Roosevelt Elementary School's Amazing Roosevelt String Ensemble, directed by brothers Albert and Anthony Burrola. Photo by Dave Franco.
This report summarizes the work of our network of school districts, nonprofit partners, County service providers, and arts advocates from the 2023-24 fiscal year. Last year, we celebrated 10 years of the Advancement Grant Program, which has invested, to date, $6.7M in grant funds and leveraged $16.8M in matching funds to help school districts implement key action items in their strategic plans for arts education. As school districts navigated the first year of Prop 28 implementation, we provided expertise and resources to ensure school districts utilize Prop 28 funds in ways that expand, rather than replace, existing funding sources of arts education. Arts Ed Collective coaches engaged school districts in year-long strategic planning to establish priorities, build consensus, and address inequities in arts instruction.
The Arts Ed Collective continues to deepen arts instruction and engagement for incarcerated and at-promise youth across the County, delivering services in juvenile detention facilities, continuation schools, County parks, and other community settings. This past year saw the launch of a prototype curriculum by the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory, who integrated the arts into school-day American history instruction at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall. These lessons combined historically marginalized perspectives with learning objectives from statewide standards to provide students with a culturally relevant and sustaining curriculum. We also celebrate the publication of a second evaluation report on Creative Wellbeing, which captured promising practices and the positive social-emotional benefits for young people who participated in healing-centered, arts-based programs.
Read more about how our work continues to progress on the goals in the LA County Regional Blueprint for Arts Education, holding steady our deep commitment to ensuring all young people have access to the arts—all year, every year—as a core part of their growth and development.