California law requires that schools provide music, art, theater and dance at every grade level. Yet, according to the most recent Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Arts Equity Index, only 35 of over 700 schools in the District received a top rating in providing arts education services to their students. Elementary schools in the poorest parts of the district receive the fewest arts programs. Eleven percent (11%) of LAUSD schools received almost no arts programs or supplies. In 2016, Inner-City Arts provided quality arts education to 5,804 students. Throughout our 28-year history, Inner-City Arts has directly enriched the creative and academic lives of more than 200,000 of the city’s most underserved kids. During this time, more than 10,000 educators have participated in Professional Development programs at Inner-City Arts, extending our impact to more than 2.5 million students.

Situated at the crossroads of LA’s Skid Row and the burgeoning downtown Arts District, Inner-City Arts is well-positioned to produce greater educational equity for our students and opportunities for them to participate in the region’s growing creative economy. This study looks at the data showing how our work has an impact on the students in Los Angeles.