CREATEThe P.L.A.C.E.–The Partnership for Los Angeles Creative Education serving LAs emerging creatives!
DSTL Arts, Emerging Arts Leaders/LA & Trade School LA unite to form The Partnership for Los Angeles' Creative Education (PLACE), a hub where at-risk youth, their families, & emerging creatives receive mentorship, professional training & free-to-low-cost classes. This grant will fund a brick-&-mortar locale, centralizing our programs, & fund infrastructure for volunteer engagement, recruitment & training for our respective programs, plus a co-working space where members can connect & create.
In what areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
Central LA
East LA
South LA
LAUSD
How do you plan to use these resources to make change?
Engage residents and stakeholders
Implement a pilot or new project
Expand a pilot or a program
How will your proposal improve the following CREATE metrics?
Employment in the creative industries
Arts establishments per capita
Concentration of manufacturing activity in LA
Jobs per capita
Minority- and women-owned firms
Gini coefficient
Measures of cultural and global economic influence (“soft power”) (Dream Metric)
Recruiting and retention rates for local higher education institutions (Dream Metric)
Percentage of graduates from local higher education institutions that remain in LA County 5 years after graduating (Dream Metric)
Unemployment rates (and opportunities) for the formerly incarcerated (Dream Metric)
Describe in greater detail how you will make LA the best place to CREATE.
We'll rent a commercial space & build infrastructure for The Partnership for Los Angeles’ Creative Education (PLACE), a collaboration between the nonprofits, DSTL Arts, Trade School Los Angeles, & Emerging Arts Leaders/Los Angeles.
With all 3 organizations sharing the space, we're committed to collaborating across all our programs to create a pipeline of arts mentorship & educational opportunities for creative, at-risk youth, emerging artists, & seasoned arts professionals, with various entry points for anyone from the ages of 16 to 116.
The centralized location will house DSTL Arts' programs, including their Arts Mentorship Program for at-risk youth ages 16–21, a new fiscal sponsorship program for individual artists, Art Block (a zine-making workshop series for youth ages 16–21) & Conchas y Café, an arts-literacy & creative writing workshop series for Spanish-speaking adults & caretakers of youth in DSTL Arts' programs.
The space will also host regular, free-to-low-cost educational & professional development workshops for adults ages 18 & over, conducted by Trade School LA volunteers & Emerging Arts Leaders/LA, ranging in subject matter from art appreciation & DIY crafts, to freelance creative business & arts administration. Trade School LA, through barter-based programs, offers pedagogical training to anyone interested in sharing skills through workshops, regardless of age, providing a low-stress environment for knowledge-sharing. Additionally, Emerging Arts Leaders/LA will coordinate its Protégé arts-professional mentorship program out of the space.
We'll rent a 1000–1500 square foot space within 6–8 months of funding, & purchase furniture & equipment to convert the space into a gallery & creative workspace for our co-working membership program, including internet, copy, print & phone service.
We'll also purchase volunteer management software for The PLACE. DSTL Arts will utilize up to 10 volunteer arts mentors & interns yearly in support of their Arts Mentorship Program, & Art Block & Conchas y Café creative writing programs. Trade School LA will use up to 75 volunteer instructors & interns yearly in support of their educational workshops. Emerging Arts Leaders/LA will use up to 40 volunteers & interns yearly in support of their Leadership Council, “Protégé” emerging arts-professional mentorship program, & professional development workshops. Our shared infrastructure will match skills & interests of all volunteers with the appropriate programs.
Please explain how you will evaluate your work.
We'll evaluate The Partnership for Los Angeles' Creative Education annually based on the following goals:
DSTL Arts
-recruit & train 5 volunteer arts mentors for cohort of 20 total Arts Mentorship Program students, ages 16–21
-provide 1,500 hours of mentorship to at-risk youth, ages 16–21
-60% of Arts Mentorship Program students will enroll in, or continue, post-HS degree/certificate programs, 30% will continue HS, graduate, or enter HS-equivalency programs
-fiscally sponsor 5 emerging women and/or minority artists
EAL/LA
-pair 16 emerging arts-professionals (age 22 & over) with 16 seasoned arts admin through Protégé mentorship program
-offer 12 professional development workshops & mixers
-provide 20 professional development scholarships to emerging arts-professionals serving on Leadership Council
TSLA
-recruit & train 75 volunteer instructors
-offer 120 barter-based educational classes, serving 1,000 participants
The PLACE
-host 16 internships for all programs
How can the LA2050 community and other stakeholders help your proposal succeed
Money (financial capital)
Volunteers/staff (human capital)
Publicity/awareness (social capital)
Infrastructure (building/space/vehicles, etc.)
Education/training
Technical infrastructure (computers, etc.)
Community outreach
Network/relationship support
Quality improvement research