Grantee Database
Creative Acts
Grant Year
2023-24
Grant Program
Impact Projects
Award Amount
$25,000.00
Project Description
With support from the California Arts Council, Creative Acts Alumni Laboratory, a group of 15 formerly incarcerated people, will devise a play that both challenges the narratives held about people with lived experience of the legal system, and reveals the ongoing impact of that experience. There have been plays about incarceration and its roots, but this is different in that it invites the audience to creatively experience the ongoing impact, isolation and harm done, even years later. What does it feel like to reenter a world that is fully computerized, speaks a different language and has no idea that you are a foreigner because you carry your trauma on the inside and seem “well adjusted”? How can we enable people to have a visceral experience in partnership with those most affected and consequently change narratives?
Organization Summary
Our impact is driven by 4 key programs.
– At the foundation, our Alumni Laboratory is our Brain Trust. A group of 20 formerly incarcerated individuals meet monthly to shape our curriculum, be in community with other past participants with lived experience, and work as teaching artists.
– Our Art Attacks! Civic Engagement Program supports youth currently incarcerated in LA County Probation camps and halls. Using the arts as our driver, we enrich youth with the real history of our country, inform them of the laws and bills that directly impact them and uplift their voices through creative processes. This program has seen a 100% voter participation in the past election, up from 35% in the 2016 election.
– Our Arts and VR ReEntry Program supports incarcerated individuals in level 4 and 5 prisons with creative tools and experiences that allow them to radically reimagine their life and reentry experience. We work with adults and youth on the main line as well as those in solitary confinement. Merging arts and technology in a 7 day intensive, participants learn ways to process, understand and transmute their trauma creatively. We have a 96% decrease in infractions and are set to pilot a version of this program through mental health support.
– A new Program in partnership with the County’s Justice Care and Opportunity Department allows us to support recently returned citizens with arts programming, skills training, reentry housing support (through our partners) and creative resilience. We offer this program at the DOORS South LA Center and have been able to support over 50 returned citizens in the first year.
Organization
Creative Acts
Address
650 E Manchester Boulevard
Inglewood
90301
County
Los Angeles
Region
South – Los Angeles & Orange
Phone
(310) 729-1780
Congressional District
California Assembly district 50
State Assembly District
District 50
State Senate District
District 26
