With support from the California Arts Council, TEAPOT GARDENS will be able to establish a micro-economy for artists and disadvantaged communities. We can triple our program capacity, hire more artists, and build a thriving creative community in central Los Angeles.
PUBLIC PARADISE is our signature Paradise Tea Garden: a permanent, open-access botanical garden and tea house. No gates, no waitlists, no fees. This space serves free garden-grown herbal teas, hosts artist-led workshops, and provides a vital “third space” for connection and mental wellness in a historically park-poor neighborhood. We incorporate ancient indigenous technology like water catchment and irrigation to demonstrate regenerative living.
Garden Sundaze is our biweekly volunteer day where neighbors tend the garden, learn to grow herbs and flowers, and share tea together. New gardeners learn alongside experienced stewards in an informal, welcoming environment where strangers become friends and concrete becomes canopy.
Art Oasis is a paid, multi-year fellowship for local teens ages 16-21, providing workforce training in event production, arts leadership, and community organizing. Fellows earn stipends, receive mentorship from industry professionals, and produce public events that serve thousands of neighbors annually.
City Sprouts is a free after school art & environmental education program serving low income children ages 9-11. It offers weekly after-school garden workshops in botanical art, composting, and healthy cooking. Six teen-led field trips take families to cultural and natural sites across Los Angeles, to do art outdoors. The program trains and pays 12 local teens as mentors each year, removing financial barriers by providing free participation, transportation, and all supplies.
Together, these programs build greenspace, climate resilience, and cultural connection—proving that a more beautiful, equitable Los Angeles is possible.