AAP Mentoring Program's Arts Initiative (Arts IN) works to engage artists with the larger University and Los Angeles community while bringing art into disciplines and communities that normally do not access arts activities. We do this by supporting students from a variety of departments in specific arts related projects with established partnerships including- Arts IN Civic Engagement, Arts IN Education, Arts IN Global Health, Arts IN Labor, and Arts INternational. Our objective is to mentor under-represented and under-resourced students who would normally not consider the arts as a viable area of study leading to a career in the arts. Students will receive academic, professional and financial support over a required two year commitment providing the academic and practical background required to advance into a variety of successful careers in the arts including graduate school, education, activism, therapy, entertainment, production and management.

For more information, please feel free to contact us.

Carolina San Juan,
Graduate Coordinator
csanjuan@college.ucla.edu
(310) 794-4186

Program Description

Students are funded $2000 during their first year as an Arts IN Fellow, and $3000 during their second year as an Arts IN Scholar.

Year One

Fall - Applications Due! Click Here to download PDF application
Winter - Honors 193 Careers in the Arts
Spring - Honors 193 Internship Proposals

Year Two

Year-long Internship with Arts IN partner with an emphasis on Professional Portfolios and Graduate School Applications.

Arts IN Partnerships

Arts IN Civic Engagement
    Center for Community Learning

Arts IN Education
    Artsbridge

Arts IN Global Health
    Center for the Arts and Global Health

Arts IN Labor
    Center for Labor Research and Education


Arts INternational
    Center for Intercultural Performance

Arts IN Scholars

I am pleased to announce the second cohort of the AAP Arts IN Program. This program works to support students in specific arts related-research projects in established partnerships such as - Arts IN Civic Engagement, Arts IN Education, Arts IN Global Health, Arts IN Labor, Arts IN Science, and Arts INternational. Arts IN is the centerpiece of AAP's initiative to mentor under-resourced students who normally would not consider the arts as a viable area of study leading to a career in the arts.

2008 Arts IN Fellows

• Mehvish Arifeen, Pakistani visual arts and music
• Elizabeth Franco, Folklorico dance and education
• Turquoise Griffith, global health, AIDS, and poetry
• Leslie Mejia, Community based art in East Los Angeles
• Philip Nguyen, Hip hop dance and education
• Tameka Norris, visual arts, race and forced migration
• Arianna Taboada, AIDS in Mexico and visual literacy

2007 Arts IN Fellows

Norlyn Asprec

Norlyn Asprec danced modern, jazz, ballet and lyrical for 15 years in the Bay Area before coming to UCLA to major in Sociology with a Civic Engagement minor. She is the SPEAR (Samahang Pilipino Education and Retention) Peer Counselor Coordinator and has participated in SRRP (Summer Readmission and Retention Program) and PCN (Pilipino Cultural Night) for 2 years. Her Arts IN project involves working with the Los Angeles Unified School District regarding childhood obesity issues. She plans on pursuing a graduate degree in Public Health to continue promoting well-being and self-esteem practices to the increasing issue of childhood obesity.

Marisol Barba

Marisol Barba is the lead female vocalist for Brutas Gets the Girl, a local Los Angeles indie band that has played at The Roxie, The Troubadour, and the Knitting Factory. She is also a World Arts and Cultures major where she worked extensively with Judy Baca and SPARC (The Social and Public Art Resource Center) studying murals throughout Los Angeles. She recently returned from a quarter in Spain and summer in Mexico where she investigated ideas of art and immigration. She plans on creating an internship with a local arts organization to focus on issues of arts and immigration.

Desiree Gallardo

Desiree Gallardo has fourteen years of dance experience with Keali'i 'O Nalani and Nonosina. She teaches Polynesian Dance throughout the Los Angeles area with ArtsBridge, A Place Called Home, and the UCLA Hawaii Club and performs internationally throughout Hawaii, Tahiti and California. Her goal is to inspire her students' creativity, and foster respect for the diversity of Asian Pacific Island cultures. She was chosen to recieve a full scholarship for the prestigious Jacob's Pillow Cultural Traditions Workshop this past Summer 2007. Her Arts IN project includes traveling to New Zealand to compare New Zealand's arts/cultural education programs to U.S. programs in preparation for her creative career as a teaching artist, arts administrator, and advocate for arts education.

Adrianna King

Adrianna King is a 3rd year World Arts and Cultures major (w/dance concentration) with a minor in Accounting. Adrianna has been a praise dancer for 7 years and has performed at churches, schools, and community centers throughout California. She is also a site coordinator for the SHAPE program working with youth in the Inglewood area. Her Arts IN project is to bring students who would not consider arts related education to UCLA to expose them to the possibility of pursuing a college degree in the arts. She is interested in exploring dance and other cultural forms of performance through dance studios and companies and plans on returning to the Bay Area to attend graduate school. Her ultimate goal is to have a multi-cultural dance academy to work with at-risk students who do not have access to the arts.

April Ledbetter

April Ledbetter, currently a McNair Scholar, is a fourth year English major/LGBT minor. Well, that's her major, but she primarily identifies as a writer of poetry, short fiction, fanfiction and on one adventurous occasion, a play. She is the English department's 2007 Hastings Scholar and was recognized as a California Arts Scholar in 2004. For her project, she plans to focus on fanfiction as a form of literary criticism, as well as a vehicle for social commentary. She plans to either compile a scholarly journal or to plan a conference on the subject. (She also finds it strange to write in the third person.)

Stephanie Sartori

Stephanie Sartori is currently completing her third year at UCLA as an Art History and Political Science double major. She has loved fashion since she was a child, and began designing and sewing at the age of 15. As a member of UCFAST, the fashion club on campus, Stephanie has had the opportunity to present her clothing collections in the UCLA Student Fashion show during the past two years. Her Arts-In project consists of an internship at the Garment Workers Center in Los Angeles, where she hopes to learn the steps to developing a clothing company that is concerned with the well being of its employees and community. Her dream is to revolutionize the fashion industry by becoming a well-known clothing designer who promotes socially conscious fashion.

David Villafana

David Villafana is a third year Ethnomusicology major who also plays with Arepa, a Latin Fusion Band that has performed throughout Los Angeles and Baja in venues such as The Knitting Factory, The Egyptian Theatre, Fowler Museum, and the Los Angeles Tennis Center. He directed the Festival Latino 2007 at UCLA featuring musical acts Quetzal, B-Side Players, Katia Moraes with BatUCLAda, and Los Hermanos Herrera. His most recent independent project was producing the soundtrack for the Hispanic Heritage Awards held in Washington DC. He plans to pursue a career in recording and producing that emphasis a musical universality appealing to a wide audience. His Arts IN project involves working with undocumented musicians to produce a concert and CD of their work.

Kelsey Yu

Kelsey Yu is a 3rd year Global Studies major and Spanish minor. She is currently studying abroad in Barcelona and loving it. Upon her return, she is interning at the Center of Intercultural Performance, where she plans to explore issues of art and immigration and bring about a better understanding of art across different cultures.