Dreamweavers: Creative Career Youth Fellowships

Access to tech and creative industry employment

City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

According to the 2025 Otis College Report on the Creative Economy, California’s creative economy contracted by 0.9% last year; yet the state remains the national leader and a resilient source of high-paying jobs. Los Angeles led job growth across all creative sectors—even amid declines in entertainment and new media—and stands as a global hub for specialized design. Still, while California’s poverty rate is 12%, it rises to 16.5% in the City of Los Angeles. LA youth culture continues to shape global trends, and its young people deserve access to the education and careers pathways that define the region’s creative economy. To succeed in these fields, youth need equitable programming that: (1) builds specialized, marketable skills; (2) removes barriers to after-school program access rooted in socio-economic and educational inequality; and (3) offers support for those facing complex trauma. These are the conditions youth need to thrive—and for LA’s creative economy to grow inclusively.

artworxLA is excited to launch two new 12-week Creative Career Youth Fellowships focused on real-world skills in fashion/accessories entrepreneurship and video game design.
Fashion Forward Fellows will collaborate with high-end streetwear brand Equihua to learn stitching, pattern-making, upcycling, and sewing machine techniques. Fellows will create garments and accessories to market and sell via a drop-shipping online store.
Game Design Fellows will work with USC Games Professor TreaAndrea Russworm and her graduate team to explore storytelling and design using creative tools like Unity visuals, machinima, and musical scores. Workshops will cover game mechanics, core loops, and narrative design with an emphasis on expression, critical thinking, and fostering agency.
Both cohorts will build entrepreneurial skills through panels, meeting brand teams, and creating résumés, pitch decks, and portfolios. The program ends with an industry showcase of Fellows' work.
artworxLA staff will co-lead workshops and offer training in soft skills, financial literacy, and life skills. Consistent mentorship during and after the program connects youth to supportive services like mental health and college readiness programs in addition to safe reliable transportation and stipends to reduce barriers to participation like caregiving and income contribution responsibilities.
Graduates are eligible for Special Academy, a paid advertising internship with global firm Special to learn product marketing.

If successful, our work will offer Los Angeles County a model for hyperlocal cross-sector partnerships that link post-secondary education and creative businesses in particularly nimble, manageable, and effective interventions for youth in other communities. We selected three sectors that are both lesser known to students and make up nearly 50% of the region’s creative economy. These industries represent LA’s deep roots in traditional creative fields (fashion/advertising) as well as its recent leadership in areas like specialized product design, gaming, and new media. Our goal is to increase investment in local talent development while expanding youth awareness of creative careers they may not have considered. Ultimately, we aim to cultivate the next generation of visionary leaders who will shape the future of LA County’s creative economy and ensure it remains inclusive of our most vulnerable communities as part of an innovative and globally influential strategy.