EXPRESS YOURSELF CHARITY EVENT HOSTED BY P.S. ARTS

Imagine a day when every child has art at his or her fingertips and when kids use colors, design, movement and sound to express themselves creatively in the classroom.  Express Yourself was organized so that LA families could experience and enjoy the vast opportunities that an incredible charity, P.S. Arts, is able to provide to thousands of students in Los Angeles County and the Central Valley.   P.S. ARTS students thrive in an environment that encourages self-expression and for one Sunday afternoon, supporters’ families can too!

For most children attending Title I schools in Los Angeles County and the Central Valley, an education without art is a sad reality.  Part creativity fair, part fund-raiser, 100% of the money raised at Express Yourself goes directly to P.S. ARTS, the privately funded, non-profit organization celebrating its 16th year of restoring arts to public schools. 

Last years event took place at the Barker Hangar in the Santa Monica Airport.  Professional artists and teachers guided children through a medium-rich array of exciting projects.  Bright colored beanbag chairs, oversized pillows and a rainbow rug were set before a stage for dancing, singing and other inspirational performances and even Drake Bell of the popular “Drake and Josh” television series on Nickelodeon was the featured performer. Past performers  included the Bangles, John Lithgow, Keb Mo’ and L.L. Cool J.  Dozens of L.A.’s top restaurants participate, donating signature treats for everyone to indulge in.  Music fills the air as hundreds of children roam the art booths exploring and creating fun projects and making new friends.

This year P.S. ARTS celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Express Yourself and honored one of the events’ co-creators, Laurie David.  Laurie is a well-known environmental activist so P.S. ARTS made sure to “green” the event by embracing nature, incorporating environment friendly practices and celebrating the earth.  Tastybaby was there with their own booth of crafts and Tasty cupcakes made with our own baby food.  The event took place this year on November 4^th  and was a great success.  The Tastybaby booth was swarmed with kids and adults, alike, sipping our smoothies, eating our cupcakes and enjoying the arts and crafts projects we provided.  We also gave away our eco-friendly, reusable tasty shopping bags, and they were a huge hit! 

P.S. ARTS is a non-profit 501(C)(3) organization dedicated to restoring arts education in public schools by providing comprehensive, skills based, sequential classes in dance, music, theater and visual arts. P.S. ARTS, which was originally founded as an outreach project of the Crossroads Community Foundation, serves thousands of children in some of the most underserved neighborhoods in California. P.S. ARTS also offers arts-related workshops for classroom teachers, integrating creative expression and the arts into the core curriculum. Recognized by local, county and state agencies as an outstanding arts provider, P.S. ARTS now serves as a national model, advocating arts for all students.