Los Angeles County is inviting the community to participate in a conversation to create an updated regional plan for arts education at the Santa Clarita Sports Complex on Saturday.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors has called for an updated plan reflecting the current education and priorities that addresses both in-school and out-of-school learning opportunities.
This forum is one of 11 across the county that will allow Santa Clarita residents as well as representatives from schools, arts organizations and local businesses to envision how to create a stronger community through the arts, according to the L.A. County Arts Commission.
“The intention behind these forums is to start a discussion about what their experience has been with arts education and how they would envision the future of arts education would look like in the county for not just K-12, but going beyond into higher education,” said Deborah Morales, arts education coordinator with the Commission. “We’re then collecting the data and using that as a foundation for a new blueprint, especially given that the last time that the blueprint was looked at was almost a decade ago.”
The event will focus on how arts engage with communities and equality with the goal of figuring out what areas require a little bit more attention, especially in the “underserved communities that may not have had a voice in a way that others have” in past years, Morales said.
The conversations are facilitated in a number of creative ways and will involve interactive conversations and arts experiences, like having participants paint what they envision, according to Morales.
The Commission is also partnering with other county services, including the L.A. County Department of Mental Health, to create more than just a linear arts program, Morales said.
“It goes beyond that,” Morales said. “We want to create a vehicle for social change and holistic solution to a lot of different social problems.”
After the last of the forums will be held on June 22, the Commission will compile the data and the Board of Supervisors will be ruling on the findings, which will be released by the winter, according to Morales.
This free event is open to all L.A. County residents with a continental breakfast and a special art performance beginning at 9 a.m., according to the Commission.
The Community Art Forum is scheduled for Saturday, June 8, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Santa Clarita Sports Complex located at 20870 Centre Pointe Parkway in Santa Clarita.
For more information or to RSVP, visit tinyurl.com/y6dg7pjj.
