Beyond the Classroom: Community-Based Arts Education
While schools play an important role in providing young people with regular access to the arts, community-based arts learning has the power to cultivate creativity beyond the classroom. Thanks to the work of many of our partners in the field, local programs in neighborhoods across LA County are helping young people develop a deep sense of belonging, and an appreciation for their own community.
This is especially true for youth impacted by the justice and foster care systems. The Arts Ed Collective therefore includes many non-traditional allies who help bring valuable, in-community arts education to our most vulnerable youth. Unique partnerships with other County agencies provide healing-centered arts learning for:
- Youth in detention
- Youth enrolled in programs to divert them from the justice system
- Youth in foster care
- Youth in historically under-resourced communities
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Each year, $2.5 million in funding from the Probation Department is directed toward community-based arts programs that promote positive youth development. As part of the Arts Ed Collective, the Department of Arts and Culture currently contracts with dozens of nonprofit arts organizations who’ve established trust and credibility in the communities they serve to provide year-round arts education for youth in County parks, public housing sites, and other County facilities. We are proud of these cross-agency collaborations. More importantly, they directly advance the shared vision and collective impact goals outlined in LA County’s New Regional Blueprint for Arts Education.
Community-based arts partners play a crucial role in fostering creativity, healing, and wellness among youth, and in our communities. In partnership with multiple County agencies, we are expanding opportunities for young people to work with teaching artists who inspire and support their growth and development.
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Community-Based Arts Education Is Essential
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Last spring, KCET released a special Arts Education episode of their acclaimed Artbound documentary series. Commissioned by the Arts Ed Collective Funders Council and developed in collaboration with the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, Artbound: Arts Education makes the case for why arts education is so important for our young people. Alison De La Cruz, a multi-disciplinary theater artist, cultural organizer, and producer points out ways the arts allow young people to see and appreciate others through a human lens, and deepen their compassion. Betty Avila, Executive Director of Self-Help Graphics, explains how the Barrio Mobile Art Studio, a cornerstone program with deep roots in community-based arts learning, launched what has now become a widely celebrated LA tradition.
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Non-Traditional Allies Unite for Arts-Based Youth Development
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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors created the Office of Child Protection (OCP) in 2015 to improve communication, coordination, and accountability across agencies so that vulnerable children have a better chance of growing up safe and healthy. Naturally, OCP has become another critical partner in our collective mission to strengthen investment in community-based arts education and deliver lasting impact for young people. They are also key allies in Creative Wellbeing, alongside the Department of Mental Health and the Arts for Healing and Justice Network. Over the past two years, nearly 200 youth and 3,400 adults who work with young people have engaged in Creative Wellbeing activities, both virtually and in person, in schools and in communities.
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Our strength as a collective impact initiative is anchored in our sister agencies' shared commitment to promoting healing, personal growth and overall well-being among young people (and their families) involved in – or at risk of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system.
Together we identify and contract with some of the region's most knowledgeable community-based organizations to bring arts-based programs and services to those who stand to benefit most from this engagement. Check out some of their great work below.
- Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural is working with young men in detention at Camp Glenn Rockey in San Dimas to create their own sports-themed mural that will be installed next to a new beach volleyball court; several youth who are designing and painting the mural will receive work-based learning stipends for their participation.
- Last week, teaching artists from Versa Style, Jail Guitar Doors, Street Poets, and The Unusual Suspects led arts activities as part of a half-day training, organized by the Department of Mental Health’s Partners in Suicide Prevention, for 300+ LA County Psychiatric Social Workers to provide them with a self-care/ community-care break and introduce them to practical arts-based, healing-informed approaches they can incorporate into their daily work.
- Next week, teens working with Justice for My Sister at Pamela Park in Duarte will be performing a self-created, immersive theatre/ media piece that offers a satirical view of what it’s been like to live virtually over the past two years.
- The Center for Empowerment of Families is introducing teenagers at the Juvenile Day Reporting Center located on the campus of Panorama High School to portraiture, photojournalism, and other photography-based career skills.
- Through partnership with the Department of Child and Family Services and two Arts for Healing & Justice Network organizations (No Easy Props and Give a Beat), teenage boys awaiting placement with foster families are exploring Hip Hop Arts – dance, music production and DJing skills – during their stay at two County-run Temporary Shelter Care Facilities.
- Youth in detention at Campus Kilpatrick in Malibu are exploring the Italian theatrical form commedia dell’arte with Arts for Healing and Justice Network member The Actor’s Gang, using theatre to strengthen language arts and communication skills.
- Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory has been introducing youth and families at East Rancho Dominguez Park in Compton to self-portraits and sculpture, exploring scale through both miniature and large-size installations.
- Young teens at City Terrace Park are dancing with CONTRA-TIEMPO, learning about hip hop, freestyle and choreography, and will have an opportunity to see and participate in a community-wide performance in May.
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