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Arts Diversity Program Sees Results in First Year

Cheyney Rose

Here's an update for you on a story we reported back in March

The Hope Gap Project, through the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, aimed to bring a wider  diversity of student artists to enter their work into the Scholastic Awards.  That’s the oldest source of recognition and scholarships for teen arts in the country.  

The idea was to inspire students through virtual meetings with successful artists who  come from similar backgrounds. 

Colombian-born, Brooklyn-based artist Antonio Pulgarin spoke to students at South Side  High School, and its award totals went from two last year to 20 this year.  Among the winners was senior Cheney Rose. She says throughout high school she didn’t have confidence in her voice as an artist, or in  the possibility of making a career out of art.

“I was really unsure of my plans, I did not want to go to college," says Rose. "I kind of wanted to boycott college, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

But then the Hope Gap Project came to her school.

“Antonio, we saw where he was, like he couldn’t even come talk to us personally because  he was in New York, doing big things," says Rose.

She won 12 awards this year, including a top regional award for her portfolio. 

Since then, Cheyney was not only accepted to all of the colleges she applied to, she was  just awarded a full ride scholarship through the Lily Endowment, thanks in part to her  essay about using her art to change the world. 

She’ll be attending Indiana University starting this fall.