With support from California Arts Council, Creative Netwerk will expand culturally rooted Dance, DJ, and Wellness programs for underserved youth ages 5–18 and families of color and from low-income communities across Santa Barbara County. Programs operate 1–5 days per week during the school day, after school, and in summer at schools, affordable housing sites, community centers, and juvenile justice facilities throughout Santa Barbara, Goleta, Carpinteria, Lompoc, and Santa Maria. Creative Netwerk will provide 35–85 weekly classes in Hip Hop, Breaking, Popping, House, DJing, music production, and wellness practices, serving more than 4,000 youth annually. Funds will support teaching artist employment, professional development, artist residencies, and youth performances while expanding partnerships with Lompoc USD and welcoming guest artists to lead workshops in Dance, DJing, Wellness, MCing, Photography, Theater, and Artist Career Development.
In Santa Barbara County, Creative Netwerk partners with Goleta USD, Carpinteria USD, Lompoc USD, and Santa Barbara USD, offering hip-hop, street/club dance, and DJ programs, and curricula connecting regional dance styles to wellness and family engagement, in after-school weekly classes and events.
CN provides access to Winter, Spring Break, and Summer Dance Camps, in partnership with A-OK and United Way, leading to performances and family dance celebrations with live music by DJs. CN reaches 3,500 K–12 students/year across Santa Barbara County in Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Goleta, Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, Buellton, Guadalupe, Isla Vista.
CN partners with Title I public schools, affordable housing, juvenile justice facilities, and CBOs, finding solutions to learning loss, isolation, and trauma through dance culture, music, and community. CN’s diverse arts leaders deepen collaboration and unification of the many regional street dance forms across California. DJs, teaching artists, and community partners expand access to free, life-changing learning, dance cultural development, and family engagement events.
Community partners include United Way Fun in the Sun, One Community Bridge Project, the Theater Program at La Cumbre MS, the Dance Program at Santa Barbara HS, Santa Barbara City Parks and Recreation, Santa Maria Juvenile Hall, Notes for Notes, and more.
At the Boys & Girls Club of Downtown Santa Barbara, CN teaches four days/week youth and teen Hip-Hop, Breaking, DJ, and Folklorico classes, weekly open sessions, and a monthly family class.
With Lompoc HS, CN provides weekly after-school programs and 20 week-long artist residency programs, sharing foundation, history, culture, and training in dance, DJing, event production, photography, videography, MCing, and music production.
In LA, CN partners with After-School All-Stars, the ICEF Drama Club, ISANA, Boys & Girls Clubs, Glendale Unified, and the Arc to serve 1,000 students/year, including education in regional dances such as Clowning and Krump.