“Bad Apples” is a world premiere musical based on the atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib prison. Written by Jim Leonard (The Diviners, Battle Hymn) with music by Rob Cairns and Beth Thornley, the play was developed by Circle X over two years and will open on Oct. 13, 2012. This is a story that needs to be told. We believe this funny, jarring, beautiful and heartbreaking musical will inspire thought and action. To do it right- including ensemble and live musicians- it will cost $50k.

We are excited to introduce a new project – The Natural Arts Garden—a garden dedicated solely to plants used in traditional arts and crafts including dyeing, weaving, basketry, painting, and other natural art techniques. The Natural Arts Garden will be the home to classes for students from Kindergarten to High School, and will not only provide a space for creative arts which has been sorely missing in our schools, but also a space for students to connect with nature and our environment.

FA is a grassroots organization funded by the community it serves. It is not beholden to ANY interests and/or agendas outside of those that serve our community of artist filmmakers. Funding, therefore, has been an on-going struggle, quite frankly. We can use any support available to keep our full menu of programs vibrant. These include: Monthly Meetings, Film Screenings, Seminars, Discussion and Feedback Forums, Staged Readings, Fiscal Sponsorship, Grants, Labs, VisionFest and more.

P.S. ARTS would raise not only much needed funds but also our public profile, leading to increased support and revenue from our community. We are the only artists-in-residence program in LA serving entire schools and seamlessly integrating arts education into the regular school day for the full school year. With more than half of our 11,000 students living below poverty, we want to continue to provide our nationally recognized arts programs to the children and families that need them most.

The lives of children with disability are largely filled with suffering, loneliness, and fear. Art has the unique ability to help children find a creative voice and discover a sense of individuality and self-efficacy in the midst of overwhelmingly difficult circumstances. With this funding we will be able to continue expansing of our Accessible Arts Workshops, which currently reaches 2,500 to 3,000 people annually in the neediest districts of LA.

Over the past year, our generous supporters have donated their old cameras and equipment to our students in order for them to learn the fundamentals of photography and camera mechanics. Las Fotos Project seeks support to help purchase brand new cameras so our advanced studies participants can learn on modern, state of the art technology.

Free Arts will host an all-day art festival for the more than 6,000 children in foster care in Los Angeles County. At this festival, children of all ages will have the opportunity to participate in workshops led by professional artists, and experience the thrill multicultural performances. This day will provide the children opportunities for creative hands-on self-expression, exposure to multiple art forms, and a day of lighthearted fun. The art festival will cost $15,000 to produce.

Each Summer, our Youth Over Violence Institute brings together 25 youth from LA to deepen their knowledge in violence prevention through 2 weeks of training on understanding domestic & sexual violence and 2 weeks of paid internships (creating phone apps for violence prevention; writing, performing & recording songs for violence prevention; developing community and online organizing campaigns for healthy relationships). We need your support to cover food costs & stipends for LA's Youth leaders!

MPI’s Mobile Film Classroom is needed more than ever to keep disenfranchised students from being left even further behind in the digital divide due to the deep budget cuts at our schools, but we recently lost funding from The Mary Pickford Foundation. We believe being literate in film history, knowing how to navigate, use and critique digital media defines what it means to be literate in the 21st Century. We need donations to keep reaching out to our youth and to expand throughout the state.

L4C will use these funds to help expand our improv comedy programs to more underserved communities. Funding specifically will support public performances by program participants, who gain discipline and self-confidence putting on a show, as well as extend the benefits of laughter to their families and communities. Funds will also support the recording of L4C’s curriculum to video, for sharing with communities here and around the world, further extending the proven positive effects of L4C’s work.

In 2010, Community Coalition youth leaders came together to turn-around a local school, Fremont High. In the two years since, we have made remarkable progress. The class of 2012 set a record with 750 seniors walking the stage – 200 more than the class of 2010 and the largest number of graduates in school history! With your support we can build upon these successes. We can continue our reform efforts at Fremont High, and we can bring needed change to other schools in innercity Los Angeles!

The issue of teen dating violence is often overlooked when in fact dating abuse is known to begin as early as middle school. Studies consistently find that one in three teenagers report experiencing physical or emotional abuse in their relationships.Break the Cycle provides a critical service in the community; educating young people on how to escape abusive relationships and lead non-violent lives. Break the Cycle seeks your support, so that we can continue to raise awareness about this issue.

In Los Angeles there are 175,000 children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. CoachArt houses over 2000 of these youth in our database, but only about a third of them receive services annually. To ensure every child gets matched with a caring community volunteer, we need your help. Invest in our hard to reach communities of South Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, Pico Rivera, El Monte, and Whittier and make a difference in the life of a sick child.

The National Endowment for the Arts reports that students who have arts-rich experiences in school do better academically and become more engaged citizens. YMF consults with school administrators, academic teachers and the Los Angeles County Office of Education to bring musical opportunities to underserved youth in their own schools and to encourage multi-level community engagement. The Viva la Art! fundraiser will help YMF put music in the hands of students who benefit from it most.

To get the message of "STOP THE PAIN" out! Violence affects every home, person & family regardless of race, religion, finances & location. Violence starts at home, in too many cases, from birth. Too many children, youth & families suffer from violence, which is preventable. We will use funds to host STOP THE PAIN on a quarterly basis, in various areas of the County of L.A. We will also increase our Youth Council Teen Reps & provide more training to Youth Mentor & Peer Advocates. Youth Leadership

With the support of our partners, past and present -- LA County Arts Commission, Supervisor Don Knabe's (Arts Education Program), The Green Foundation, Target -- we have been able to provide FREE music to our community. With your help we will be able to bring more music appreciation instruction into the classrooms to foster musical children and better serve our community.The program consists of Music Presentations including: history, music concepts, note reading, sounds, performance, etc.

We hope that through this fundraising event we can see our work replicated region-wide, with the possibility of partnering with other non-profit and corporate organizations. As there are close to 40,000 nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles County YSC represents one of the few that has not only been sustainable but has shown substantial and steady growth. We hope this exposure and marketing can help bring a more youth-driven model to more non-profits!

Since 2007, over 200K people across LA have gathered at MacArthur Park to enjoy free music - for most, it will be the 1st time they discover (or re-discover) MacArthur Park. It's a tough funding environment, and we need help. LevittLA needs to exist - not only so it continues to provide quality, free arts/music to Angelinos, but also to continue to reclaim this iconic green space in the heart of LA. We are a galvanizing force for the community/this park to grow and do good for all of LA!

Healthy Child aims to not only empower parents, but to also impact policy and the marketplace to protect children from toxic chemicals. It is imperative that we communicate news and information in a relevant and timely manner. Our website and mobile app are important tools and this technology needs constant investments. A fundraiser will help us update our website to be mobile-friendly and bilingual as well as maintain our mobile app to reach more parents than ever before.

Our entire budget is funded with only a few fundraising events and the occasional independent contribution. We host a fundraiser that includes live bands, live art being painted for silent auction and fund raising raffles in September. Our fundraising is short of what could be utilized. We provide as many holiday meals as we can with what we have raised and disperse nearly all funds raised.This year we have more families referred to us than we have funds to provide!