residence, Maroussia Rebecq, a fashion designer from Paris, and Pierre Laurent Cassiere, a sound installation artist from Nice.

$1.5 MILLION FOR NEWARK CHILDREN
to attend the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, NJ (thewilsonschool.com)

Most recently, we have coordinated a grant from the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, a New Jersey Independent School providing excellence in education for students Pre-K through 8th Grade, underwriting 7 tuition scholarships for Newark inner-city, underserved children to attend the school. These scholarships begin at whatever point the student enters school (anywhere from Pre-K forward) and continue until the child graduates from 8th grade. The Newark City Council is providing transportation for these students to attend the Wilson School. The seven students have visited the school with their families and will embark upon this life-changing educational experience in the fall of 2007.