Play with Music

South LA

Expand existing program

Play with Music brings the content and expertise of the creative program (bringing artists to work with students, the curriculum itself, field trips and internship opportunities, etc). Green Dot Public Schools is our educational administrative partner that Play with Music has worked with since 2015. We'll work together to create and meet metrics of success and expand our existing programs to reach more students at more schools. The Two Bit Circus Foundation is Play with Music's newest partner, who not only brings passion and expertise in bringing STEAM education programs to schools and spaces, but also the highest level of administrative and operations experience and personnel needed to scale Play with Music to 4 more schools.

Creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking are considered the most important skills for the 21st century, yet our schools, especially in low income communities, are missing the corresponding classes and programs to build these skills. Every child has potential, but not every child has access to opportunities to develop it. We're responding to this problem. We're building and delivering programs that meet this need. We're also bringing the enormous talent and resources of the creative industry in Los Angeles to students in South LA to expand their horizons with opportunities for learning, networking and seeding creative careers.

Play with Music was created solely to bring programs fostering creative career paths and professional collaboration to youth in communities without access to it. Teaming up with our new partner, Two Bit Circus Foundation (2BCF), who has taken PWM under its umbrella, we're able to uplift and cultivate a new generation of creators. 2BCF, a California education organization, collaborates with educators PreK-12 to support science, technology, engineering, art, music and mathematics (STEAM) education. Its programs transform the classroom from lecture-centered into MAKER-based experimental labs of inquisition, critical thinking, and re-imagining. 2BCF works primarily, but not exclusively, with teachers and students from PreK-12 Title I schools, which remain chronically underfunded and under-resourced in materials that are needed for project-based learning. Overall, 2BCF’s students are 31% African American, 53% Hispanic, 1% American Indian, 6% Asian, and 9% Caucasian.

We primarily work in Watts in South Los Angeles, one of the most systemically underserved neighborhoods in LA county, with some of our highest crime rates, food insecurity and poverty levels. Our proposal brings tangible opportunities to youth in South LA to become creators, to collaborate with professionals and develop relationships and pathways for their careers. The impact is uplifting and empowering this yet unseen and unheard creative generation by simply building bridges that bring the music and creative industry powerhouse TO the youth of South LA. We are breaking down socio-economic barriers, cycles of poverty, the creativity deficit, the tech literacy gap and the injustice of unequal access to opportunities and creative jobs.

LA is the best place to LEARN