Expanding access, building confidence, and connecting students to real pathways in the creative economy. The Fulton Institute focuses on youth with its latest program expansion.
BY DUMARKUS DAVIS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, FULTON INSTITUTE @DUMARKUSD
For many young people across the United States, access to high-quality arts education is not determined by talent or interest; it is determined by geography, funding, and opportunity. A student’s zip code often dictates whether they have access to instruments, trained instructors, and meaningful creative experiences. In under-resourced communities, arts programs are frequently the first to be reduced or eliminated, leaving millions of students without pathways to creative expression or exposure to careers in the arts. BOOST! exists to change that.
The Fulton Institute’s BOOST! program was designed as a direct response to these inequities. By placing professional artists and musicians directly into public schools, particularly those with limited arts resources. BOOST! expands access to high-quality instruction while reimagining what arts education can look like when it is both culturally relevant and professionally grounded.
At its core, BOOST! challenges a national reality: that arts education is often treated as supplemental rather than essential. Yet research consistently shows that students engaged in the arts demonstrate higher levels of academic achievement, stronger social-emotional development, and increased engagement in school. BOOST! builds on this understanding by ensuring that students are not only exposed to the arts but are supported by instructors who embody excellence, professionalism, and real-world experience.
These are not hobbyists or occasional instructors. BOOST! engages working professionals, including musicians affiliated with major institutions such as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Atlanta Opera, alongside teaching artists who are deeply rooted in their communities. These individuals bring both technical mastery and lived experience into the classroom, allowing students to see what a future in the arts can actually look like.
Equally important is the program’s emphasis on cultural connection. In many traditional arts education settings, students struggle to see themselves reflected in the material or methods being taught. BOOST! addresses this gap by working with artists who meet students where they are.
For example, spoken word artists from Soul Food Cypher use hip-hop, poetry, and storytelling to teach literacy and language arts to at-risk youth. In these classrooms, students are not just learning how to write—they are learning how to communicate, how to process their experiences, and how to see value in their own voice. By connecting academic skills to cultural forms that are relevant and accessible, BOOST! transforms learning into something personal and empowering.
The impact extends far beyond technical skill-building.
Students gain confidence in their abilities and their ideas. They develop discipline through practice and performance. They learn collaboration, resilience, and creative problem-solving skills that are transferable across any career path. Perhaps most importantly, they begin to imagine futures that include creative career paths that may not have felt visible or attainable before.
This is where BOOST! moves beyond exposure and into transformation.
Across the country, there is a growing recognition that the creative economy is a vital part of the workforce. Yet too few systems exist to connect young people, particularly those from under-resourced communities, to those opportunities. BOOST! addresses this gap by creating a direct pipeline between education and the professional arts ecosystem.
Students are not only learning from working artists, but they are mentored by them. They are gaining insight into what it means to pursue a career in music, film, art, or performance in today’s landscape. They are seeing firsthand that creativity is not just a passion, but a viable profession.
At the same time, the program strengthens the broader arts ecosystem by creating paid opportunities for artists to teach, mentor, and invest in the next generation. This dual investment, in students and in working creatives, creates a sustainable model that benefits both education and the creative economy.
BOOST! is not just an arts education program. It is a reimagining of how access, opportunity, and talent intersect.
By investing in programs like BOOST!, we can begin to dismantle the structural barriers that have long limited who gets to participate in the arts and who gets to succeed within them. We can ensure that creativity is not confined to those with access, but is recognized and nurtured wherever it exists.
Because talent is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.