The arts revitalize neighborhoods and promote economic prosperity, and Downtown Los Angeles is a perfect example. For many years, for most people Downtown LA was a scary place. Then artists began to move into abandoned buildings, old factories, and loft spaces.  Later, galleries moved in, and the Downtown LA art scene was born.

New construction and plans to build new multi-use buildings soon followed. A campaign was waged to bring new business to the community. Today, Downtown LA is the home of world-class art centers, Wall Street West, theaters, and initiatives to invest in Broadway and showcase the arts with dozens of galleries that bring 25-30,000 people to Downtown during Art Walk events.

Your community has everything to gain by engaging in the arts. Community arts programs build social capital by boosting people’s ability and motivation to be civically engaged, as well as building organizational capacity for effective action. This is accomplished through:

  • Creating a venue that draws people together who would otherwise not be engaged in constructive social activity.
  • Fostering trust between participants and increasing their generalized trust of others.
  • Providing an experience of collective efficacy and civic engagement, which spurs participants to further collective action.
  • Providing an experience for participants to learn technical and interpersonal skills important for collective organizing.
  • Increasing the scope of individuals’ social networks.
  • Providing an experience for organizations such as Neighborhood Councils to enhance their capacities.  Much of this comes when organizations establish ties and learn how to work, consult, and coordinate with other organizations and government bodies in order to accomplish their goals.

Make Music LA gives Neighborhood Councils the opportunity to engage all members of their communities in cultural events throughout the year leading up to the official June 21st Make Music Day.

Did you know that Make Music LA will come to your meetings and give you a hand in planning your events? We can give you an easy to follow outline on how to cost-effectively work with other organizations, schools, libraries, individuals, and businesses to produce family-friendly arts and music events.
Make Music LA brings community members together for shared cultural experiences. You can learn more about Make Music LA at http://makemusicla.org and http://makemusicday.org.