Hope Center for the Arts

Hope Center for the Arts is one of the first arts program in the world set up specifically and only for gifted adults with developmental disabilities. The Organization has received numerous awards, including a Point of Light Award from President George Bush in 1992, a Spotlight Award for Outstanding Service to the Community from the Regional Center of Orange County in 2001, and an L.A. Times OC Readers Choice Award for Favorite OC Nonprofit in 2020. The Organization has the expressed support of myriad local and regional foundations and community leaders, State Assemblymen and Assemblywomen, Orange County Supervisors, and leaders, and has the support of local mens and womens service organizations. As important to the Organization is the support received directly from the disabled community and their families, who support the program financially with volunteers, through an ever-growing waiting list, superlative word of mouth, and through the credit given us by our successful alumni. Central to life at the Organization is the visual artwork produced for exhibition and sale and the performing group the Hi Hopes who have both over the course of 40 years exposed and educated over 700,000 individuals on the talents and abilities of the Intellectually Disabled population. The Hi Hopes for example have traveled the United States since 1972, playing for service organizations, schools, churches, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and more. They have been the lead performers in myriad Las Vegas venues, at the Grand Ole Opry in Tennessee, and in the White House, featured in People and Time magazines, on television and talk shows, and in a television movie of the week. Hope Center for the Arts has performed for over 500,000 people and received standing ovations at every performance. They have released 21 celebrated albums and have inspired the formation of several similar groups across the country. The Organizations programs serve three guiding goals: To provide 100 of students served a safe, caring, and nurturing environment in which adults with developmental disabilities will be educated and enriched through the fine arts and related academic studies. To provide 100 of students served the help needed to become more self-sufficient through income generated from their arts and through self-confidence gained from having a vehicle for positive outward expression and public acceptance. To provide 100 of students served the opportunities to share their artistic works, with a wide audience and thereby to educate the public about the extraordinary abilities of people labeled as disabled. Hope Center for the Arts offerings have expanded to be delivered both onsite and online and to include all art forms. Today we serve 42 adults with intellectual disabilities, the Hi Hopes continues to perform, and just like any professional band, they have their own trailer with their name on it, and they have recorded countless albums. Hope Center of the Arts students continue to participate in art exhibitions, perform in the hand-bell choir or vocal choir, perform dances and dramas, and learn to play instruments, and more. There are many very talented artists and performers here at Hope Center for the Arts, but opportunities are available to anyone who is interested in or motivated by the arts. Since its founding, the Organization has directly served over six-hundred artists, and the performing groups have touched, inspired, and educated millions of people across the country. Mission: Through the arts, we transform the lives of adults with intellectual disabilities HOPE accomplishes its mission through the following programs: Visual Arts: Hope Center for the Arts offers a dynamic combination of studio instruction, socially engaged public art projects, exhibition opportunities, and fine craft production for our in-house boutique, Hope Hand Crafted. The Visual Arts Progr