Stay Young! Youth Arts Education in Southeast LA

K-12 STEAM education

Gateway Cities Other

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

Southeast LA has long been overlooked and underfunded, especially as working-class Latino communities became the region’s majority. Despite this, our region has a vibrant and resilient creative landscape, thanks to the communities and artists who have worked together to preserve its culture and expand access to the arts. Stay Arts is a direct response to this history and momentum. Founded by local artists and arts advocates, we understand what this region has lacked: high-quality creative opportunities, resources, and spaces where our community feels seen, supported, and free to express themselves. In a region where creative infrastructure remains limited, this absence isn’t just about art, it’s about identity, healing, and opportunity. Access to the arts is critical and supports our community’s mental health and sense of belonging. Our Stay Young! program fills a critical gap, especially for the next generation shaping our future and uplifting our region’s visibility.

This grant will support the expansion of Stay Young!, our weekly youth arts education program held at Stay Studio in Southeast Los Angeles. Stay Young! offers low-cost visual and media art classes for youth in grades TK–12, with instruction in painting, drawing, clay, digital art, photography, and more. Classes are taught by local teaching artists and center projects that reflect the culture and creativity of our community. We currently serve over 150 students annually through weekly classes, seasonal workshops, and family paint days. Our program is rooted in accessibility and community care, reducing cost barriers for families, creating safe and welcoming space, and offering students consistent opportunities to grow creatively and socially. Many of our students return year after year, and some even return as paid assistants or teaching artists, showing the long-term impact of building a space for creative development. With this grant, we will expand teaching capacity, offer additional scholarships, grow enrollment, and support operational costs tied to outreach, staffing, and supplies.

If our work is successful, Southeast LA will no longer be left out of the creative map. Young people will have consistent access to high-quality, community-rooted arts education in a space built for them. Families will view art-making as essential, not extracurricular, just as normal as sports or academics. Stay Studio will be a permanent part of the cultural fabric of the region, led by artists from the community and sustained through local leadership. In the long term, we envision a generation of young people who feel pride in where they’re from, who carry creative confidence into their lives and careers, and who return to build businesses, lead programs, and continue shaping their neighborhoods through art.