Inclusion
Haven Academy of the Arts’ commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to arts education is an integral part of its identity as an organization. We believe that every student– regardless of race, gender, orientation, ability, or economic standing– should be able to experience the transformative power of the arts. Our mission states that we aim to “develop character in future leaders through the performing arts and give them the tools, life skills, and sense of purpose they need to leave a legacy in their community”. Here at Haven, we strongly believe that means every community.
The arts are a powerful vehicle for bringing light to dark places, and for elevating disenfranchised youth out of their circumstances. As arts disappear from schools, and the arts desert areas of Los Angeles increasingly become the norm, it is imperative that we are committed to providing access to arts education to as many communities as possible. The arts were made for, and are made by, everyone; we need voices of all types in order to create sustainable, effective art, and we need partnerships with all ethnicities, genders, and communities in order to build place-based programs that appropriately impact and meet the specific needs of the youth involved. To provide theatre arts to one group alone would be a great disservice to the arts in general, and would rob the youth who are the most in-need of a safe space of a powerful and transformative tool.
The future of the arts depends on programs like Haven’s willingness to bring the universal experience of the arts to those who would otherwise be excluded due to their circumstances.
The arts are a powerful vehicle for bringing light to dark places, and for elevating disenfranchised youth out of their circumstances. As arts disappear from schools, and the arts desert areas of Los Angeles increasingly become the norm, it is imperative that we are committed to providing access to arts education to as many communities as possible. The arts were made for, and are made by, everyone; we need voices of all types in order to create sustainable, effective art, and we need partnerships with all ethnicities, genders, and communities in order to build place-based programs that appropriately impact and meet the specific needs of the youth involved. To provide theatre arts to one group alone would be a great disservice to the arts in general, and would rob the youth who are the most in-need of a safe space of a powerful and transformative tool.
The future of the arts depends on programs like Haven’s willingness to bring the universal experience of the arts to those who would otherwise be excluded due to their circumstances.