In August of 2022, we entered a new partnership with Downey Foundation for Educational Opportunities (DFEO) to manage free visual arts enrichment classes for Downey Unified School District (DUSD) schools, as part of their ACCESS After School Program. DFEO is a non-profit organization that provides DUSD students with equitable, affordable, and accessible enrichment programs that expand their interests, talents, confidence, and independence to ensure they are college and career ready, globally competitive, and citizens of strong character.

Our teachers

This partnership allowed us to employ nine art teachers who collectively taught over 1,460 after school art classes last semester at 15 DUSD schools – Alameda Elementary, Carpenter Elementary, Gallatin Elementary, Gauldin Elementary, Imperial Elementary, Lewis Elementary, Price Elementary, Old River Elementary, Rio Hondo Elementary, RSG Elementary, Unsworth Elementary, Ward Elementary, Williams Elementary, Doty Middle School, and Griffiths Middle School. We are grateful to be working alongside such a talented and passionate group with diverse backgrounds and experiences in the arts, including working artists, art therapists, and arts educators.

Art in action

Through our partnership with DFEO, we facilitate engaging, dynamic, and imaginative visual arts projects that inspire experiences of joy, connection, and self expression for DUSD students. Our teachers provide a safe, welcoming, and inclusive after school environment that fosters creative exploration and limitless potential. We encourage our students to explore curiosities, push boundaries, and make mistakes when it comes to art. Students are introduced to a wide variety of art mediums – including drawing, painting, collaging, clay making, and more – and develop important personal and social skills through self reflection, community building, and art history and appreciation.

Student exhibitions

To celebrate the completion of our first semester, we organized a series of art exhibitions titled “See Me, See We!” to uplift the voices, reflections, dreams, visions, hopes and inspirations of 602 TK – 8th grade students from the Access After School Program. We worked closely with our teachers to select a theme that embodied their students’ interests, experiences, and forms of expression from last semester and to curate the displayed artworks. The exhibitions were free for families to attend and took place over the span of three separate days at the gallery and the Downey Theatre on Tuesday, December 13, Thursday, December 15, and Monday, December 19, 2022. Check out our highlight reel of the exhibitions here!