Judy Baca Arts Academy 2015

The Judy Baca Arts Academy represents the tremendous potential for creative learning endeavors within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). We believe that academic preparedness means placing art, creativity and self-exploration at the center of the scholastic journey. The Emancipation Project, a collaboration between University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Judy Baca Arts Academy (JBAA), reflects this ideology.  The four-week workshop pairs members of a 6th grade class with university students enrolled in the Beyond the Mexican Mural studio course through the UCLA@SPARC Digital/Mural Lab.

Under the direction of Professor Judy Baca, undergraduates assist and mentor JBAA students as they create life-sized self-portraits. Beginning as photographs, these images transform into hand painted portraits reflecting memory, identity and aspirations. The individual portraits will be installed together in the school’s outdoor eating-area as a unified image of “emancipation,” commemorating the students’ graduation from elementary school, while celebrating their future achievements within academia and beyond.

 

 

Judy Baca Arts Academy 2014

Judy Baca Arts Academy 2013

The 2013 ‘Emancipation Project’ created by members of the 6th grade class asa gift for the school in partnership with UCLA Professor Judy Baca’s university students in the UCLA@SPARC Digital Mural Lab. Watch YouTube Video

Judy Baca Arts Academy 2013In 2013, Distinguished UCLA Professor Judy Baca’s eleven UCLA students of the UCLA@SPARC Cesar Chavez Digital/Mural Lab “Beyond the Mexican Mural” courses collaborated with twenty, 6th grade, students with workshops to produce a Mural for permanent placement in the Judith F. Baca Arts Academy located in Watts. Furthermore, this collaboration model will be integrated into the school’s curriculum as an annual project. The UCLA students took on the task of developing a mural in a 2-week period, which would illuminate the children’s stories of struggle, determination and commemorate identity, aspirations and dreams.