LEARNTo provide Pre-K - 12 students across greater Los Angeles with long term, sequential, in classroom arts instruction alongside student matinee programs at The Wallis.
With support from LA 2050, The Wallis will begin a scaled expansion of its Wallis School Partners Program and will serve 7,500 pre-K - 12 students in 2025/2026 through Student Matinee Performances, In-School Artist Residencies, hands-on workshops, and dialogues with artists and arts leaders both at The Wallis and on school campuses. The program places a strong emphasis on LA County Schools with the fewest resources to provide high quality arts education to students.
What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?
K-12 STEAM education
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
West LA South LA East LA Central LA San Gabriel Valley San Fernando Valley Long Beach
In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?
Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)
What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?
High quality arts education has direct and measurable outcomes on academic success, supports the development of critical thinking skills, and has a lasting impact on social mobility - especially for students in under-resourced schools.
The availability of funding is only the first step in the provision of high quality arts education. Schools must still identify, structure, and manage these programs. This is where The Wallis, with its history of providing exceptional arts education to learners of all ages and abilities is able to fill an important gap. The Wallis School Partners Program places expert teaching artists in schools, tailors long-term residencies to individual curriculum, presents student matinees from our award-winning mainstage season, and hosts talkbacks to deepen the performance experience.
Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.
The Wallis School Partners Program, established in 2015, is an ongoing annual program that features:
STUDENT MATINEES: 10 - 20 weekday student matinee performances, selected from our award-winning mainstage season of theater, music, and dance.
IN-SCHOOL ARTIST RESIDENCIES: Expert Wallis Teaching Artists design and lead participatory arts workshops that are semester-long, sequential, interactive, and engage one or more entire grade levels within a school.
IN-SCHOOL ARTS WORKSHOPS: The Wallis offers some of our school partners a chance to host a visit from artists performing at The Wallis, and/or to experience customized and interactive workshops.
FAMILY PERFORMANCES: Schools in disadvantaged communities may receive tickets to weekend performances at The Wallis so that caregivers can participate in their children’s arts learning.
RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS: The Wallis maintains a dialogue with partner teachers and provides additional resources on an as-needed basis.
PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITIES AT THE WALLIS: Ensuring the theatrical experience for students is not limited to the viewing, some partner students have the opportunity to perform alongside the world class artists in our mainstage season. In 2024/25, 33 students from Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts (Title I School) and 20 students from Cabrillo High School (Title I School) performed alongside GRAMMY and Tony winning artists in the mainstage performances of Mama I'm a Big Girl Now and Alphabet Rockers.
Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.
The coming year marks the beginning of a scaled expansion of this program, which will serve more than 11,000 students annually by 2027/2028. Approximately 60% of schools served by the program are Title I, a figure we plan to push to 95% by 2028. The program has a long track record of success in supporting access to arts education for those with the fewest programs available to them through their own districts.
Leveraging the unique resources afforded us by more than a decade of relationship building with teaching and performing artists, teachers, and administrators, positions The Wallis to impact the broader region in two distinct ways: ensuring that students in under-resourced districts are afforded the same access to high quality arts education as their better funded peers, and by providing the kind of early exposure to legacy cultural spaces that affluent individuals enjoy.
Together, these factors foster a more equitable, media literate, and socioeconomically mobile California.
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?
Direct Impact: 7,500
Indirect Impact: 7,500