Community Arts Partnership (CAP)
California Institute of the Arts

"Kids in my neighborhood don't see paths, futures. Nobody has put that in their minds. After being in CAP for a while, it started to become, 'I could do this.'" Those are the words of a teenager who spent four years in the Community Arts Partnership (CAP), a program of the California Institute of the Arts. Her expanded sense of possibility is the result of free, in-depth arts workshops offered to youth ages 10-18 living in some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. In collaboration with 17 community organizations, the California Institute of the Arts provides more than 40 after-school and weekend arts programs. Students rely on their imaginations, interests, and community experiences to form the basis of their art projects.

A leader in the training of young artists, the CalArts Community Arts Partnership provides rigorous and innovative classes in a wide range of disciplines, including visual arts, music, dance, theater, writing, and film. Students also have access to digital arts education that introduces them to animation, video technology, and graphic design. The program reinforces its connection to the communities it serves through public exhibitions, screenings, readings, and productions.

CalArts faculty and students provide CAP youth with valuable one-on-one mentoring. Given the low student-teacher ratio of 4:1, instructors can develop significant mentoring relationships with participants. Many CAP instructors are student/artists themselves. Consequently, CAP students learn the importance of a college education in pursuing a personal goal. As a result, 75 percent of CAP students pursue higher education, compared with only about 25 percent of their peers from the same neighborhoods.

CAP offers youth in Los Angeles's underserved communities access to world-class arts instruction with teachers from one of America's premier arts institutions. Students' enhanced communication, critical thinking, computer, and other educational, social, and technical skills can assist them in a variety of careers. They say that CAP has expanded their horizons and, in some cases, saved their lives.