Press Release
Contact: The Michael’s Daughter Foundation
Ciera Payton
Ciera@MichaelsDaughter.org
Date: December 29th, 2022
The Michael’s Daughter Foundation Awarded California Arts Council Artists in Schools and JUMP StArts Grants
State funds support filmmaking and media arts programs for youth impacted by incarceration and students at Girls Athletic Leadership School and Carson High
[Los Angeles, CA] – The California Arts Council has announced a grant award of $57,000.00 and 49,875.00 to The Michael’s Daughter Foundation as part of its Artists in Residency 2-year program and JUMP StArts programs in its second round of funding for 2022.
MDF currently focuses resources on two main initiatives: youth arts programs and financial literacy courses. The arts in-school residency programs are tailored for youth impacted by the incarceration of a loved one in partnership with schools in underserved communities. All arts-based programs duplicate Ciera’s path to healing– beginning with exploration, creation, sharing, and ending with healing. The students learn how to tell their stories and create personal narratives through filmmaking.
Each program is twelve (12) weeks, where students meet twice a week. Three (3) teaching artists facilitate the youth’s discovery of their voices by helping them explore their stories, create performative narrative pieces, and perform these pieces into three (3) short films. At the program’s culmination, a public screening of their work is presented to their community and the Hollywood entertainment community, where students experience the accomplishment of having this work shared with the public.
Children of incarcerated parents face stigma, adversity, low self-esteem, and academic trouble, just to name a few. Creating a platform and safe space for youth of incarcerated parents to engage in arts-based workshops actively gives way to learning healthy coping skills that ultimately impact their internal and external world. MDF offers unique programs that afford healthy healing, self-esteem building, job skills, and more through the arts and I’m thrilled to collaborate with the CAC to continue our efforts to help serve our communities.
– Ciera Payton, President, and Founder of The Michael’s Daughter Foundation
The Michael’s Daughter Foundation was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council, with grant awards for its Cycle B programming totaling more than $41 million across more than 900 grants supporting nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state.
All told the projected sum of grants to be awarded for 2022’s regular program funding cycle is more than $72 million—the biggest annual investment in the California Arts Council’s 46-year history, largely supported by the $40 million one-time boost in support for the agency’s creative youth and arts education development programs.
“The resilience and creativity of California’s arts and cultural field in these last three years has been remarkable,” said California Arts Council Director Jonathan Moscone. “We are proud to be able to support the great work that California’s artists, culture bearers and cultural workers are doing within our communities as an indelible part of our state’s identity.”
Cycle B’s programs include five funding opportunities for arts education and creative youth development, and related arts workforce development. Additionally, the cycle offered funding opportunities for administering organizations to regrant funds for folk and traditional arts and individual artists fellowship programs. Operational support for statewide and regional arts service organizations and networks was also available during this round of grant funding.
To view a complete listing of all California Arts Council Cycle B grantees by county, visit this link.
For a complete listing of Cycle B grantees by organization, go to this link.
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The Michael’s Daughter Foundation’s mission is to provide free and low-cost enrichment programs to youth and families in underserved communities. These programs include creative writing workshops and creating original plays, monologues, short films, documentaries, and music; all past programs are detailed in the attached video for your convenience. We provide these programs throughout the year in various Los Angeles communities and intend to share this work with cities across the US. We are also committed to providing resources such as financial wellness workshops, emergency funds, and scholarship money for college students impacted by incarceration and/or having a loved one behind bars.
The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. It supports local arts infrastructure and programming statewide through grants, initiatives, and services. The California Arts Council envisions a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts.
Members of the California Arts Council include: Lilia Gonzáles-Chávez, Chair; Consuelo Montoya, Vice Chair; Gerald Clarke, Vicki Estrada, Jodie Evans, Ellen Gavin, Alex Israel, Phil Mercado, and Roxanne Messina Captor. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.
