Marwen Foundation was founded in 1987 to provide quality arts education and college career planning for ChicagoÌs under-served youth. The Foundation offers sequential visual arts education programs to foster creative and practical skills, as well as advanced schooling and job preparation both in and outside of the arts field. The Community Partnership brings introductory classes to six community centers in culturally diverse neighborhoods. Participants meet after school and on weekends for 10 weeks for instruction in the visual arts. Motivated students may continue training through the Studio Program, for which they go to the Marwen facility for more rigorous study in photography, drawing, sculpture, animation, painting, architecture, design and other areas. The College Career Program connects students with professional artists and designers in the Chicago region and nationally for master classes, career workshops, internships and apprenticeships. It also provides students with work by including them on design teams that produce commissioned artworks in Chicago. Students receive assistance in applying to and interviewing for colleges and other advanced schooling. Stressing the hands-on aspects of the art world, Marwen shows artistically inclined inner-city youth how to enhance their lives through art and how to mold their talents into marketable skills.