About

ArtsMatter draws upon a dynamic catalogue of content provided by top artists and creators to produce high-impact arts education programming for Los Angeles schools.

mission statement

Los Angeles is the world capital of media and entertainment, yet most LA County schools do not prepare students to take on jobs in these industries. ArtsMatter addresses these gaps by creating and sharing educational programming based in media arts to increase exposure and access to career pathways and equip students of color with the skills they need for success in the local creative economy.  

ArtsMatter creates standards-based curriculum and instructional materials to be paired with hands-on Professional Development training for teachers to increase student engagement in schools while building teachers’ capacity to integrate arts learning in their classrooms. Trained teachers then become ambassadors in their larger school communities to activate county-wide impact projects to advance media arts education not only in Los Angeles, but in every city across the country. 

History

The LA Promise Fund launched ArtsMatter in October 2012 to address the need for increased arts opportunities and creativity in LAUSD. At the time, only 2% of elementary school instructional time in LAUSD classrooms was being devoted to the arts.

An city-wide outdoor campaign was created featuring inspiring work by contemporary artists including Barbara Kruger, John Baldessari and Shepard Fairey. It raised $1 million to be distributed to various arts partners, including CalArts, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Music Center, Mattel, and Urban Arts Partnership to bring more of the arts to more students across Los Angeles County.

In 2016, ArtsMatter once again partnered with the Getty through their Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative. In collaboration with LAUSD's Arts Education Branch, ArtsMatter created the PST: LA/LA Education Program,available to LA County schools during the 2017-18 Academic Year. It included teacher workshops, student field trips and family days at PST: LA/LA exhibitions, a grant program for teachers to activate their larger school communities in arts-making, and a county-wide Student Arts Contest.

Access to all required arts disciplines

Los Angeles County Students

25%

Los Angeles County Schools

12%

Media arts enrollment in schools

High School Students

12%

Middle School Students

1%

Program Pillars

ArtsMatter draws upon a dynamic catalog of content provided by top creators, media companies, arts organizations, and local museums to produce standards-based arts education programming to support Los Angeles students, teachers, and schools.

Team

ArtsMatter has assembled an exceptional team of staff and project consultants to implement the innovative work of Media ArtsMatter and its other pioneering arts integration programs.

Individuals have been selected for their broad experience in standards-based instruction, arts education, student programming, professional development, teacher coaching, and impactful work throughout LA County schools.

Christina T. Korn

Senior Director of Arts Programs

Christina T. Korn is the Director of Arts Programs with LA Promise Fund and has worked as a teaching artist for over ten years facilitating meaningful arts experiences for diverse learners in public school classrooms, museums, and private home settings. While maintaining a studio practice in painting, Christina has been dedicated to serving students through her work with the Hammer Museum, LACMA, and Urban Arts Partnership. She specializes in collaborating with classroom teachers to develop arts integrated lessons that expand student learning while affirming identity and supporting social emotional development. As a lecturer with UCLA’s Visual and Performing Arts Education program, she prepares and mentors the future generation of teaching artists.

In her work with LAPF’s ArtsMatter program, Christina creates media arts curriculum and connects students to community partners in order to establish career pathways for students from South L.A. to work in Los Angeles’ creative industries. Christina received a BFA in Art Education from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in affiliation with Tufts University where she got her start as a teaching artist at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Raymundo Baltazar

Director of Arts Programs

Prior to joining the LA Promise Fund, he worked as the Community Engagement Coordinator for UCLA Arts’ Visual and Performing Arts Education (VAPAE) program. He is a multidisciplinary artist, arts educator, and fashion industry consultant. He has been an active volunteer in the nonprofit sector, most notably working with organizations such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 

A first-generation UCLA alum, he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in World Arts and Cultures, and a minor in Visual and Performing Arts Education (VAPAE); and received an A.A. in fashion design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

Today, it is his life’s commitment to do all he can to dismantle the many obstacles that still prevent queer BIPOC youth from achieving their full potential. Working as an educator has been rewarding to him, especially by witnessing communities bonding, not just through a diaspora but rather by embracing the idea that they can be artists of meaning and consequence regardless of zip code or personal experiences.

Raven Sanchez

Teaching Artist

Raven is a second-generation Chicana artist and educator with deep family roots in East Los Angeles. Prior to joining LAPF, Sanchez was the Program Director at Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area where she led the launch of an arts based virtual program during the height of the pandemic. She has worked at the Juan R. Fuentes Gallery at Acción Latina in San Francisco’s Mission District, contributed to El Tecolote newspaper, and founded Whittier Levántate, an artist-run community project supporting artists in Whittier from 2018 - 2020. Raven serves as a visual arts instructor at LAMusArt and completed a 2023 Apprenticeship at Slanguage Studio under the mentorship of Artist, Mario Ybarra Jr.

Matt Reynolds

Senior Teaching Artist

Matt Reynolds has experience teaching animation and media art to a diverse range of learners: from San Fernando 5th graders in the Making Movies that Matter program, to Santa Monica retirees as a resident artist at the Camera Obscura Art Lab.  Prior to joining LAPF, Matt worked for 6 years as an animation instructor for middle and high schoolers through a free after school arts program operated by the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP).

Reynolds received a B.A. in Art & Visual Culture from Bates College and an M.F.A. in Experimental Animation from CalArts.  His animated short films have won awards at The San Francisco International Film Festival, The Anim’est International Animation Festival in Romania, and The Ann Arbor Film Festival, and have screened at such festivals as SXSW, AFI Fest, and The Annecy International Animation Film Festival.  As a freelance animation director, he has produced work for such clients as Adult Swim, The Atlantic, TED Ed, and Spotify.

Alongside his career as an educator, Matt maintains a personal practice in sculpture, animation and comic art.  He finds inspiration in LA architecture, science fiction, nature, and the tireless work of progressive community activists across Los Angeles.

Beranger LeFranc

Teaching Artist

Beranger LeFranc is a Teaching Artist with LA Promise Fund. She leads arts-based instruction in classrooms to promote creative and academic advancements in students. Teaching Artists also provide one-on-one coaching of teachers to support their ability to gain the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to deliver and design new media arts lesson plans. The goal is to build teachers’ confidence in using media arts-based strategies across the Media ArtsMatter curriculum.

Beranger joined LA Promise Fund in August 2023. Prior to joining LAPF, she worked as a secondary art teacher for 7 years at Title I schools in Austin, Texas, and Richmond, Virginia; she was also selected for the role of Lead Secondary Art Teacher in her district for four years. Before teaching, Beranger worked for several nonprofit youth development organizations, coordinating summer camps, after-school programming, and outdoor education.

Beranger holds a B.F.A. in Sculpture + Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University, an M.A. in Community-based Art Education from The University of Texas at Austin, and teacher certification in EC-12 Art Education. Throughout her career, Beranger has always strived to be an active member of her local community. She collaborates with and supports like-minded individuals and local organizations that work in youth development, arts education, and visual art. Alongside her work as a teaching artist, she maintains a personal art practice in drawing, painting, and performance art. She draws inspiration from femininity, activism, and spirituality through the lens of a queer Jewish woman.

Beranger’s favorite books are The Red Tent, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and The Lovely Bones. Her hobbies include visiting museums, traveling to new cities, thrifting for vintage, making art, and spending time in nature. Her work in education has been largely influenced by the work of Paolo Freire, whose radical ideas taught her how education and social justice are inextricably linked. He said, “There is no such thing as a neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom… The educator has the duty of not being neutral.”