Austin Beutner (far left) and Steven Lavine (center) look on as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa honors CalArts CAP at the culmination event last week.
Despite the budget crisis that looms over arts funding in California, the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program had a reason to celebrate last week: 20 years of enriching the lives of Los Angeles youth through various literary, visual and performing arts programs.
At the Creative Artists Agency on April 22, CalArts CAP students, staff, instructors, donors and friends–including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and CAP Council Co-Chair Austin Beutner (Villaraigosa’s First Deputy Mayor for economic policy)–paid homage to a program that has, since its inception, provided arts training to 200,000 elementary, middle and high school students. Glenna Avila, the Wallis Annenberg Director of CAP, was also honored at the event for her 20 years of service to CAP and the community at large.
CAP brings the resources of CalArts—most importantly in the form of a teaching corps composed of faculty, student instructors and alumni—into partnership with community organizations, social service agencies and public schools in order to deliver free college-level arts education to underserved youth throughout the county.
In recent weeks as part of its 20th year festivities, CAP has held a series of master classes, most of them at Plaza de la Raza and Watts Towers Arts Center, CAP’s first two partners, where students were taught by artist ambassadors, including CalArts faculty member Charlie Haden, the indie rock band Airborne Toxic Event, classical pianist Rufus Choi, Academy Award-nominated actor Ed Harris (Theater BFA 75), dancer Carrie Ann Inaba and Edgar Arceneaux (Art MFA 01), Mark Bradford (Art BFA 95, MFA 97), and Catherine Opie (Art MFA 88).
Below are some of the CAP 20th anniversary videos: