By Brian Dunlap

In 2012 poet Luis Antonio Pichardo founded the arts mentorship organization DSTL Arts. He had ambitious goals. From the start, he wanted to inspire, teach, and hire emerging artists from underserved communities. This idea was born at his house in Glassell Park. Northeast L.Á.

One of DSTL Arts’ earliest programs was their Arts Mentorship Program for at-risk youth and adults, ages 16 and older. It’s goal is to help students develop new and existing skills in their preferred medium while also learning important skills for entering careers in the arts.

But with the pandemic affecting all aspects of the Los Ángeles literary community, causing readings and open mics to go virtual, bookstores to immediately move to selling books exclusively online, and some open mics to cease all together, DSTL Arts has had to pivot and change too.

In May’s DSTL Arts newsletter, Pichardo said, “there are several big updates I want to share,” because, “DSTL Arts is evolving!” During the past year and a half they’ve transitioned to virtual platforms that has accrued unexpected expenses, such as “the printing and mailing of workshop materials to our various program participants.” They’ve been able to survive because of their generous supporters who’ve donated, “purchased zines” and “chapbooks” students have produced and the “various COVID-relief grants we were fortunate enough to receive.” Plus, the funds helped their Mobile Arts Lab to “finally become a full-fledged reality.”

The Mobile Arts Lab is a trailer that’s outfitted with: a Wi-Fi hotspot; tablet for writing; digital arts creation; photography; a large format scanner and printer; and books, comics and zines from the DSTL Arts catalogue. Its purpose is to make it easier to bring their programming to the underserved communities—South L.Á. and the Eastside—they already serve. And to any school or community organization that requests the Lab. DSTL Arts and Pichardo’s goals always have been about providing such communities accessibility to the arts. As Pichardo says, its “a whole new approach to all our programing.”

Other changes are coming to DSTL Arts as well. They have rebranded their Arts Mentorship Program that helps nurture emerging underserved writers and artists, to be the Art/Artist Development program. It’s new structure “now focuses on providing targeted, working artist trainings and mentorships for individuals, now ages 18 and older, who are [still] from historically-marginalized communities. Mentorship will still be a core part of this program, but each participant will now be given priority access to a structured workshop series that will focus entirely on teaching tools, techniques, and strategies for establishing a career as a working artist, in addition to supporting the completion of a publishable manuscript.”

Also, all of their future workshops will be recorded and uploaded to their newly updated YouTube channel for everyone to view.

Yet, not all DSTL Arts programs have survived the pandemic. Choices and cuts had to be made. The organization had to adapt. As of now, their All-Ages Zine-Making Workshop will no longer be offered.

With August now unfolding, and with DSTL Arts’ Conchas y Café Creative Writing Workshops returning, what Pichardo calls “the new era of DSTL Arts” is now being rolled out to the public.