Inner-City Arts

What Inner-City Arts does

Inner-City Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1989 and headquartered at 720 Kohler Street in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. Its mission is to provide arts education to underserved youth in Los Angeles, and since inception it has served over 200,000 students and 10,000 teachers in the LA area. The organization operates a portfolio of five core programs: Learning & Achieving Through the Arts (LATA), a school-day visual and performing arts program for K-8 students delivered in partnership with LAUSD; the Institutes Program, a self-select after-school, weekend, and summer offering for grades 6-12 across visual, media, and performing arts; Work of Art, a college and career readiness program for grades 11-12 providing mentorship and real-world creative industry experience; the Professional Development Institute, which trains educators and administrators in creative classroom integration; and The Rosenthal Theater, a state-of-the-art performance venue used for student productions and community programming.

The underlying service model is a teaching-artist methodology in which professional artists deliver instruction either on Inner-City Arts' campus or integrated into LAUSD classrooms. All programs are offered at no cost to students, families, or schools; the organization is funded entirely through donations, grants, and charitable contributions, with revenue streams including individual giving, corporate matching gifts (facilitated through Double the Donation), recurring monthly giving circles (powered by GoFundMe Pro), and corporate/foundation grants from entities such as The Genesis Inspiration Foundation and AEG. Distribution is geographically concentrated in the Los Angeles area, with primary beneficiary acquisition routed through the LAUSD partnership and secondary acquisition through self-select registration for after-school and summer offerings. Marketing and donor engagement operate via the organization's website (with a Spanish-language version), a Mailchimp-managed email newsletter, community events such as Battle of the Bands, volunteer programs, and earned media coverage. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors and a Founders Board, with co-founder Bob Bates continuing as Co-Artist Director.

Name

Inner-City Arts

Legal name

Inner-City Arts

Website

https://inner-cityarts.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Inner-City Arts is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, founded in 1989, that provides free K-12 arts education to underserved youth via an LAUSD school-day partnership, after-school Institutes, a college/career readiness track, and a professional development institute for educators.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts Education Services

NAICS

Fine Arts Schools (61161), Educational Support Services (6117)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Performing Arts Programs (Band, Choir, Orchestra, Theater) (EDAJAJAE), Visual Arts & Media Arts Programs (Art Club, Photography, Film) (EDAJAJAF)

Keywords

• Arts education
• Youth programs
• Nonprofit education
• Creative workshops
• Professional development

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Tax-deductible donations from individuals supporting the organization's mission to provide arts education to underserved Los Angeles youth. The organization offers monthly giving circles and one-time donation options.
2. Corporate Matching Gifts: Many employers sponsor matching gift programs where charitable contributions made by employees are matched. The organization actively promotes this through their matching gifts page, encouraging donors to check if their employer participates.
3. Monthly Giving Circle: Recurring monthly donations from supporters who join the Monthly Giving Circle. Even $5 monthly donations can provide a student with art supplies for a full academic year. This provides predictable recurring revenue for the organization.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Inner-City Arts provides free visual and performing arts education programs to K-12 students from underserved Los Angeles communities, delivered through on-campus instruction and a school-day partnership with LAUSD. Programs include the LATA school-day curriculum for K-8, Institutes self-select classes for grades 6-12, the Work of Art college and career readiness program for grades 11-12, the Professional Development Institute for educators, and The Rosenthal Theater performance venue. All services are offered at no cost to students, families, or schools and are funded by donations, grants, and charitable contributions.

Product overview

Inner-City Arts is a nonprofit arts education organization offering a portfolio of programs for K-12 students and professional development for educators. The core offerings include the Learning & Achieving Through the Arts (LATA) program for K-8 students during the school day, the Institutes program for self-select creative classes in grades 6-12, the Work of Art college and career readiness program for grades 11-12, and the Professional Development Institute for educators. The Rosenthal Theater serves as the organization's performance venue for student productions and community engagement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• LATA (Learning & Achieving Through the Arts): Learning & Achieving Through the Arts program for K-6th grade students providing learner-centered, research-based visual and performing arts instruction in partnership with LA schools during the school day.
• Institutes (Visual, Media & Performing Arts)
• Work of Art
• Professional Development Institute
• The Rosenthal Theater

Products and services

• Learning & Achieving Through the Arts (LATA) A school-day visual and performing arts instruction program for students in grades K-8, delivered in partnership with LAUSD schools during regular school hours. Provides learner-centered, research-based arts instruction as an in-classroom curriculum integration for underserved Los Angeles students.
• Institutes Program Self-select creative arts classes for students in grades 6-12, offered after school, on weekends, and during summer sessions in disciplines including visual arts, media arts, and performing arts. Designed as intervention and prevention programming during critical out-of-school hours.
• Work of Art A college and career readiness program for students in grades 11-12 that provides training, mentorship, and real-world experience to prepare young creatives for professional life beyond high school.
• Professional Development Institute Provides educators, administrators, graduate students, and teaching artists with strategies for integrating creative practices into classroom curricula to improve student literacy and academic success and increase teacher retention.
• The Rosenthal Theater A state-of-the-art performance space for innovative, diverse performance and engagement for students, artists, and the community. Hosts student performances, family programs, and community events.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200,000 students served since founding in 1989
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA landmark partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District provides the only arts instruction many students in grades TK-8 will receive during the school day. This partnership enables more than 5,000 elementary students annually to receive high-quality arts education at the Inner-City Arts campus.
• GoFundMecoreTechnology or IntegrationGoFundMe provides the online fundraising platform powering Inner-City Arts' donation pages, including the Monthly Giving Circle program. The organization uses GoFundMe Pro for event registration and donation processing.
• Charity NavigatorminorOthersInner-City Arts has received Charity Navigator designation (EIN: 954239478), indicating the organization meets Charity Navigator's standards for financial health and accountability.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• A Place Called Home: A Place Called Home is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit providing arts, education, and wellness programs to underserved youth in South Central LA. It shares Inner-City Arts' donor-supported model, arts-education focus, and LA concentration on low-income communities.
• Education Through Music (ETM): Education Through Music is a national nonprofit that partners with schools to provide music and arts instruction to underserved students, with an active Los Angeles affiliate. The school-partnership delivery model and free-to-students funding structure mirror Inner-City Arts' LATA approach.
• The Harmony Project: Harmony Project is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit offering free, year-long music education and mentorship to underserved youth. It is directly comparable in target population (low-income LA youth), funding model (donor-dependent), and arts-education mission.
• Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA): HOLA is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit providing arts, athletics, and academic enrichment to underserved youth across the city. It directly parallels Inner-City Arts' mission of combining arts education with youth development for low-income LA children.
• PS Arts: PS Arts is a California-focused nonprofit that partners with public elementary schools to provide in-school arts education (visual arts, music, dance, theater) for underserved students — directly comparable to Inner-City Arts' LAUSD school-day LATA program.

Broad incumbents

• The Music Center: The Music Center is LA's largest performing arts presenter with extensive K-12 education and community engagement programming. It overlaps with Inner-City Arts in serving LA youth through performing arts experiences, but operates as a much larger, broader arts institution.
• Young Audiences Arts for Learning: Young Audiences is a national arts-in-education nonprofit with an LA chapter that places teaching artists in schools. It uses a similar teaching-artist deployment model to Inner-City Arts' methodology but operates at national scale and as a broader arts-education intermediary.
• Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (CAP UCLA): CAP UCLA is a Los Angeles performing arts presenter within UCLA that runs K-12 community engagement and education programs. It overlaps with Inner-City Arts on performing arts education for LA youth but operates as part of a major university with broader institutional reach and resources.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=s9cM6-1vrnM
• Facebookfacebook.com/innercityartsLA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/about

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Inner-City Arts