In 2012, in response to California’s ongoing budget cuts in arts education, which negatively impacted the ability of local schools to pay for bus transportation to visit museums, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, CA launched a grassroots fundraising effort to purchase a bus. Stuart A. Ashman, MOLAA’s President and CEO, stated, “Over the past year, many teachers indicated that the cost of bus transportation was what prevented them from bringing their classes to the Museum. It seemed to me, that if we could raise the money to purchase our own bus, we could provide our educational school tours and art workshop program to many more students. Thanks to our successful grassroots fundraising campaign and Hyundai’s matching $25,000 contribution to our bus fund, the Museum was able to purchase a bus.”

With its own bus, MOLAA will target schools in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, with priority given to Title 1 (economically disadvantaged) schools and serve an additional 5,000 students annually.

Image courtesy of the Museum of Latin American Art.