- Creator
- Fine Arts Workshop
- Call number
- Sc MG 484
- Physical description
- .2 linear feet
- Preferred Citation
- Fine Arts Workshop collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library
- Repository
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
- Access to materials
- Advance notice required. Request access to this collection.
The Fine Arts Workshop Collection is sparse and does not contain comprehensive documentation of the activities of this organization from its inception to its final years. The collection consists of a limited number of Board of Directors' notices of meetings and minutes, in addition to letters of introduction for students recommended to the Fine Arts Workshop, letters of appreciation from former students and schedules of classes. There is also correspondence, printed matter including news clippings, press releases and programs, grant proposals and financial records.
Biographical/historical information
The Fine Arts Workshop was founded in 1959 by Lucille Beards and provided full scholarship art classes to children ages eight to twenty-one from New York City. The Workshop aided underprivileged children who showed talent, and provided classes without cost to the students in modern dance and ballet, drama, voice and diction, music, and the fine arts.
Hundreds of children of many ethnic backgrounds, including African American, were accepted into the program. Classes were originally held at Carnegie Hall, but the Fine Arts Workshop ceased its full operation in 1972 due to loss of revenue. Through grants and other means, scholarships were provided for children to study at independent schools. By the mid-1980's the Fine Arts Workshop ceased functioning.
Administrative information
Source of acquisition
Gift, Beards, Lucille G, 1993Using the collection
Location
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor