The AjA Project

Name

The AjA Project

Legal name

The AjA Project

Website

https://ajaproject.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Arts & Documentary Programs

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Visual Arts Instruction (Drawing, Painting, Sculpture) (EDAMAAAA), English Language Arts (ELA) Enrichment (Integrated Reading/Writing) (EDAMAJAF)

Keywords

• Community arts programs
• Participatory storytelling
• Documentary arts
• Immigrant storytelling workshops
• Digital privacy education

Headquarters

HQ city

San Diego

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, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Grants and Foundation Funding: The organization receives grants from foundations including Mellon Foundation and participates in programs like the ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship Program.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The AjA Project is a nonprofit arts and community organization that delivers free participatory storytelling and documentary arts programs for young people, artists, activists, educators, and immigrant and refugee communities in San Diego. Its offering includes poetry fellowships (Back Alley Poetry Club), counter-surveillance fellowships, documentary photo essay fellowships, digital privacy workshops, and exhibitions addressing surveillance and civil liberties. Programs are funded through grants and donations and delivered through in-person workshops, exhibitions, and online platforms.

Product overview

The AjA Project is a community arts organization offering a portfolio of participatory programs focused on storytelling, documentary arts, and community empowerment. The core programs include the Back Alley Poetry Club (poetry fellowships), Counter Surveillance (surveillance awareness fellowship), Data Breach Exhibition (surveillance education), and Steps Towards Digital Privacy (digital security workshops). Additional offerings include the Journey Documentary Photo Essay Fellowship (in partnership with MOPA), Memoria Terra (community memory storytelling), Inter + Regeneration, Civil Liberties, and a Permanent Collection. These programs collectively serve young people, artists, activists, and educators, particularly immigrant and refugee communities, through creative expression and critical education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Back Alley Poetry Club A fellowship program where fellows create poems reflecting the experiences of first and second generation immigrants and refugees. Open to participants free of charge.
• Counter Surveillance Fellowship A countersurveillance fellowship program teaching participants how surveillance policies and technologies impact communities, enabling them to co-create works against unaccountable surveillance. Co-created with community partner Borderclick.
• Data Breach Exhibition A physical exhibition examining how government authorities have leveraged surveillance systems for profit-driven agendas that violate community rights. Includes an associated online resource at databreachsd.com.
• Steps Towards Digital Privacy A free Riso zine workshop for all ages and experience levels teaching practical digital privacy tools and habits including passwords, search engines, and encrypted messaging.
• Journey Documentary Photo Essay Fellowship A fellowship partnership with San Diego Museum of Art's MOPA for photographers aged 18-30 with lived experience of immigration to document and share their stories.
• Memoria Terra A participatory storytelling program hosted on ArcGIS StoryMaps for community memory and history documentation.
• Inter + Regeneration A program focused on community regeneration and intergenerational engagement.
• Civil Liberties Program A program addressing civil liberties issues within the community.
• Permanent Collection A curated collection of documentary and artistic works maintained by the organization, preserving creative works created through their programs.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• San Diego Museum of Art's MOPAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the Journey Documentary Photo Essay Fellowship targeting photographers age 18-30 with lived experience of immigration. AJA and MOPA collaborate to provide opportunities for sharing JOURNEY stories.
• BorderclickminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommunity partner for the Who Watches Who Counter-surveillance Fellowship, co-creating with artists, activists, writers, and poets to address surveillance policies and technologies impacting communities.
• ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACLS Leading Edge Fellowship Program supported by Mellon Foundation. The AjA Project participates as a host institution for recent humanities PhDs.
• Islamic Center of San DiegominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe AjA Project has been working with refugee and immigrant communities, many of whom are Muslims, since 2000. The organization expressed solidarity following the tragedy at the Islamic Center.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• The Bronx Documentary Center: Documentary arts nonprofit using photography and visual storytelling to address social justice issues in immigrant and marginalized communities. Directly comparable programming model centered on documentary arts for civic impact.
• Define American: National immigrant storytelling and narrative change organization using media and culture to shift narratives around immigration. Highly comparable focus on immigrant community storytelling and cultural representation.
• Kartemquin Films: Chicago-based documentary film nonprofit producing social impact documentaries with and for affected communities. Comparable documentary arts methodology and mission to amplify underrepresented voices.
• Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA): National nonprofit offering writing workshops for writers of color and immigrant communities. Closely comparable model of arts-based fellowships serving similar communities through creative practice.

Broad incumbents

• Race Forward: National racial justice organization using media, narrative, and culture to advance equity. Comparable use of storytelling and arts to drive social change, though at larger scale and broader scope.
• StoryCorps: Nationally scaled storytelling nonprofit preserving personal and community stories through recorded interviews. Comparable participatory storytelling methodology at much larger scale and broader geographic reach.

Regional players

• Casa Familiar: San Diego-based nonprofit serving immigrant and refugee communities through arts, education, and social services. Highly comparable mission and beneficiary base to AjA, operating in the same regional geography.
• ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties: Regional civil liberties organization addressing surveillance, immigrant rights, and privacy issues. Comparable focus on civil liberties and surveillance-affected communities, though delivered through legal advocacy rather than arts.
• Border Angels: San Diego-based volunteer humanitarian organization focused on immigration issues along the US-Mexico border. Comparable regional base and immigrant-focused mission, though less arts-centered.
• Alliance San Diego: San Diego civic engagement organization advancing immigrant rights and racial equity. Comparable target community and regional base, with overlapping focus on civil liberties and immigration issues.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/theajaproject
• Xx.com/AjAProject
• Facebookfacebook.com/ajaproject
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-aja-project

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 The AjA Project