Today we chat with Tia Thompson, Teaching Artist for ArtsMatter at The LA Promise Fund.

I am an Artist and a Teaching Artist. My work and beingness is deeply rooted in the studies of Radical Black Femme Art & Theory. I write creatively and use image making such as photography and film to create.

Why do you do this work? What do you love about it? I believe in the expansive and far reaching power of art. Experiencing art is as essential as clean water. I love witnessing our students feel and think in response to art and their own art. I love to witness them talking about what they create.

What's one of your favorite memories during your work for the LA Promise Fund? I love to see our students engaged and participating in our art discussions! We had so many of these moments.

When you were a teenager, what did you want to do in life? Mmmm. I don’t recall because there were so many but I could feel a desire for expansiveness and freeness.

If you could give your teenage self some advice, what would it be? “That thing that you want to do, do it. That person that you want to see, see her.”

FIRE ROUND!

What are three fun facts about you?

• I like fishing

• I like camping

• I still can do a cartwheel

What artist(s) inspires you and why? My peer/friend group of artists are essential to my beingness as a human and artist. Anya Wallace; Nicole Kelly; Tiffany Lee; Lishan AZ; Sophia Allison; Adee Roberson; Jheanelle Brown; Essence Harden; Curt Mariah; Taylor Johnson.

What is the one thing you are sure to do when we are on the other side of this Pandemic? Continue to work and seek pleasure in the movement for Black liberation.

See more of Tia's current projects as a working artist HERE on IG @TSqaures