Visit the Humanitas Web page Check out some photos of last year's Rush Arts Festival

Humanitas Students to Display Art Work at Barnsdall Park ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, youth from diverse cultural backgrounds from throughout the Los Angeles Area will come together at Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood to present a showcase of inner-city student art projects. The Rush Arts Collaborative will present the third annual I, Too, Am America Youth Arts Festival, a celebration of the power of art to educate, communicate and heal. The event is funded by the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, established by Russell Simmons, founder and president of Def Jam Music Group, and his brother, visual artist Daniel Simmons to engage urban youth with the creative arts in Los Angeles and other cities. The festival will feature the art work of Humanitas students. Humanitas is a humanities instruction program for urban students at 41 high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The 11-year-old program works with 400 secondary teachers who are united in a commitment to the humanities and to creating access to them for our racially and ethnically diverse students in 41 Los Angeles High Schools. "We started Rush Arts as a way for inner city students to be involved in all aspects of art," Russell Simmons says. "The artistic process is an extremely valuable social and learning experience. We were fortunate to have that experience and we enjoy helping provide that opportunity for today's young people." From 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., Barnsdall Art Park's sprawling hilltop grounds will be host to a variety of student art projects including visual art displays, animation screenings and hand-made books created through community arts organizations and teacher supported collaborations city-wide. The festival offers an opportunity for students to share and display artwork created through programs during the school year at greater Los Angeles area schools including Cleveland, Manual Arts, Jefferson, Narbonne, Fremont, Carson, Grant, Van Nuys, Bell, Chatsworth, Belmont, Roosevelt, and Venice high schools. Other Los Angeles area primary and secondary schools also participated. I Too, Am America attendees will have the opportunity to experience the creative process in free, interactive demonstrations and workshops that explore indigenous art forms including mural painting, printmaking, African dolls, Mexican tin painting and Chinese scrolls. The afternoon will also come alive with poetry readings and music and dance performances on two stages. Experience the jazz-inspired sounds of Ishmael Wadada Lee Smith & the Cal Arts Creative Ensemble, unique salsa music of the teen-led East L.A. Sabor Factory, as well as Performing Tree's Abalaye African Music and Dance Ensemble. Free tours of the historic Frank Lloyd Wright Hollyhock House will also be available. I, Too, Am America Youth Arts Festival is presented by the Rush Arts Collaborative, a cooperative of local arts and educational organizations: Barnsdall Art Park, CalArts Community Arts Partnership, Friends of the Junior Art Center, Inner-City Arts, Los Angeles Educational Partnership Humanitas Program, Los Angeles Unified School District and Performing Tree. The annual Festival represents a culmination of the year's arts projects and gives voice to the students' work. Admission to I, Too, Am America, Sunday, February 7th, 12:30-4:30 p.m., is free of charge. Free parking is available at the Kaiser Permanente parking structure between Hollywood and Sunset Blvds., followed by free shuttle service to the park. For further information, please call Friends of the Junior Art Center, (213) 485-4474.