Professional Development

Art workshops for educators and others

• We rebuilt the department in the wake of the pandemic under Jennifer Carroll’s leadership, with renewed strength and focus on leveraging our teaching artists’ expertise

• New workshops and in-service programs started in January 2023, serving LAUSD educators and corporate partners.

• Engaging new offerings included Kamishibai Story Theater, Abstract Relief Sculptures, Gesture Postures, and Improvisation

• More than 300 professionals received training in the 36 hours of workshops from January through June.

The Rosenthal Theater

A creative home for the performing arts

• The performing arts thrived all year on campus through our Big Orange Door series, Youth Night, and Community Series events. 

• 1,685 audience members — youth and adults — attended our nine unique theater experiences, most of which were performed multiple times.

• Community partners specializing in dance, music, and theater also made our campus their home this year. Urban Voices Project, Street Symphony, Viver Brasil, and others shared their talents with audiences in The Rosenthal. 

• “The Rosenthal allows people to feel more like they are performing in a professional setting while the intimacy makes participants feel comfortable. It’s a fabulous performing space.” –Roni Perlut, Urban Voices Project 

Work of Art

College and creative career readiness for grades 11-12

• In a year of many “firsts” for the program, we produced a world-premiere musical, Ruby’s Button, by WOA graduate Ruby Barrios and starring current interns. 

• Our Visual Arts interns exhibited their work in a professional gallery space, DMST Atelier, for the first time.

• The Work of Art Social Enterprise project successfully placed permanent artwork by our graduates in three new Hart House restaurant locations throughout Los Angeles.

• More than 50 applicants came to our campus for in-person interviews with teaching artists and staff, leading to the successful onboarding of 18 new WOA interns by our HR department.

Visual, Media & Performing Arts Institutes

Weekend classes for grades 5-12

• NBCU project example (Spring 23, funded previously also). Students got Writing for Short Film in Spring. ArtCenter design workshops (Victoria Imo – Character Design and World-building for Animation.

• Class offerings for youth in grades 5-12 opened many creative pathways for self-expression. The words from the year’s class titles paint a beautiful picture:

LATA (Learning and Achieving Through the Arts)

School-day art for grades K-8

• In the Visual Arts studio, elementary students got a creative introduction to color theory, learning how to combine colors in mathematical equations to create different hues, shades, and tints, then exploring the relationships between color and emotions.

• Every participating class from LAUSD and local charter schools enjoyed daytime performances in our Rosenthal Theater, both by partner organizations in music and dance and by our own Work of Art performers sharing original Inner-City Arts theatrical shows. 

• Students designed their own animated puzzles in our Media Arts studio, inking original characters and backgrounds on a 48-piece puzzle sheet before using stop motion animation software to make their puzzles come to life. They experimented with new techniques in animation, such as incorporating props, their own hands, and other materials.

“Every year, our campus cycles thousands of LA youth and teachers through a creative journey in this downtown oasis. Here, they all get to explore together and learn something new as a group and as individuals.”

– Orlando Moreno,

Outreach and Programs Manager