Strengthening the Creative Workforce Through Hip Hop Dance

Access to tech and creative industry employment

Central LA East LA South LA San Fernando Valley

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

The issue we seek to address is the lack of equitable pathways into creative careers for young artists of color in LA County. While creative performance jobs are projected to grow 14% in the LA region from 2022 to 2032 (Mt. San Antonio College, 2023), over 60% of culture workers identify as White, despite making up only 27% of the county’s population (LACDAC, 2017).
This gap reflects long standing structural barriers in access, training, and early exposure. Through nearly two decades of work, Versa-Style has seen firsthand how a lack of visible role models, culturally relevant programming, and paid opportunities discourages young artists of color from pursuing careers in the arts. A recent survey of VSDC educational program participants showed 100% identified as “artists of color” and 86% expressed interest in pursuing “a career in the arts.”

Origins of Hip Hop (OHH) is a one-hour educational interactive show toured around LAUSD schools aimed to employ, educate, and empower the next generation of Black and Brown directors, dancers, teachers, and artists. OHH provides employment for emerging artists of color and encourages local K-12 students to explore a career in the arts. OHH currently employs 11 artists from South, Central, and East LA, where 54% of the artists identify as Latinx, 39% as Black, and 8% as Asian. All 11 artists began as high school students who after seeing OHH joined our youth programs. Through our tutelage, the artists received affordable dance training and valuable, transferable skills such as curriculum development, in-classroom teaching, how to create professional materials, and manage income from paid performances.
OHH is a proven creative economy employment pipeline developed by VSDC that addresses the underrepresentation of LA’s communities of color in the creative workforce by providing sustained, paid performance opportunities for early and mid-career dancers. Reflecting LA’s demographics on stage and in creative and administrative leadership, VSDC builds careers from the classroom up. Artists return to their originating LA neighborhoods as established performers, teachers, and mentors, sparking learning, joy, and tangible pathways into the creative workforce.

OHH is proof that if Street Dance culture is properly preserved and cared for, it leaves behind a legacy of Black and Brown directors, dancers, teachers and artists. OHH supports the growing 14% employment in the creative performance occupational group in LA by balancing out the racial discrepancy among artists. OHH will provide sustained employment to 11 emerging artists of color and introduce over 7,000 students to Hip Hop’s cultural history and career potential.
Long-term, we aim to formalize this school-show-to-career pipeline by increasing alumni hiring, tracking student-to-artist pathways, supporting continued dance study, and deepening current partnerships with LAUSD. We envision a Los Angeles County that serves as a hub for emerging Hip Hop artists of color. By scaling a model that connects mentorship, education, and paid work, VSDC supports the development of creative careers for young people of color, setting a standard for racially equitable employment in the arts sector.