With support from the California Arts Council, Drawing Together will leverage general operating funds to support the promotion and retention of existing staff, facility fees, professional services fees for a strategic plan, professional development, and updated marketing materials and cloud storage. As an organization in its seventh year of operations, we are working on building out a plan for our legacy of our work that has included contemporary arts education, workshops focused on positive mental health outcomes, community-based art projects based on specific health indicators, and publication of workbooks that conceptualize our projects.
Our organization serves early childhood ages, school age, teens, youth in group homes, and adults in two counties (Los Angeles and San Bernardino) through a variety of formats that includes culturally responsive, contemporary arts education; workshops through different curriculum such as our mindfulness and authenticity as a trauma-informed tools; community projects that address specific health indicators as determined by health organizations; workbook publication that is utilized in our workshops and help to contextualize our community projects; and outreach and advocacy services that connect art making to social outcomes.
Some of our ongoing programs include:
Summer Art & Nature Camp program in Wrightwood – offered for the last 4 years that serves residents of both counties, as this rural community is made up of both Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
Art Exploration classes – offered weekly for ages 2 years through teens in Wrightwood and Pasadena throughout the year.
Workshops – offered in Mindfulness, Art & Authenticity, and Art as a Positive Coping Mechanism, based on client request of grant funds