LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, center, joined students from Crenshaw High School for a special tour of the Academy Museum’s “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971” exhibit. (photo courtesy of the LAUSD)

The Los Angeles Unified School District launched the Cultural Arts Passport program on Feb. 6 to improve student access to the arts, in partnership with local arts organizations and venues including the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

The program launch was held during the LAUSD’s Week of Wonder, in which students attend cultural experiences at venues across Los Angeles. LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho announced the event during a Feb. 6 visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, where Crenshaw High School students and special guests toured the exhibition “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971.”

“We are excited to launch the Cultural Arts Passport through a Week of Wonder that literally brings arts and culture exposure to every student in Los Angeles Unified,” Carvalho said. “Our students were given a unique and exclusive insight into the groundbreaking exhibition ‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ and witnessed the power of artistic expressions which can serve as a window into history where we are able to see the sentiments of the unspoken commonalities that bind us all together.”

“We are thrilled to support the inaugural Los Angeles Unified’s Cultural Arts Passport Program,” Academy Museum of Motion Pictures director and president Jacqueline Stewart said. “We welcomed students to see ‘Regeneration’– which elevates the long and historically sidelined tradition of Black filmmaking in the United States – and to experience all the Academy Museum has to offer. This vital initiative will give students and families across Los Angeles the opportunity to explore this city’s rich cultural institutions, and we hope it continues to make an impact by providing wider access to the arts.”

“As someone who attended Los Angeles Unified schools my entire life and discovered my love of art through them, I know how important the arts are to finding your passion,” Actor Marcus Scribner said. “I’m honored to be a part of the Week of Wonder.”

The Cultural Arts Passport will be launched in 100 schools from February through June, before being implemented in all schools in July. Through cultural experience trips, professional development for teachers and interdisciplinary classroom instruction, students will be able to make connections between the arts and non-arts disciplines while developing literacy, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

Week of Wonder and the Cultural Arts Passport program are supported by The Broad Foundation, Creative Arts Agency and Fender Play Foundation.

“Los Angeles is full of history, culture and fun for all ages, and the district’s new Cultural Passport will help students access new and enriching experiences,” LAUSD board member Nick Melvoin said. “From museums to parks to local landmarks, this is a great opportunity for our kids to discover new things right in their own community.”

For information, visit lausd.net.