What We Do
We support and create work that builds upon USC’s commitment to addressing society’s most pressing issues. View our 2018-21 report.
Our projects span a wide range of art forms to address social issues including systemic racism, gender discrimination, homelessness, mass incarceration, sustainability, educational inequity, arts access, and health disparities.
We deliver on our mission by annually funding arts projects that are co-led by community partners and USC personnel, directly producing our own projects in partnership with organizations and activists, and acting as a connecting hub for individuals and organizations within and beyond USC, seeding the ground for future collaborations.
By prioritizing artwork that is the result of collaboration, Arts in Action inspires the formation of new relationships with community partners around a shared desire for social change. We also provide opportunities for USC students to acquire meaningful experiences and further develop their artistic practice in ways that are difficult to replicate in the classroom.
For details of our current and previous work, take a look at our Projects page.
faq
For information, please refer to these Frequently Asked Questions. If your question isn’t addressed here, feel free to get in touch via our Contact page.
We support projects whose vision, objectives, and execution are developed with underlying support and input from community members and/or organizations. Projects are often participant-driven, challenging a separation between “artists” and “audiences.” We prioritize artwork that is the result of a shared, relational process, and where the collaborative process of creating the work is a core part of the project’s impact and value. Please refer to our featured past projects for examples.
Yes. Full-time, part-time, tenured, tenure-track, and non–tenure track USC faculty of any level are eligible to submit a proposal in response to an Arts in Action Request for Proposals.
Yes. All USC students are eligible to submit a proposal in response to an Arts in Action Request for Proposals, as long as they have the listed endorsement of at least one USC faculty member. All students are eligible to attend Arts in Action public events.
We welcome the participation of people from a range of study fields, and encourage the formation of diverse project teams. However, we encourage each project team to include at least one individual based within a USC arts school.
Please get in touch with us via our Contact page! We will point you toward people and activities at USC that are engaged in work related to your cause. You can also explore a list of USC initiatives via our Community page.
No. Arts in Action projects must include collaboration with USC faculty or students.
