Inner-City Arts After School Program
Inner-City Arts

Students in music class play percussion instruments.

It's been called "an awe-inspiring oasis" in a downtown Los Angeles neighborhood known as "skid row." Inner-City Arts, located in a beautifully converted auto body shop, is tangible evidence of the transformative powers of the arts. For the children and their families who go there, it is a sanctuary that both soothes and dazzles.

Inner-City Arts was created in 1989 when visual artist Bob Bates teamed up with area businessperson Irwin Jaeger to do something in response to severe cuts in the Los Angeles school budget. Right from the start, the founders were particularly concerned about the impact of these cuts on the children least likely to have other opportunities for discovery and creative expression.

Recognizing that the after-school hours offered an opportunity, Inner-City Arts developed a program that provides children from 14 local elementary schools hands-on activities in the visual arts, dance, digital animation, music and choir in classes held from 3 to 7 p.m., four days a week. Engaging some 800 children a year, the organization offers the only non-tuition-based arts education available to the children of downtown Los Angeles.

Most of the children are Latino, many with limited English language proficiency. A majority live within walking distance of the center and an estimated one-third of the children are classified as homeless. Few would have meaningful cultural exposure were it not for Inner-City Arts.

A recent study conducted by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) reveals that exposure is not the only benefit of Inner-City Arts. Children who attend perform better on standardized tests in language, reading, and math than children who do not.

Inner-City Arts is proud of these results. However, it also values a teaching philosophy that provides a non-threatening, non-competitive atmosphere for these young learners. According to Cynthia S. Harnisch, executive director of Inner-City Arts, "There is no bad art. There are no bad feelings. In art there are no mistakes or wrong answers. Only endless opportunities to experience the success of creating something from the heart."