From: DSTL Arts

NOTE: DSTL Arts is is a Los Angeles nonprofit arts mentorship organization that inspires, teaches, and hires creative, at-risk youth, ages 16–21 years old. Read further to find out what new creative services and opportunities they want to bring to the Los Angeles community, especially its underserved youth.

Los Angeles, CA — July 20, 2017 — DSTL Arts, launches “Lowride 4 Lit (or Lowrider for Literature), a grassroots fundraising effort to bring art-making workshops in a mobile art vehicle to communities in East LA and South LA. Luis Pichardo, Executive Director and founder of the organization, will kick off the campaign by selling his father’s prized 1969 Chevy Impala as down payment.

“My dad bought this car when I was a kid so that we could have a vehicle to drive around in as a family after my parents’ divorce,” says Pichardo. “I imagined us working together, with my dad teaching me what he knew about cars, and us eventually turning it into a beautiful lowrider. His dream never came true, but because of my passion for the arts, and my deep love for DSTL Arts in particular, I’ve decided to part ways with my Impala, offering the money I get from the sale of this prized family car as part of a down payment for a new vehicle that will serve as the basis for our future Mobile Art Lab.

As an award-winning poet, illustrator, and former tagger, Pichardo is no stranger to the creative needs of communities like South LA and East LA. Having worked with at-risk youth his whole life, first in San Diego County and now in Los Angeles, Pichardo knows the challenges facing these quickly-shifting neighborhoods.

Since its founding in 2012, DSTL Arts has been providing mentorship to at-risk teens and adults in underserved communities through arts-based workshops like the bilingual creative writing workshop series and Conchas y Cafe for adults, to name a few. In the Art Block Zine publication and workshop series, teen participants get the opportunity to publish their artwork in print and online. Intergenerational groups work with teaching artists to develop community-based artworks and publications in the Artist Residency Workshops and the signature Arts Mentorship Program pairs emerging visual artists and writers from underrepresented communities with established working artists as mentors.

The Lowrider 4 Lit campaign has a crowdfunding page on Razoo. The goal is to raise $16,000 to cover the purchase of a mobile art vehicle and supplies needed.

“I want to activate the community where the community is,” says Pichardo. “As an artist and a member of the community, I want to enrich the arts resources by cultivating and bringing out the artists that are already here. By developing the skills of our participants, I want them to transcending their limits and be confident that our communities in East LA and South LA are hubs for creativity and innovation.”

For more information and photos of the Impala, please visit: http://www.dstlarts.org/lowride4lit.html

Media Contact: Jian Huang, (310) 293-3121, jian@pHCollective.co