Our History

City Hearts was founded in 1984 by Sherry and Bob Jason on the belief that the Arts can and do support young people’s wellbeing. As attorneys in the LA County Public Defender’s Office, they represented youth in the juvenile court system. Sherry knew firsthand the healing power of the Arts as a former ballerina and ballet teacher. After hearing the sounds of Mozart being played on an old piano in the halls of the detention center by a young boy in an orange jumpsuit, Sherry recalls: “The teacher told me it was his first lesson – he had picked up the music by ear. It brought me to tears when I learned that he was only 13 years old, was convicted of murder, and awaiting placement in the prison for youth. ‘What if he had met the piano first?’”

After months of rigorous planning, organizing, and excited anticipation, Sherry taught the first City Hearts class on January 18, 1985 in a downtown dance studio in the Arts District. Simultaneously, Sherry Jason witnessed the opportunities that opened up for the young people in her ballet group that she taught in Topanga Canyon. This inspired the Jasons to foster a creative space for children with limited or no access to the Arts, to nurture talent, realize potential, and grow as independent, driven, and imaginative adults. For many years, City Hearts provided classes to incarcerated youth, foster youth, and youth living in homeless shelters. As other organizations stepped in who were better equipped to address these systemic issues, City Hearts focused on the increasing gap in Arts Education at publicly-funded schools. Today, we provide Literary, Visual and Performing Arts classes in-school and after-school for students in designated Arts-underresourced areas of Los Angeles County.