We Heart Art Academy employs local, trained and dedicated teaching artists to instruct and lead arts programs in their specialized art forms including visual, literary and performing arts. Our arts programs serve individuals experiencing incarceration within our local California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institutions. Our grassroots organization from rural Central California seeks out a diverse team of Teaching Artists to represent various ages, genders, ethnicities, cultures and countries.

We Heart Art Academy values and recognizes that the power of the arts in healing and transformation through creative freedom of self-expression. Our “Brave Space” classroom environment supports the rehabilitative process in healing from trauma and discrimination. Our participants are practicing artists who are moving forward in positive ways by implementing new rehabilitative thinking, developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills in a culturally diverse art community setting.

We Heart Art Academy strives to ensure that the underserved, individual person experiencing incarceration has equal access in opportunities of strengthening their social, emotional and mental health and wellness. Participants are encouraged to discover, strengthen and build on their art talents and use them to strengthen their family and community connections through service and positive shared experiences. 

See California Arts Council press release from Feb 11, 2019.