IN THE COMMUNITY

All DAC programs are rooted in our commitment to develop peaceful, powerful and creative communities

Rooted In The Community

Since our founding in 1988, Destiny Arts Center has partnered with schools and community-based organizations to bring movement arts to young people across Oakland and the greater Bay Area. Originally formed though a handful of intensive satellite programs in North and West Oakland, Destiny now provides teaching artist residencies to over 3,000 Bay Area young people, largely in East and West Oakland.

Destiny teaching artists meet young people where they are. Through residencies in school-day classrooms, after-school programs, community centers and youth incarceration facilities, our teaching artists bring creative youth development programs to young people ages 3-24 where they live and go to school.

Image of kids in a class

Destiny in schools

Destiny partners with school administrators and classroom teachers to bring movement-based creative youth development programs to classrooms. These full-year and multi-year partnerships provide opportunities for curriculum-aligned arts learning suffused with movement, social-emotional learning and restorative practice during the school day.

 

Destiny teaching artists are supported to engage and partner with classroom teachers so that they can co-create a positive classroom culture and draw connections to classroom curriculum.

Image of kids in a class

Destiny out of school time

Destiny partners with community-based organizations throughout the Bay Area to support teaching artists in bringing culturally relevant movement-based creative youth development programs to young people during critical after-school hours as well as in the summer.

 

Our out of school time programs are fundamentally rooted in Destiny’s creative youth development approach, which centers youth voice and expression while supporting students to feel safe and connected to their after school and summer program communities.

Image of kids participating in an African dance class

Destiny Arts was a positively fabulous part of the school year. The structure, strategies, implementation, and creativity of the program has given my students not only an outlet for their energy but also an enthusiastically crafted and planned education on movement, culture, music, and language. Students are more enthusiastic about class and look forward to dance days.”

Classroom Teacher