Our 2025 Youth Artivism Interns’ main project was titled Fronteras Sin Raíces: Amar, Crecer, Luchar.

From the Artivistas:

“Starting as a direct response to the fear and instability caused by on-going ICE raids in LA and anti-immigrant policies across the nation, this fundraiser [Fronteras Sin Raíces] is more than a market, it's a space for collective healing, reflection, and resistance”

This project theme, as well as merchandise designs, were informed by input from Eastside residents: our coalition membership and others receiving services from the coalition. Across responses, a clear theme surfaced. Connecting to community, culture, and home are essential for our local community to collectively heal from and resist the violence we’ve seen plague our neighborhoods. This theme is apparent across the merchandise our youth artivists made. By creating and selling original merchandise, our artivistas were able to collect funds to help our coalition membership offset legal fees and loss of income.

Beyond financial support, artivists organized activation at their in-person Pop-Ups to promote collective healing, reflection, and resistance—specifically via culture and community. At their first Pop Up, hosted at SHG’s 52nd Dia de los Muertos celebration, our artivists ran a photobooth documenting friends, partners, and families participating in the collective cultural celebration. Before people had their photos taken, people were asked if they’d like to respond to surveys that asked respondents to think about culture and community as resistance. Memorializing this moment was important to the artivistas because they recognized this celebration as a communal act of defiance to the cultural repression and fear produced by our immigration climate. Check out our artivistas’ photobooth gallery here. 

Survey responses were then used in a video project installed at their 2nd Pop Up. Responses were interlaced with footage from Dia de los Muertos and clips of our youths’ artistic process throughout the internship. Maddy also recorded a live music performance to integrate into the audio of the video installation, meant to soothe listeners. As people visited their merchandise table, artivistas encouraged people to listen to their video installation, reminding people about culture and community as important tools of resistance. Check out our artivistas video installation below.

Lastly, our artivists designed a zine for a community education project focused on the redevelopment of the LA General Hospital. This zine creatively summarizes key information on this redevelopment project, strengthening local residents' understanding of this project with the hopes of getting them involved. This zine is in the final stages of editing, but will be publicly available once completed.

The 2021-22 cohort’s core project was titled Eastside Speaks! Guided by the question “What is Home?”, the Artivists worked on a multidisciplinary project including a series of workshops with tenants, an installation, and two videos.

The project focused on uplifting the experiences of tenants who have faced displacement, live in uninhabitable units, cannot sustain rent increases, have or are experiencing homelessness, and continue the fight for permanent tenant protections.

The inaugural Youth Artivism Internship cohort focused on direct action, supporting tenant rights, and creating art for rallies and protests. Their internship was packed with projects guided by their passion for activism and community.

They made two zines, one focused on tenant rights and resources and another on mental health as part of We Rise; they supported the SHG Youth Committee with a series of videos about housing justice and designed merchandise for a community fundraiser helping tenants who lost their homes to a fire. While at SHG, they developed and painted banners for different protests. Lastly, they collaborated with SHG Beyond the Press Artist in Residence Pável Acevedo on a mural highlighting tenant activists with a QR code for resources.