REPORT OF ACTIVITIES USC Arts in Action was launched in 2018, spurred by a mission to create, support, and present captivating art that boldly drives positive social change, building on USC’s commitment to addressing intractable issues. In the short time since its inception, this highly original program has nurtured lasting partnerships between USC and visionary Los Angeles organizations, collectives, artists, and activists in a series of imaginative projects that have addressed some of the most pressing problems facing Southern California, America, and the planet: homelessness, mass incarceration, widening inequality, and climate crisis, to name a few. From teams of USC performers collaborating with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles on pop-up street theatre in support of the Reform L.A. Jails movement; to the creation of arts wellbeing packages given to hundreds of houseless and isolated Angelenos during the COVID-19 pandemic, our projects have spanned a wide range of art forms and incorporated expertise from across the university’s many centers of scholarship. The program has prioritized artwork that is the result of a shared, collective vision, where the collaborative process of creating the work is itself a core part of the project’s impact and value. In every case, Arts in Action has leveraged USC students’ passion and energy for creating change, setting up symbiotic relationships in which those students have learned from Los Angeles community leaders and acquired experiences that are difficult to replicate in the classroom. Students, guided by faculty and partners, are the engine that powers Arts in Action, whether they be dancers equipping K-12 youth with the skills to combat anxiety through hip-hop, or a team of specially trained clowns deploying themselves to palliative-care wards and foster-youth centers. Many of USC’s pre-existing strengths have facilitated the rapid development of Arts in Action. First, the program has quickly activated a highly skilled, diverse, and enthusiastic network of faculty collaborators who have, for a long time, individually maintained high- trust relationships with community partners. Second, USC Visions and Voices’ outstanding track record of presenting social justice-oriented arts programming on campus has provided Arts in Action with a natural home from which to grow a wealth of institutional knowledge to draw from, and a set of values to build upon. Finally, USC overflows with exceptional artists, creators, designers, and makers, whose talents are sharpened in a city whose social and environmental challenges are only matched by its levels of creative ambition. This report collates and chronologically reflects on Arts in Action’s achievements during its first three years, achievements that equally belong to our many partners who are all spearheading movements and fighting for change. The report also looks ahead to Arts in Action’s opportunities for growth, considering the potential power of a USC arts community that is increasingly committed to art in the service of social change. “This project was the most impactful of my college experience. I’ve never experienced anything like this; everyone’s working towards a common goal, everyone’s holding up everyone else.” —Cole Pham, Thornton School of Music Class of ’18, Arts in Action Participant SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION CONTENTS SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 SECTION 2 PROJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2018–19 Artists Addressing Homelessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Jails and Justice: Rethinking Public Safety through the Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 I Too Am: Teens, Media Arts, and Belonging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Kaufman Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Medical Clowning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 RAD in the Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2019–20 Skid Row Arts Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Performing Policy: The Justice Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Warrior Bards: Veterans Exploring Ancient Drama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 EMPOWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2020–21 Skid Row COVID-19 Arts Care Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Heroes de la Comunidad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Mobilize! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Foresight Is 2020: Racial Justice and the Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 University Park Slow Jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 At a Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Looking Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 SECTION 3 STUDENTS LEADING CHANGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 List of 2020–21 Mobilize! Awardees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 SECTION 4 CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 SECTION 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2 3 ARTISTS ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS Arts in Action’s inaugural project, Artists Addressing Homelessness , immediately signified the program’s intent to engage with L.A’s most urgent and visible crisis. The project brought together ten students from USC’s Thornton School of Music with singers from Skid Row’s Urban Voices Project—a choir comprised of adults who’ve experienced homelessness—for a one-week intensive that saw the creation of a new band, The Trailblazers. Within four days, student and community participants bonded over the creation music and lyrics for four songs. Under the leadership of international artists Sigrun Griffiths and Guy Wood, participating students were introduced to the vital role that community music programs play in Skid Row, while members of the Urban Voices Project took advantage of a composition and performance forum to share their life experiences and artistry. The one week intensive culminated with two live performances and Artists Addressing Homelessness , having seeded supportive relationships between students and Skid Row community members, led to a monthly series of full-band karaoke stations on the streets of Skid Row throughout 2019, implemented by the students themselves. SECTION 2 PROJECTS “Skid Row is the ripest of fruit, ready for a new level of creativity and justice. Collaboration and partnership are key and Artists Addressing Homelessness demonstrated this and blazed a trail for others to follow. The bar is now raised both inside and outside Skid Row on how to work together for the good of all .”—Tom Grode, Urban Voices Project Vocalist and Skid Row Activist “The project made me feel like I was equal to every other member of the group and that I was an important part of it as well. To be with such a diverse group of people and have one common goal, which was only to spread joy through music, was very fulfilling. The simplicity of it was so refreshing and it cleared out all the other noise that I usually am preoccupied by .”—Gloria Palermo, Class of 2019, USC Thornton School of Music 2018–19 5 JAILS AND JUSTICE: RETHINKING PUBLIC SAFETY THROUGH THE ARTS In support of the Reform L.A. Jails movement and America’s over-incarceration of people of color, Jails and Justice: Rethinking Public Safety through the Arts, placed students from the USC School of Dramatic Arts alongside performers from Black Lives Matter Los Angeles to create theatre that explored the contested topic of public safety. Performing in pairs on trains and buses under the guise of two people arguing about the effects of the prison system, the collective subsequently represented their work as a one-act forum theatre play at the California African American Museum (CAAM), where audience members were challenged to interrupt the play and insert their own ideas. “Inspired by the Black Arts Movement of the Black Power Era, this collective moves within the tradition of conceptualizing, creating, and highlighting artistic works made to contribute to the actualization of a just and liberated world for Black people. Everybody’s hearts were open; everybody’s energy was on the conversation; nobody was distracted because we knew the stakes were too high.” —Funmilola Fagbamila, Arts and Culture Director, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Jails and Justice at CAAM also featured an alliance of USC students from multiple schools who conceived and presented a breathtaking performance installation, #JailBedDrop, centered upon two repurposed jail beds. Following this first showing, the #JailBedDrop ensemble has gone on to represent its work at Geffen Contemporary, A Noise Within Theatre, Leimert Park’s MLK Festival, and SoLA Contemporary. In 2019, through many public interventions such as these, the Reform L.A. Jails campaign successfully mobilized voters to pass Ballot Measure R and ensure a divestment of county funds away from mass incarceration and towards mental health services. I TOO AM: TEENS, MEDIA ARTS, AND BELONGING 2018 also saw Arts in Action make its first awards to faculty-devised projects, a number of which have continued as successful multi-year initiatives focused on youth wellbeing. I Too Am: Teens, Media Arts, and Belonging , sees USC Annenberg’s Critical Media Project engage with teachers and students from four Los Angeles high schools, providing youth with critical and creative tools to share stories about identity and belonging in the face of transitions and displacement. Field trips transport youth to varied geographic environs, asking them to reflect on the way place speaks to us based on our backgrounds, shaping who we are. To supplement the field trips, youth use the Critical Media Project to ask ‘ what is my story? ’ as it relates to place, race, and class, considering what it means to be an American, a Californian, an Angeleno, and part of a local community. Responding to the conditions enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic, I Too Am is currently offered online as a Critical Makers Lab, reaching approximately 185 middle and high school youth through weekly thematic modules. Diversity, variety, This is what L.A. is to me. If only all the people can see what I can see. They are so sure The urban streets are filled with vultures But this bubble of ignorance shall be punctured So we can express our culture. There is low contrast When our similarities are vast And all of this prejudice Is nothing, but stained glass —Reflection by Antonio Valles, I Too Am Participant “You may think since it was my first time there, I would feel out of place. But no, it was quite the opposite. I felt at home. It felt right to be around so much diversity, [it] reminds me that not one race or one culture defines L.A. I, too, am L.A., as are you.” —Field Trip Reflection by Blanca, I Too Am Participant “The program is amazing in that our students rarely, if ever, leave the confines of the city. Also, interacting with college students [is] valuable so that the students can start seeing models for their future. I cannot emphasize [enough] how different this is for them from their daily routine” —Teacher, Bravo Medical Magnet High School 6 7 KAUFMAN CONNECTIONS Kaufman Connections, meanwhile, is a 24-week hip- hop dance program that introduces 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to the choreographic process through weekly, one-hour sessions of integrated dance instruction at USC’s neighboring 32nd Street Elementary School. Delivered by student teaching artists from USC’s Kaufman School of Dance, the program enables LAUSD educators to draw upon the proven profound effects that in-school dance education has on students, including improved literacy and STEM test scores; neurological benefits; development of social and emotional coping skills; and increased teacher and school morale. Now in its third year, Kaufman Connections has pivoted during the COVID-19 pandemic to teach dance in eleven online classrooms for 274 students, at a time when the physical and social impacts of hip-hop are more needed than ever. “I gained so much from this experience...Being in a classroom with those kids every Friday really strengthened my vision as a leader. I was constantly reminded of the importance of teaching by example and to be the best version of myself as a person and artist so I could virtually transmit that to the kids.” —Alvaro Montelongo, Kaufman School of Dance Class of 2019 “I love this program...Some kids struggle with reading and math, but the dance moves always bring connection and community even across grade levels.” — Teacher, 32nd Street Elementary School MEDICAL CLOWNING USC’s team of medical clowns, housed within the School of Dramatic Arts, spent 2019 partnering with The Children’s Bureau in an American first: bringing medical clowning into The Bureau’s mental health programming which provides a space for affected children to receive emotional and transitional support. Globally, the foster care system is traumatic for children, interfering with their ability to cope with emotions and interact with others. The clowns’ play-based, non-verbal approach helped cultivate attachment focused interactions that created healing connections amongst affected children and their caregivers. Furthermore, the program presented interactive workshops for Children’s Bureau staff, providing them with new techniques to build self- esteem and assist with addressing children’s difficulty with emotional reactions and social connection. “I want to thank each of you for the amazing collaboration! I have never seen the caregivers and parents appear so light and hearing the halls filled with laughter was incredible.” — Support Group Leader, The Children’s Bureau “It’s like a blessing from the universe. This is so innovative. I feel like it’s already had a really significant impact. Medical clowning crosses language, culture, color, and socio- economic status. It’s just a really exciting thing going on here.” —Sean Sparks, Program Coordinator, The Children’s Bureau “It puts all of my passions together. If our playful and joyful presence brightens their day even for a couple of minutes, that brings me such fulfillment. I think the clowns send a message: No matter what, you can find time to smile.” —Katie Snyder, School of Dramatic Arts Class of 2018 RAD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD As school budgets get tight, the arts are often the first programs to be cut and, consequently, critical career paths for innovative, creative young people suffer. RAD in the Neighborhood, led by graduate students at the Roski School of Art and Design, addressed that problem by providing weekly afterschool visual arts and design programming and mentorship for students from Ánimo Jackie Robinson High School (AJR), in partnership with the Californian African American Museum. The program featured project-based classes that included youth-made graphic novels, sculpture, ceramics, photography and applied forms of design, all in the service of strengthening the high school-to- college pipeline through exposure to art and design education. RAD in the Neighborhood culminated in a community exhibition of AJR students’ artwork, curated and installed by their USC mentors. “It takes a community to create change and we are honored to have strong partners to implement a deep dive into the arts for local students... This is truly an outstanding community committed to the capacity for positive change through the arts and community engagement.”— Dean Haven Lin-Kirk, Roski School of Art and Design 8 9 SKID ROW ARTS MAP In 2019–20, Arts in Action deepened its engagement with key issue areas and its network of partners. Returning to Skid Row, students from the Roski School of Art and Design worked closely with leaders from the Skid Row Arts Alliance to produce the very first Skid Row Arts Map , which collected the local arts programs and festivals that are available to Skid Row residents in a vibrant, simple, and durable guide. Printing and disseminating thousands of copies, the project helped identify and strengthen connections between L.A.’s largest homeless population and the neighborhood’s vital arts and culture providers, while training students in the execution of a community-led design process. “We can finally recognize the reality of the existing arts activity in the neighborhood with dignity and respect...There are very transformative things happening here and they’re all grassroots and community based. The fact that they were all put on the map is a testament to the fact that these people are here and transforming the arts community. It’s most important to me to keep shedding light on these arts programs and organizations that are accessible to anyone.” — Clancey Cornell, Skid Row Arts Alliance PERFORMING POLICY: THE JUSTICE PROJECT For Performing Policy: The Justice Project, faculty leaders who’re invested in incarceration reform convened a unique combined class comprised of students from the School of Dramatic Arts, the Price School of Public Policy, and formerly incarcerated members of reform organization Healing Dialogue and Action Following a semester-long collaboration, the ensemble researched, wrote, and performed Pause, a play that drew upon participants’ actual experiences of prison and introduced both students and audiences to the healing potentials of restorative justice. Performed online in an early iteration of Zoom theatre for an audience of hundreds, viewers were encouraged to interrupt, alter, and even enter the narrative to imagine their own solutions and pathways onstage but also in reality. “Most of [the students] talked about how Chris and Tobias [participants from Healing Dialogue and Action] changed their lives. Many had a very conservative view of the criminal justice system, and as a result of the interactions in this class, their views have completely changed. This is so powerful and important because they are the future policy makers and lawyers that will be making decisions about prisons and related policy in the future.” —Jocelyn Poe, PhD Candidate, Price School of Public Policy 2019–20 10 11 WARRIOR BARDS: VETERANS EXPLORING ANCIENT DRAMA A team of faculty and students drawn from Classics, Cinematic Arts, and Dramatic Arts partnered with the L.A. Veterans Collaborative to create Warrior Bards: Veterans Exploring Ancient Drama. Now in its third year, the project annually gives approximately twenty veterans the opportunity to study selected Greek dramas, discuss them in light of their own experiences, and respond to their discoveries by creating their own public theatrical performances and films. The project is designed to address two important issues that veterans and American society face: the difficulties that confront veterans in coming to terms with their memories of service in the military; and the difficulty that non-veterans have in understanding veterans’ experiences. Unique in its design, Warrior Bards is now also represented in a spin-off project produced in partnership with Ensemble Studio Theatre L.A. “That was extraordinarily cathartic; I’ve started realizing the need for connection with my fellow veterans. It’s been a really rewarding experience.” —Nicolas Cormier III, Warrior Bards Participant “It’s really given me a positive outlet with other veterans to explore some of the feelings and subjects that are difficult to talk about with other people who weren’t in the military.” — Anja Akstin, Warrior Bards Participant EMPOWER Also in 2019–20, Arts in Action devoted attention to addressing issues of wellbeing within the USC community, offering students EMPOWER . This series of participatory workshops combined artmaking, meditation, and the circle-sharing process known as Council to build community and foster shared awareness of the significant social, emotional, financial, and academic challenges that students face. Initial workshops were held outdoors on campus and featured large canvas gestural painting with artist Claudia Concha. At the onset of the pandemic, EMPOWER transitioned to an online format, presenting workshops with artists Kristina Wong and Sabra Williams during a time of unprecedented upheaval for students. SKID ROW COVID-19 ARTS CARE PACKAGE As mandated by its mission, Arts in Action has been committed to squarely meeting the challenges posed by an unforgettable year. Indeed, many of our projects throughout 2020–21 have been in direct response to the current crises rippling through America. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program once again paired Roski students with the Skid Row Arts Alliance to create, assemble, and distribute arts care packages to hundreds of homeless Angelenos on a bi-monthly basis. Alleviating the loss of in-person arts programming which is an essential line of community support and creative expression for many homeless Angelenos, each package contained a community- designed zine containing individual-suited arts activities, arts supplies, as well as personal protective equipment. “The packages keep people’s minds on something positive, fun, and pleasant for a period of time...Just to be able to leave a stressful moment for even a little bit is very much a blessing.” —Package Recipient “This [arts package] keeps people from feeling abandoned. For some people, their livelihood was coming to our programs; it was the thing that got them out of bed... We’re going to just keep pushing through and see what other opportunities arise to keep the arts alive.” —Leeav Sofer, Skid Row Arts Alliance and Urban Voices Project 2020–21 12 13 MOBILIZE! Following the police murder of George Floyd and in the run-up to an election with extraordinarily high stakes for eradicating white supremacy, Arts in Action introduced Mobilize! This new mini-grant program enables USC students to develop their own independent arts-activism projects ( Mobilize! is presented in greater detail in the ‘Students Leading Change’ section of this report). While the issue of racial justice is not a requirement of projects, half of those funded address the topic in some way. At the time of writing, more than twenty students from a raft of disciplines and backgrounds have received awards for projects including a documentary that explores the legacy of Jim Crow in South Carolina; a 2020 election guidebook written by students for students; dance pieces spotlighting the criminalization of LGBTQ youth of color; and a series of mixed-media portraits of youth climate-justice leaders in Miami, to name a few. FORESIGHT IS 2020: RACIAL JUSTICE AND THE ARTS In a similar vein, weeks before the election, Arts in Action and Visions and Voices teamed up to produce Foresight Is 2020: Racial Justice and the Arts. This four- part series of performances, discussions, and practical re-imaginings uplifted the work of USC faculty, students, alumni, and guests from Los Angeles and beyond to ask: What does a nation free of institutional racism look like, and how can the arts provide a vehicle for reaching it? Foresight sessions included an online performance of Woke Black Folk by Funmilola Fagbamila; “New Leaders Now,” showcasing a panel of students and alumni who are advancing racial justice through their art; “Arts, Activism, and the Academy,” a discussion among academics and artists about the prevalence of racism in higher education; and “Racial Radical,” a workshop curated by L.A. Freewaves that invited participants to join forces with Milwaukee visual and spoken word artists Fondé Bridges, Mikal Floyd-Pruitt, and Dasha Kelly Hamilton to recognize familiar but so-far-unnamed racial experiences and brainstorm new vocabulary around them. UNIVERSITY PARK SLOW JAMS And, returning to USC’s own geographical community, University Park Slow Jams is a creative call to action for safer streets—building a community of advocates to stand against and propose solutions to traffic violence, in one of America’s deadliest cities for people who walk, bike, and roll. Uniting faculty and students from the Price School of Public Policy with partners Public Matters, Los Angeles Walks, and USC Kid Watch, this grassroots project blends street performance, public art installations, and capacity building among neighboring schools and parent groups to build awareness of street safety and elevate community perspectives. Slow Jams was an award-winning finalist in the most recent My LA2050 grants challenge. HEROES DE LA COMUNIDAD Building on the Skid Row COVID-19 Arts Care Package, Roski students partnered with the USC Fisher Museum of Art and MacArthur Park’s Art Division to create Heroes de la Comunidad. This eye-catching COVID-19 zine, featuring artwork from young artists based in MacArthur Park, doubled as a public-health messaging campaign by sharing guidelines and resources for combatting the spread of the virus. “I hope the MacArthur and Westlake community feels personally connected to the characters and the idea that when we keep ourselves safe and healthy, we keep our loved ones safe and healthy. Our design was meant to contrast the sterile, informational pamphlets many of us have been bombarded with, especially when information changed frequently and there was misinformation being spread around; Community Heroes is vibrant, informative, and humanizes essential workers, specifically those in the Latinx community. At a time when I felt the most disconnected from work and school, this project was a way to get my creative juices flowing.” — Vanessa Melesio, Art Division Participant “One of the wonderful things about this project are the partners, each coming to the table with a sense of purpose, commitment, collaboration, and freedom to create new visions and pathways for a community to express itself amidst simultaneous social crises: a public health emergency, economic uncertainty, and the everyday experience of traffic violence...The Arts in Action team has been transparent and communicative throughout the grant process. This is unique and valuable.” —Public Matters “You don’t just send out information to the community—you have to create and develop an effective educational program...And that’s where art can play an integral role; artists are amazingly capable in raising policy and planning issues in ways that most people aren’t.” —David Sloane, Professor, Price School of Public Policy “Working with the Slow Jams team has shown me how community engagement should be done and how I can use my planning skills and knowledge to uplift community perspectives.” —Nan Ni, Graduate Student, Price School of Public Policy In December 2020, Arts in Action also made its third year of awards to faculty-proposed projects, which are listed below in Looking Ahead. This most recent application process was the program’s most competitive to date, testament not only to its rapid development but also, given the shockwaves of 2020, to the increased appetite for socially engaged artwork among faculty and students alike. 14 15 AT A GLANCE PROJECT/EVENT SCHOOLS COMMUNITY PARTNERS FACULTY LEADS PARTICIPANTS AUDIENCE/ RECIPIENTS* Artists Addressing Homelessness Music; Art and Design Urban Voices Project The Messengers, L.A. Community Action Network, L.A. Poverty Department Dean Rob Cutietta (Music)Jeff Cain (Art and Design) 33 120, plus public karaoke participants Jails and Justice: Reimagining Public Safety through the Arts Dramatic Arts; Dance; Architecture Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, Dignity and Power Now, Justice L.A., White People for Black Lives Brent Blair (Dramatic Arts) 25 220, plus public bystanders I Too Am: Teens, Media Arts, and Belonging Communication and Journalism; Cinematic Arts Ambassador School of Global Leadership, Bravo Medical Magnet High School, Communication and Technology School, 32nd Street Magnet School, Foshay Learning Center Alison Trope (Communication and Journalism), DJ Johnson (Cinematic Arts) 231 (at time of writing) + n/a Kaufman Connections Dance 32nd Street Magnet School Tiffany Bong (Dance) 555 (at time of writing) n/a Medical Clowning and Foster Care Dramatic Arts The Children’s Bureau Zachary Steel (Dramatic Arts) 42 n/a Skid Row Arts Map Art and Design Skid Row Arts Alliance Dean Haven Lin-Kirk (Art and Design) 8 2500 Performing Policy: The Justice Project Dramatic Arts; Public Policy Healing Dialogue and Action Brent Blair (Dramatic Arts), Jocelyn Poe (Public Policy) 31 242 EMPOWER: Students, Arts, and Activism n/a Black Lives Matter Los Angeles; CONTRA-TIEMPO; Public Matters; Street Symphony n/a 69 n/a Warrior Bards: Veterans Exploring Ancient Drama Letters, Arts and Sciences; Dramatic Arts; Cinematic Arts Los Angeles Veterans Collaborative William Thalmann, Vincent Farenga, Lucas Herchenroeder (Dornsife), Paula Cizmar (Dramatic Arts), Michael Bodie (Cinematic Arts) 52 (at time of writing) 204 EMPOWER: Council and Gestural Painting n/a Claudia Concha Alison Trope (Communication and Journalism), Holly Willis (Cinematic Arts) 18 n/a EMPOWER: Combatting Racism and Forging Community Pacific Asia Museum Kristina Wong n/a 63 n/a EMPOWER: Resilience through Creativity n/a Creative Acts n/a 17 n/a Skid Row Arts Care Package Art and Design Skid Row Arts Alliance Dean Haven Lin-Kirk (Art and Design) 7 450 Heroés de la Comunidad Fisher Museum of Art; Art and Design Art Division n/a 12 1200 Foresight Is 2020: Racial Justice and the Arts Dramatic Arts, Fisher Museum of Art, Communication and Journalism L.A. Freewaves; MKE<-→LAX n/a 71 332 Mobilize! n/a n/a n/a 23 (at time of writing) n/a University Park Slow Jams Public Policy Public Matters; Los Angeles Walks, USC Kid Watch David Sloane (Public Policy) 84 n/a *Some audience/recipients numbers are approximate. “Recipients” denotes, for example, individuals that have received outputs such as care packages, zines, and maps. LOOKING AHEAD ARTS IN ACTION IS CURRENTLY SUPPORTING THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS IN 2021 RETURNING GRANTEES I Too Am: Teens, Media Arts, and Belonging Kaufman Connections University Park Slow Jams Warrior Bards: Veterans Exploring Ancient Drama NEW GRANTEES Fully led by USC Architecture students, Equitable Community Design aims to increase the representation of systematically marginalized communities in design professions through a series of free design charrettes, portfolio workshops, and tours of design firms. Pairing students from USC Thornton with members of the Hearing Loss Association of America, Here, My Voice will provide singing lessons to help participants gain confidence in the creative and expressive possibilities of their voices. Memorial to Black Lives will unite USC Architecture students and faculty with youth leaders from L.A Commons to generate sites of commemoration and mobilization in response to state violence in the Hyde Park neighborhood. USC Social Work faculty and Trauma Informed L.A. will present a third season of the Our Stories Matter podcast, exploring how art and activism can inform individual and collective liberation and healing. In partnership with Open Paths Counseling, Peace Pod will challenge USC theatre students to produce reparative spaces for marginalized women who have experienced domestic abuse. Bringing together USC theatre and cinema artists alongside People Not Pozos, Sacrifice Zone: Los Angeles will utilize documentary theatre to explore how grassroots activists in Southeast L.A are fighting industrial pollution in their communities. 17 SECTION 3 STUDENTS LEADING CHANGE While USC students figure in every Arts in Action project since its launch, the program has, by increments, designed more and more opportunities for them to initiate and execute their own independent socially engaged art projects. We do this with the knowledge that many of L.A.’s most effective progressive movements, such as Extinction Rebellion, Sunrise Movement L.A., and Youth Justice Coalition, are youth-led. Through workshops, events, internships and now a mini-grants program, Arts in Action seeds the ground for the emergence of new and interwoven arts- activism initiatives within USC’s extraordinarily diverse student body. This effort began in 2019 with EMPOWER: Students, Arts, and Activism . This was an Arts in Action “primer” forum that enabled nearly 70 students to collectively identify the issues that most mattered to them, rapidly generate arts strategies for addressing those issues, and pitch their solutions to a panel of guest artists and organizers from Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater, Public Matters, and Street Symphony. A number of the forum’s participants have used the event as a springboard for applying to and receiving an award from Arts in Action’s Mobilize! program. Since June 2020, Mobilize! allows all USC students to apply on a rolling monthly basis for funds of up to $500 to develop their own socially engaged arts projects. Arts in Action individually interviews awardees, maintains a supportive relationship to provide feedback and guidance on projects, and provides twice-yearly roundtable events for awardees to connect, strategize, and reflect on their work. The first of these events, presented in October 2020, was co-facilitated by artist Sabra Williams, co-founder of the acclaimed Prison Project and social justice arts organization, Creative Acts. Over 75% of our awards to date have been made to students of color, who also make up the majority of applicants. “Within social justice work, many of us bring our lived experiences and trauma as an anchor that motivates us to create change, while doing it at the expense of our own healing. Arts in Action allowed me to take an idea into action: of bringing healing to a group of volunteers at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, who volunteer as child advocates for unaccompanied minors throughout the course of their child’s asylum case. I was able to develop a healing circle workshop that creates space for healing and wellness for the volunteers and incorporate a care package that provides an opportunity for self-care. I enjoyed the flexibility given by Arts in Action to pivot from my proposal when needed, and I appreciated the support I received. I am deeply grateful for this opportunity.”— Patricia Ramirez, Doctorate of Social Work ‘21, Mobilize Grantee “Thanks to this mini-award I was able to explore the complex issues of Miami’s sea level rise, heat trapping effects, climate gentrification and state corruption, and also how much work and dedication journalism and documentary filmmaking requires. I realized the investigative rigor these topics and stories deserve. Those lessons will always remain with me in my career and storytelling.” — Natasha Nutkiewicz, Mobilize! Awardee 19 LIST OF 2020–21 MOBILIZE! AWARDEES (as of February 2021) the story of ACW. Their project draws connections between past and present movements for social justice and supports ACW’s current efforts to foster community and women’s empowerment. James Grisom Grisom’s Eye for An i is a poetic meditation on grief from the perspective of a young Black teen named Jeremiah. The film and its accompanying healing circles for South L.A. youth offer a remedy to address cyclical violence and help those directly affected cope in a healthy, supported manner. Vanessa Herron The Talk is a narrative short film about a couple who struggles with the idea of whether to talk to their young son about how to conduct himself during interactions with law enforcement. The story addresses implicit bias and compels the audience to re-think community relations between law enforcement and people of color. Kathryn Huang Madhatter Knits Foundation is a nonprofit organization created in 2015 dedicated to supplying knit hats for premature babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. During the pandemic, the foundation has also disseminated Maternal Protection Care Kits to many maternity clinics and hospitals, lowering the risk of mothers contracting COVID-19. Anushka Joshi GEN-ZiNE is a publication dedicated to addressing contemporary issues through the eyes of Generation Z. It has produced four print zines and in 2020 the collective created an Election Guidebook for new voters, educating and engaging young and new voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Kendra Mitchell As Americans urgently demand a more equitable racial future, Reimagined explores the question: what does an equitable, Black- centered future look like? Mitchell’s documentary aims to show audiences the vibrant, radical future within their grasp and to inspire them to reach for it. Natasha Nutkiewicz Till the end of the World is a documentary series highlighting U.S. Generation Z climate activists, organizers, and educators in order to encourage an international audience to take action against climate change. The series seeks to inspire audiences to use their own unique gifts and professions to address climate emergency. Patricia Ramirez Ramirez’s Healing the Healer project uplifts the experiences of leaders who are working to advance collective healing in L.A communities. Her multi-session workshop series integrates storytelling for social change through a guided discussion using anti-racist, healing justice, holistic, and mindfulness approaches. Katrina RiChard RiChard’s project addresses the multiple viewpoints regarding the nationwide movement to defund the police. The project asks high school students: What thoughts, possibilities, images, and/or emotions are evoked in your mind when you hear “defund the police”? and challenges participants respond to this question artistically. Valerie Taranto and Julia Mosher Taranto and Mosher are creating an online publication and street installation using architectural diagrams to represent how women, nonbinary, and LGBTQ+ individuals move through space. The project asks people to question their own relationship to the city and public areas, and to foster awareness of how social inequities are perpetuated by the built environment. Samuel Teets DNDheraphy is a collaborative role-playing game that helps foster personal resilience and socially minded praxis among small groups of players. The team has developed a DND campaign that is specifically geared towards promoting personal growth, collaboration, and social awareness in the midst of systemic racism and income, health, and educational disparities. Maduabuckukwu Udeh Africonvos explores perspectives of blackness in different parts of the world, creating a place where these narratives can be in conversation with each other and where similarities and differences can be explored. The project incorporates online international roundtable events with invited activists as well as mixed-media portraits of leaders who are fighting for change around the world. Steven Vargas Vargas’s No Humans Involved is a short dance film deconstructing how queerness is policed in America, interweaving dance, reportage