An education that engages students with Culture & Community
Folk Arts – Cultural Treasures Charter School
Who We Are
The Folk Arts – Cultural Treasures Charter School comes out of a history of struggle for: equity and justice for Asian American students and immigrant and refugee students of all races in the public schools; public investment and public space in the under-served Chinatown community; public schooling that engages children as active participants in working for a just society.
Folk Arts at FACTS
Folk arts recognize the skills and honor the talents that parents, artists, and people who live in the communities can contribute to the whole education of children. A commitment to folk and traditional arts shapes what we teach and learn – and it shapes how we study and engage those around us.
“Giving meaning to the lives of our children in the present while preparing them to become active citizens in a democratic society”
– Grace Lee Boggs
Every year, Losang Samten comes to FACTS and creates a Tibetan Sand Mandala. Students learn about the symbols in the mandala and talk about how each of us can bring more peace and compassion into the world. Then in a life lesson about how all things in this world change, we carefully sweep up the sand mandala, and Teacher Losang takes the sand to the river to return it to its source.
Playing together is important. Once a year FACTS celebrates Play Day. This is not an all-day recess, or a field trip. It is a school day, when all of FACTS moves outside for a full day of play. Everyone can play — any age, ability, size, gender. We play in a safe way, and we want everyone to participate. By playing together, we learn to live together.
“FACTS is the epitome of teaching by example. The children of FACTS are respectful and responsive because the adults set the example. Our experience at FACTS is among the most fulfilling and encouraging of our professional lives. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your village.” – Mama Irma Gardner-Hammond and Mama Carla Wiley, African American storytellers
FACTS students may elect to study a particular folk art form in our Kung Fu/Lion Dance, African Drumming, Hip Hop, and Vietnamese Zither Ensembles. Students develop skills and knowledge of a community-based art form, grow in awareness of themselves as art makers, and learn about the powerful role of these arts in their own or others’ communities.
FACTS has a special commitment and responsibility to Chinatown. FACTS maintains our connection to Chinatown by supporting and joining in efforts to promote community unity such as Asian Americans United’s Chinatown Mid-Autum Festival. We teach our students about the festival, our staff choir performs at the festival, our staff and families attend, and we walk together in the lantern parade.
A FACTS education prepares students to walk comfortably in the world of their cultural origins, in the diverse city in which they live, and in academic and professional worlds. FACTS is a 2016 National Blue Ribbon School (the highest of honors for a K-12 school) and in 2026 was named the #1 Charter Middle School and the #2 Charter Elementary School in Pennsylvania by the US News and World Report.