Every child deserves to experience the empowerment of the arts.
Since its founding, ABG has administered thousands of art classes for over 5,000 young people living below the poverty line and has spearheaded the creation of over 100 youth and community-driven murals.
Arts Bridging the Gap (ABG) uplifts the voices, experiences, and self-expression of youth from under-resourced communities through healing arts programs. Through our work, youth develop interpersonal skills and growth mindsets that enable them to be their best selves in our community.
We currently offer four primary in and after-school programs that utilize the arts to provide resources and support for young people in under resourced areas to realize their full potential.
“Being in ABG made me feel hopeful and relaxed and it is really satisfying. There is something exciting and special about it that makes me feel like I can do anything.
I've always wanted to help people but now my goal is to go to Yale and study to be a lawyer focused on human rights and immigration. I will be the first person in my family to go to college.”
Anais, age 17
Art Through Social Change
ABG strives to uplift the voices of a community by engaging with relevant people—youth, families, and trusted adults—while upholding cultural values and giving a platform for their experiences and identities to shine.
With a trauma-informed approach, ABG’s team of artists ensure that all young people’s social-emotional needs are met while fostering valuable relationships and holding spaces where they can create without judgment.
A Holistic Approach with Youth
Expanding the Creative Economy
Through key partnerships and relationships, ABG is dedicated to creating new opportunities for BIPOC artists and artists from marginalized communities to add their intrinsic value to the Los Angeles art scene.
Explore our longest-standing program…
The LA Street Art Initiative
Our Commitment
Founded in 2014, ABG envisions a world in which all LA youth are empowered to become change-makers. We build community by engaging underrepresented individuals in the creation of public art and activism in their own neighborhoods. We embrace all levels and varieties of physical, emotional, psychological, environmental, and learning abilities within our participants, staff, Board, and collaborators, for we uplifts individuals not in spite of their challenges, but rather because of, and in celebration of, each person’s unique, inherent strengths. As a social-justice focused, educational, community-driven, artistic entity, ABG champions diversity and inclusion across all programming.