PLAYIgnite Imaginations Access the World
To develop a curriculum of interactive activities and workshops prior to our Children’s Concert Series, in partnership with other local arts organizations. that ignite the imaginations of children and their families. The activities and workshops will be coordinated with the acts performing on stage, showcasing the multiculturalism of LA, and expanding the awareness of other world cultures.
In what areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
Central LA
San Gabriel Valley
Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles (MacArthur Park); Levitt Pavilion Pasadena (Memorial Park)
How do you plan to use these resources to make change?
Conduct research
Engage residents and stakeholders
Implement a pilot or new project
Expand a pilot or a program
Engage community; expand cultural awareness
How will your proposal improve the following PLAY metrics?
Access to open space and park facilities
Per capita crime rates
Percentage of residents that feel safe in their neighborhoods
Residents within 1⁄4 mile of a park (Dream Metric)
Number of residents with easy access to a “vibrant” park (Dream Metric)
Number of parks with intergenerational play opportunities (Dream Metric)
Describe in greater detail how you will make LA the best place to PLAY.
Levitt Pavilion Greater Los Angeles & Pasadena envisions an LA2050 in which the community as a whole—parents, children, young adults, seniors—comes together to play in welcoming outdoor settings to experience the joy of arts experiences open to all. We believe that access to high quality arts experiences shouldn’t be reserved for those who can afford to buy tickets, but should be made available to everyone. Each summer over 100,000 Angelenos of all ages and backgrounds enjoy 100+ free concerts at Levitt Los Angeles in MacArthur Park, and Levitt Pasadena in Memorial Park, adding vitality to public spaces that were once neglected and nurturing an appreciation for the arts in this great city we call home.
However, in the wake of drastic funding cuts to arts education in Los Angeles-area public schools, Levitt believes we could – and must – do more. Tens of thousands of youth are missing out on opportunities to engage more deeply with the arts, compromising an invaluable part of their overall growth as individuals and members of society. Levitt proposes to help fill this void by enhancing Levitt LA and Levitt Pasadena’s popular free children’s concerts with a series of free, hands-on interactive workshops before each children’s show, designed to ignite imaginations and expand the awareness of the multiculturalism of LA and other world cultures.
The My LA 2050 grant will give Levitt the opportunity to extend and deepen children’s art experiences through weekly pre-concert workshops from late June through August 2016. These hour-long interactive workshops will be taught by highly skilled teaching artists in a welcoming and supportive environment, and coordinated with a community partner and the acts onstage to highlight the cultural significance of the days performance. Through making an instrument, trying out cultural dances, creating murals, learning a new song of another culture and singing along with others, we envision each workshop will engage the imagination and offer a fun and hands-on way for children to experience the joy of creating and experiencing music of various cultures in a communal setting.
Both Levitt L.A. and Levitt Pasadena have had incredible success with the children’s series presented as part of the overall Levitt concert seasons. Based upon the attendance at the children’s programs in previous years, we anticipate that approximately 20,000 Los Angeles children will benefit from this program in 2016.
Please explain how you will evaluate your work.
We will evaluate the success of the program in the following key ways:
First, we will measure the number of participants attending each of the 20 children’s concerts and the number of children attending the pre-concert workshops.
Additionally, following each children’s workshop, Levitt professional staff, workshop artists, and participating partners, will debrief and determine how to enhance participation, refine logistics and evaluate responses.
Finally, to measure success in participation, we will collect the qualitative data from the surveys of participants. Levitt routinely collects random samples of audience surveys in both English and Spanish. This summer’s surveys will include questions about the new interactive activities and workshops for children and families, in order to receive reactions to the project and to measure its success. The surveys will be tallied and the results will be incorporated into a final report to be shared with the funder.
How can the LA2050 community and other stakeholders help your proposal succeed
Money (financial capital)
Volunteers/staff (human capital)
Publicity/awareness (social capital)
Education/training
Technical infrastructure (computers, etc.)
Community outreach
Network/relationship support