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"I was sleeping on the streets with no dreams or vision. Hollywood Arts found me and saw something in me. Because of Hollywood Arts, I was able to record my music, shoot a video and win a film festival. Hollywood Arts tackles the question that if you give someone a dream or a vision, and you teach them real skills, they will go far -- they will be unbeatable."
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-Ishmael
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Dear Friend of Hollywood Arts,
I'm writing because we're really excited at Hollywood Arts! Why? Because after months of getting the Art, Music and Media Center ready, we've launched our first semester in our own home!
Our Winter quarter has started and we've brought together some of Los Angeles' most talented creative professionals to kick off a programming semester designed specifically to inspire and educate the hardest to reach kids -- young people, 16 to 22, who have ran from home after years of abuse, drugs and neglect, and kids who have grown up in foster care and who have been left without financial support and education by the time they reach their 18th birthday... finding themselves homeless and on the streets. These are the young people we teach. These are our students.
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Charissa Saverio (aka DJ RAP) teaches students how to produce electronic music.
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Our teenagers have the same dreams as all young people -- and probably the same dreams that you had at 18.... I wanted to be a fashion designer and my best friend Dana wanted to be the singer in a rock band... they just don't have the self-esteem and confidence to believe in themselves or the knowledge of what to do to make their dreams come true--this is where our classes come in.
A year ago, I invited a group of friends to think about building an art center that would offer classes--free of charge-- in the commercial arts, music and media to young people on the streets. We believed that classes in the arts would offer these teenagers the chance to change how they see themselves by scoring some much needed successes. We also thought we could help turn on their critical and creative thinking skills by teaching them about things they wanted to know and help them get ready for jobs.
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Charissa Saverio
(aka DJ RAP)
Music
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We've got an outstanding line up of classes and thanks to our incredible volunteer teachers our teenagers have started learning!
In Music we welcome internationally recognized DJ Charissa Saverio (aka DJ Rap), who is teaching our students how to work the turntables, and produce their own electronic music; and singer Emily Moultrie, who leads a class on vocals for pop singers, rap and spoken word performers.
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In Entertainment Arts, we welcome casting director Zora DeHorter-Majomi, who teaches a class on "How To Audition" designed to use theater skills to help our students present themselves professionally and to think on their feet in any job interview. In January, HBO writer David Gould works with a team of writers to teach a class on how to "Discover Your Voice" through short stories, plays, and rap poetry.
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Emily Moultrie
Music
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Melissa Magsaysay
Urban Arts
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In Urban Arts, Los Angeles Times fashion editor, Melissa Magsaysay, helps our students design their own t-shirt line and brings in professionals from all areas of the fashion industry to guest lecture. At the last class, students will dress a model and arrange their own photo shoot.
And in Electronic and Interactive Arts, Joseph Olin, CEO of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac Games, help kick off a class on video games that incorporates video game analysis and an overview of the gaming industry to help our students create their own video game story boards.
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... Wow!
Now see why we are excited?!? All this -- for free -- to kids who've lived through a lot of bad things. Now we, and every homeless youth seeking a more empowered and productive future, need your help. This holiday season help us brighten the future of young people who have little to look forward to -- no family with whom to celebrate and no gifts to open. Help us make sure our volunteer teachers have the supplies they need to teach. Help us make sure our students have the supplies they need to learn.
As 2007 closes and you consider the charitable contributions you want to make, please make a tax-deductible donation to Hollywood Arts... join with us to inspire young people and give them something they want -- the tools to learn, the opportunity to succeed, and as Ishmael said, a very real chance to change their own lives.
All the students at Hollywood Arts, the Board of Directors and I sincerely thank you for your support and wish you a happy New Year.
Dylan Kendall
Executive Director
P.S. The kids love the classes and are constantly asking for more!
Help these young people start off 2008 with new skills and new hope!
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