FOLEY, Ala. — Electric. The word that describes the performance and the instrument of jazz violinist, Ken Ford. Also known as “The King of Strings”, Ford will kick-off a weeklong “artist-in-residency” in Foley at a benefit concert for the John McClure Snook Youth Club and local students.

“An Intimate Evening with Ken Ford – King of Strings” will be Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Foley Civic Center, 407 Laurel St. Admission is $45 and tables, along with Partnership Opportunities, are available. Tickets can be purchased online (brownpapertickets.com/event/517309) or at the Youth Club. Seating is limited.

Snook Youth Club has a fine-arts program that includes violin instruction.

“Having Ken here for almost a week is a fantastic opportunity for our kids,” said Deborah Ferguson, SYC executive director. “It will mesh perfectly with our strings program. We are honored to present this ‘first-of-a-kind’ experience to our children.”

Artist-in-residency participation is limited to the Snook Youth Club members and select students of Foley schools, grade K-12.

In the week following the concert, Ford will teach violin techniques and performance skills, as well as offer music business survival advice to SYC members and area students. His artist-in-residency is an ongoing mission of The Ken Ford Foundation (thekenfordfoundation.org). Its objective is to “enhance academic excellence through music appreciation.” His seminars and workshops have been presented to youth throughout the southern United States.

Ford has performed with a range of superstar artists (Bruno Mars, Chaka Khan, the late Barry White and Cee-Lo Green) and has released three albums, “Burnt Toast” (2001), “Chevelle Lane” (2003) and “Right Now” (2013). He began playing violin in elementary school and his classical training served as a springboard for including the instrument in interpretations of R&B, rock’n’roll and hip-hop. He said that jazz violinist Noel Pointer influenced him to do so, “He was the first music I heard that I realized you can do something different on violin besides classical.”

His residency is made possible, in part, by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, as a part of the 2014 legislative appropriations, made out of the Education Trust Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, call 251-943-1483.