About us

Angelica Center for Arts and Music (ACAM), an after school and summer arts education program, provides classes in dance, music, theatre, and computer art, at no charge for underserved youth in the Greater Pico Union Neighborhood of Los Angeles. Instruments are loaned to music students free of charge. ACAM serves at risk youth in collaboration with Angelica Lutheran Church, Hope Street Family Center-Margolis Center, and Magnolia Family Center.

 

Our Values

  • ACAM teachers demonstrate respect for the talent of their students and for their potential. In turn, the students develop a respect for self, their peers and their teachers. Students learn to respect and appreciate the efforts of their parents to provide an arts education for them. The teachers, staff, board members and community collaborators share a strong sense of respect for the mission of Angelica Center for Arts and Music.

  • ACAM students develop responsibility by managing their time, practicing their instruments, preparing theatre and dance lessons, and learning material assigned to them. Students develop a sense of responsibility to each other. ACAM students learn to take responsibility for their growth and development and for helping their fellow students learn. In doing so, they learn they have a responsibility to give back to their community – to be a good citizen.

  • The board members, staff and teachers strive to give their best efforts to this work. ACAM emphasizes teaching the whole child.

  • ACAM is committed to finding ways to sustain the work of ACAM for both current and future students. ACAM also encourages students to think about and demonstrate sustainability within their families, the community and the world.

  • ACAM is committed to providing young people from low income families the opportunity to develop their talents in the arts: dance, music, theatre. This commitment benefits the children, their families and the community.

  • ACAM builds a feeling of community among the students and their families. This sense of community is shared by the teachers, staff, board members and community partners. The classes at ACAM bring joy and hope to the community.

  • ACAM builds a sense of self and develops a realization of one’s importance within a group.

  • ACAM helps students learn to collaborate with one another in dance, theatre and music classes, as well as within their families. With skills they have already learned, older students help mentor younger ones. Teachers, staff and board members learn from each other and grow. ACAM is sustained by collaboration with parents, Angelica Lutheran Church, Hope Street Family Center and New City Parish.

Our History

Youth in Pico-Union, who comprise one-third of the population, face severe obstacles: a low 39% high school graduation rate and the influence of ten local gangs. Despite the urgent need for positive alternatives, a 75% cut to public school arts funding in 2012 has left these students with almost no access to music or arts education.

Research confirms that arts programming is a crucial intervention for at-risk youth. It yields significant academic gains, improving learning skills, test scores, and school retention (Caterall, 1998). Beyond the classroom, the arts build community strength by fostering social capital and empowering residents to organize for collective action (McCarthy, et al, Rand Report, 2004; Brice Heath, 1998). Furthermore, these programs support sociocultural development, teaching teamwork, tolerance, and cultural pride (Iwai, 2004).

To address these needs, Ellen Sell founded ACAM in 2010 as a way to give back to the Pico-Union neighborhood and Angelica Lutheran Church—the community that provided her "a music home" during her opera studies at USC. Designed to fill the gap left by public funding cuts, ACAM adapts Venezuela’s transformative "El Sistema" model. By providing ensemble-based music education, the program offers a viable, positive alternative that helps change the life trajectory of Pico-Union’s youth.