COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Every movement has reached its goals through solidarity across cultures. Transformation Arts is committed to breaking down cultural and economic silos and providing spaces where the most vulnerable communities in LA can thrive creatively and socially. Creating social change requires communities and artists to work collaboratively to fight against disparities. Transformation Arts has a long-term vision of creating a broad-based coalition to support community-based artists, advocate for economic justice, and develop programming and art projects that leave our communities better than we found them.
Over the years we've worked with many wonderful partners who share this vision. Here are a few of our favorites.
Basketball court, First Lutheran Church of Venice, in partnership with @Veniceball. Design by @katbingart
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We are proud of the central role of Wilmington youth from the Teen Center, a safe space for youth at the Wilmington Recreation Center, to create the final installation of mosaic art in the Wilmington Town Square. Seventeen ceramics workshops were led by artist Katy Krantz. Youth participants learned a range of skills, including mosaic tile design, drawing, photoshop and tile installation. Embedded in each of the six mosaic murals are many tiles actually created by the youth. Students came away with an understanding about the importance of taking care of their community in a safe space to explore their creative gifts and talents. We are thankful – they are our future.
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We are grateful to neighborhood change agents LANI-Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative for our collaborations. Through our collective efforts, we completed the Mar Vista Beautification Project, which was a recipient of the American Planning Association’s Hard-Won Victory Award. The award recognizes a planning initiative or other planning effort undertaken by a community, neighborhood, citizens group, or jurisdiction in the face of difficult or trying circumstances. This much-deserved reognition was awarded for our efforts to address the challenges of a community conflicted by the forces of gentrification and homelessness.
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Florence Firestone Community Organization (FFCO), a community-based nonprofit in the Florence-Graham unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, shares our commitment to improving the lives of the most vulnerable in Los Angeles. Their community services, twice monthly free food distribution and community resource fairs demonstrate their commitment to Florence Graham. Working with FFCO’s established community outreach enabled us to hear directly from and support many voices in our efforts to bring new civic art to the community library.
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As an organization focused on using art to create change in our communities, Transformation Arts partners with Black, Latino, LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented artists from across Greater Los Angeles who recognize the importance of incorporating social practice in their art. For example, at each of their calendared exhibitions, DMST Atelier, an artist-led community gallery, simultaneously hosts Community Feeds that serve 60-100 local unhoused neighbors. Their efforts also include various interactive, participatory, and collaborative art projects that take place on the streets of Los Angeles directly outside their Skid Row doors, thus removing traditional barriers to experiencing and participating in art making. Transformation Arts is proud to partner with and support such like-minded artists.
