562 Arts

Member Since 2025

MISSION: 562 Arts is a queer-led, grassroots art collective uplifting artists from Southeast Los Angeles County by using the arts as tools for healing and liberation.

VISION: We believe in the combined power of art and activism to combat systems of oppression. Through local programming, accessible workshops, and public events, 562 Arts seeks to cultivate an inclusive environment in which everyone feels empowered to create and dream.

The Actors' Gang

Member Since 2016

The Actors’ Gang presents new, unconventional and uncompromising plays and dynamic reinterpretations of the classics; restores the ancient sense of the stage as a shared sacred space; introduces theater to children and inspires them to find their own creative voices, and brings the freedom of self-expression to the incarcerated.

Our plays and programs create theatrical experiences that entertain, inspire, and engage active ongoing dialogue about our society, culture and the human condition. We hope to provoke new ideas and activism on a variety of issues including arts education, the school-to-prison pipeline, criminal justice reform, equality, and tolerance. The Education Department began in 2000 and continues to provide programs that are vital and unique empowering children and teens to discover, develop and share their individual creative voice within a community of peers. TAG Education Department (TAG-ED) provides free in-school, after-school and summer theatre programs for diverse youth populations in Los Angeles County. Since 2006, The Actors' Gang Prison Project (TAGPP) conducts seven-day intensive programs that transition into weekly peer-led classes managed by TAGPP. Currently, we program inside 13 of California state prisons on 15 yards. In 2016 we created the Reentry Program for recently incarcerated men and women coming home and the Youth Project for currently incarcerated juveniles. We envision the formerly justice involved community as the leaders of TAG Prison Project. The Actors' Gang Alumni Advocacy Project, a network for formerly incarcerated individuals who want to continue programming as they transition from prison to their community, launched in 2018 with a focus on placing individuals with lived experience at the helm of expanding our community-led support system.

Armory Center for the Arts

Founding Member

Founded in 1989, Armory Center for the Arts is a nonprofit visual arts organization in Pasadena, California. We present exhibitions by forward-thinking contemporary artists and provide artist-led education programs for children, teens, and adults. Guided by a mission to nurture our community and its young people by creating, learning, and presenting art to advance equity and social justice, we envision joyful, healthy, and equitable communities shaped by imagination, creativity, and diverse voices.

Artworxla

Member Since 2016

artworxLA combats the high school dropout crisis by engaging youth in a long-term, sequential arts program offering a pursuable life path that inspires them to stay in school, evolve as unique individuals and flourish as creative adults. Our ultimate aspiration is for all students to graduate high school with an expanded sense of community, with an awareness of their agency in society, and on a path to a living wage.

We achieve our mission through a healing-informed and culturally-responsive approach to four levels of programming focused on exposure, skills-building, post-secondary and career preparation. We creatively engage alternative high school students with sustained arts exposure and immersion; connect youth to a network of peers, artists, cultural partners, higher education, creative industries, and supportive adults; and invest human and financial resources around ongoing, persistent student and alumni support.

CLAYDD

Member Since 2023

CLAYDD is a Non-Profit Organization committed to empowering youth with mental health differences, special needs and foster youth. We are a group of educators, artists and healers collectively inspiring learners and organizations through educational programs centered around mindfulness, meditation and the healing qualities of clay.

Dance and Dialogue

Member Since 2023

Founded in 2012 on the principles of equity and equality for all, Dance and Dialogue is a non-profit organization expanding access to high quality arts and healing by providing intergenerational, multicultural programming throughout Southern California. By bringing together people from all socioeconomic backgrounds and giving them the chance to learn from and about each other, we build bridges between generations, geographic regions, and the many systemic barriers of today’s society. Our programs work to break down the preconceived differences that result from a fear of others, but that once experienced firsthand, are a chance to grow the world. We also strive to help participants to address their fears that hold them back from accessing their fullest potential. With us, Joy and gratitude takes center stage.

Rooted in cultural anthropology and social-emotional learning, many of the Dance and Dialogue programs utilize movement and conversation to encourage creative self-expression and the release of physical and mental tension. True to our name, all programs open and close in a council circle, where participants share personal stories, explore their feelings, listen, and learn from others. These dialogues support the establishment of brave, safe spaces within each community, and allow for expression without fear of judgment. We prioritize process and healing and aim to support the development of individual and collective empathy, confidence, self-expression, and compassion.

Fostering Dreams

Member Since 2023

Fostering Dreams Project is a nonprofit organization that provides healing-centered dance, music, and performing arts programs for youth in under-resourced communities. Our programs are designed to give youth a place to belong with a positive outlet. We use trauma-informed, culturally responsive arts education to support social-emotional learning, mental wellness, and self-expression for students in schools, community centers, and institutional settings. Through our signature Steps to Empowerment framework, participants engage in mindful movement, creative exploration, and collaborative artistry that builds confidence, trust, and a sense of belonging.

Our vision is a world where all young people, regardless of their background, have access to creative spaces that nurture healing, joy, and possibility. We believe the arts are a powerful tool for transformation, connection, and resilience. Fostering Dreams Project creates inclusive environments where young people are seen, supported, and empowered to imagine and move toward brighter futures.

Give a Beat

Member Since 2021

Founded in 2014, Give a Beat is a California based nonprofit that utilizes the power of music as a pathway for healing and opportunity for those impacted by the criminal justice system. Rooted in Los Angeles County, we deliver consistent, hands-on programming inside juvenile halls, adult prisons, reentry spaces, and community sites, serving system-impacted youth, incarcerated adults, and returning residents.

Give a Beat currently operates 14 active programs, with Los Angeles serving as its primary hub, and reaches more than 700 participants annually. Programs focus on professional-level DJing and music production instruction delivered by trained teaching artists using a trauma-informed approach. Music is the core intervention through which participants build emotional regulation, confidence, and transferable skills that support personal stability."

Green Arrow Co-Lab

Member Since 2023

At Green Arrow Co-Lab, we support young people harmed by systemic injustice and structural racism through the healing power of nature. Our work revolves around trauma-informed gardening and mindfulness programs. By fostering healing, self-confidence, and passion exploration, we help them reconnect with themselves and their community.

InsideOut Writers

Founding Member (rejoined in 2018)

Since hosting its initial creative writing classes in 1996 InsideOUT Writers (IOW) has grasped and evolved an intimate understanding of the unique challenges, services, and opportunities required to reduce recidivism among formerly incarcerated 12 to 18-year-olds within the world’s largest juvenile justice system. IOW’s reentry services and strategic partnerships pave an avenue of supportive, yet self-directed, action leveraging tools for pro-social means of self-expression, self-reflection, and grounded inter-group communication. Through writing, IOW participants are both incentivized and empowered to re-route their lives by shifting their mindset.

In 2009 IOW created our Alumni Program. Since the program’s inception, IOW has held five essential components focused on intervention and support services that assess, prevent, and intervene high-risk behavior by formerly incarcerated teenagers and young adults. All program elements feed into the larger mission of continuing to provide pro-social activities as a route to reaching youth.

Jail Guitar Doors

Member Since 2016

Jail Guitar Doors USA empowers youth and adults impacted by incarceration through creative programs that support reentry, recovery, and employment.

No Easy Props

Member Since 2021

No Easy Props, Inc. a 501(c)(3) arts organization (est. 2010) is committed to youth development, teen violence prevention, community healing and social change through the transformative power of Hip-Hop culture, physically educating, entertaining, inspiring, and empowering youth and all people through dance, art, and music programming and entertainment.

No Easy Props offers Hip-Hop cultural immersive experiences, education, and violence prevention training for proactive youth development, BIPOC equity and community wellbeing.

We activate Teaching Artists as catalysts for impact in BIPOC communities—educating, inspiring, and empowering youth through quality Hip-Hop dance, art, and music programming. Our motto "no easy props" encourages youth to work hard to earn accolades, and that to be change makers and culture shifter requires dedication and commitment as community stewards.

We also aspire to document, preserve, and share history of Hip-Hop culture and West Coast rooted funk & soul dance and the impact it continues to have on the world. We do all of this to foster peace, love, and unity through connection in our communities.

The PLUS ME Project

The PLUS ME Project mission is to activate the art of personal storytelling to increase confidence in youth as they pursue college, career, and life goals. Our approach is focused on the personal narrative which we use to inspire self-awareness, self-confidence, and social connection. We offer eight story-based workshop series which holistically address those markers of well-being and success in youth, educators, and guardians.

Our story building models support this work by teaching youth how to reflect on the elements of their life (characters, settings, events) and turn them into fruitful lessons by identifying their individual and collective strengths. As students articulate their experiences they identify their own struggles and strengths while often making unexpected connections with peers over shared experiences. Over the last twelve years, we have positively impacted the lives of over 200,000 students from over 450 underserved middle and high schools throughout Southern California.

Project Knucklehead

Member Since 2023

Project KnuckleHead is a non-profit organization based in California with global impact. Our mission is to inspire and empower youth and communities through the arts, education, and activism.

Returning Home ReEntry Project

Member Since 2022

Returning Home Re-entry Project (RHRP) is committed to lifelong mentoring for youth inside of juvenile halls and probation camps. The goal for RHRP is to help youth create a Returning Home plan that ensures their freedom from incarceration, personal wellness and maintain their freedom when they return home.

It is also to help youth “return home” into their own bodies while they are inside by building up their healing practices for their own safety and for the safety of the community they are in (no matter where they are physically). The mentors and service providers for RHRP is a collective of individuals with a total of 100+ years of experience combined in mentoring, youth work, youth empowerment, care team models, community peacebuilding and cultural transformation. RHRP provides services to youth ages 13-26 in communities of color.

We provide incarcerated youth with guidance on social-emotional development and specialized mentoring services. RHRP is a youth-centered program that wholeheartedly believes in modeling healthy and stable adult-youth relationships by meeting young people where they are (psychologically, physically, emotionally and spiritually) by providing services and resources based on their individual circumstances and needs. In addition to providing direct services to youth, the Returning Home Reentry Project provides training focused on care team, capacity building, restorative justice, peacebuilding, and alternative healing practices.

Rhythm Arts Alliance

Founding Member

Rhythm Arts Alliance creates a culturally affirming and supportive environment where underserved and at-risk youth can express themselves, build self-confidence, and deepen their connection to their heritage. Through the transformative power of drumming, dance, and song, we help youth heal from trauma, develop essential life skills, and foster a sense of belonging within their communities.

Street Poets

Founding Member

Street Poets harnesses the healing power of poetry and music to build community and inspire our next generation to write, rap and dream a new world into being for us all.

The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company is a nonprofit arts organization that bridges systemic inequalities in the lack of arts access in LA through tuition-free high quality arts programs focused specifically on amplifying original voices. Focused on the live theatre space, The Unusual Suspects aims to create a stage for a new generation of storytellers where all LA youth are equipped with the tools and resources to effectively and powerfully share their own stories.

Providing free access to dozens of year-long theatre residencies focused on the creation and performance of original plays as well as exposure to professional theatre performances, The Unusual Suspects has evolved from a local program serving roughly 50 participants in Van Nuys in 1993 into a robust program that serves over 3,000 youth and families in over 20 communities of Los Angeles annually.

Upward Together

Member Since 2023

Upward Together transforms burnout into peace through art and mindfulness. We create experiences that help youth and adults build calm, confidence, and community. Our approach blends art, mindfulness, and neuroscience-informed practices to help individuals regulate stress, express emotion, and rediscover joy. Each program is designed as a practice, not a performance—a space to pause, reflect, and connect through creativity.

Our mission is to empower people to find balance and belonging through creative healing practices that strengthen both the individual and the collective. We envision a world where creative expression is recognized as essential to mental health—where schools, organizations, and communities use art not just to create, but to heal and communicate.

Guided by our core values, we believe:

Creativity is Healing—art is a language of the nervous system, restoring calm and connection.

Mindfulness is Practice—peace begins with pause and self-awareness.

Community is Care—healing happens in relationship, through empathy and shared experience.

Integrity Creates Impact—we lead with transparency, compassion, and accountability.

Joy Sustains Growth—creativity and play are vital to resilience and renewal.

Like the roots of a Sequoia forest, our well-being grows stronger when nurtured together.

Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural

Member Since 2018

Founded in 2001, Tia Chucha’s mission is to transform community in the Northeast San Fernando Valley (NSFV) and beyond through ancestral knowledge, the arts, literacy and creative engagement. We encourage participants to explore their culture through our current core programs: the Cultural Arts Series provides eight to 12 week arts education classes; Trauma to Transformation provides cultural arts programs to systems-impacted youth and adults; Indigenous in Us exposes residents to the beauty of community-based Indigenous Native Mexica teachings and practices; Coateca Collective, a culinary arts program for youth and adults, centers healthy food and exploring self-care through cooking; One-time and major events consist of open mic nights, art exhibitions, community marketplaces, an annual Dia de los Muertos workshop series, and an annual winter arts celebration for families. Since 2005, we have hosted Celebrating Words, the longest-running free annual outdoor literacy and arts festival in the area. Our independent bookstore hosts literacy-focused programs including a monthly book club, Lil’ Readers, a bilingual and multicultural story hour and activities for toddlers, and author events whose stories reflect those of our communities.

Venice Arts

Member Since 2025

Venice Arts was founded in 1993 with a bold vision: to build a vibrant community where creativity empowers young people to thrive. Rooted in the belief that art is a catalyst for change, we champion creative equity by providing low-income youth with access to high-quality media arts education, advanced learning opportunities, and pathways to college and careers in the creative sector. At the heart of it all is a deep commitment to nurturing imagination, amplifying youth voices, and using the power of art to transform lives and communities.

Versa-Style

Member Since 2019

Versa-Style Street Dance Company (VSDC) was founded in 2005 when two lifelong Los Angeles County residents established a dance company that celebrates the roots, origins, beauty and power of Hip Hop and Street Dance culture. Today, VSDC refers not only to this professional dance ensemble, but also to the multifaceted service organization into which it has grown, focused on youth development and community well-being. We empower the next generation of changemakers through Street Dance, creating groundbreaking concert dance works, culturally responsive education programs, and transformational community events to promote belonging, authentic representation and skill building through self-expression.

WriteGirl / Bold Ink Writers

Founding Member

Founded in 2001, WriteGirl is a creative writing and mentoring organization that promotes creativity, critical thinking and leadership skills to empower underserved teen girls. WriteGirl currently serves approximately 500 teens through programs across the Los Angeles region including boys and co-ed groups through its Bold Ink Writers program. WriteGirl / Bold Ink Writers programs offer teens the chance to work with mentors, using creative writing as a vehicle for self-expression and personal development. Workshops feature multi-sensory activities and are led by professional writers with backgrounds in diverse fields such as as screenwriting, songwriting, education, poetry, fiction and journalism. WriteGirl / Bold Ink Writers programs help young people cultivate their creative voices and develop the confidence and communication skills they need to attain academic and professional success. WriteGirl / Bold Ink Writers is proud to be a founding member of the Arts for Healing and Justice Network (AHJN). For more information about WriteGirl / Bold Ink Writers, visit www.writegirl.org.