Thanks to a generous grant from the Westside Children’s Center through the Department of Children and Family Services, we were able to provide a Create Now Talent Show on August 11th at the Westside Pavilion shopping mall in West Los Angeles.

There were 18 children and youth who participated in the Talent Show. For most of the kids, it was the first time they got to Show Off in public, experiencing butterflies of excitement as they shared their unique gifts with the crowd. Our M.C., Ashley Jones, did a spectacular job of hosting the event. Ashley is the 2012 “Mrs. California USA.” She has been mentoring homeless children in arts and crafts at the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission shelter since March.

There was quite a crowd present, especially since these kids performed so well. Not only were their families and friends there to cheer them on, but many Westside Pavilion shoppers were drawn to the event when they heard the amazing performances.

Melani Jana, mother of 10 year-old Makoa who calls himself “The Next Justin Bieber,” said, “Thank you for giving my son the opportunity to perform! It was a great experience for both of us. I really enjoyed watching all the talented performers. Each of them either had me smiling or gave me chills because they’re so incredible. It was very entertaining! My mom and I walked away from the experience wanting to possibly mentor next summer.”

Jolie Laurent, who is the Director of Operations and DCFS Program Administration at Westside Children’s Center said, “I want to say a huge thank you to all of you at Create Now for all the work and effort that went into making the Talent Show a huge success. It was such a great event! The performers and their families really enjoyed it! I know I did!!”

Another mother, Belinda Foster remarked, “Giavanna loved performing and participating in the Create Now Talent Show. You all are just wonderful and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to participate in a great community event! It’s always been Giavanna’s goal to perform for people. The Talent Show was phenomenal and my daughter got to shine while fulfilling her life goal. Thank you!”

Jolie remarked, “It has been so wonderful working with all of you. Through our DCFS contract, our partnership withCreate Now was made possible. We definitely need more programs like these: Talent Shows, Mural Workshops, Hip Hop Events, etc. in the community. Create Now has been a solid partner of Westside Children’s Center in bringing more arts programs to our community. It’s been a great partnership and we look forward to continuing this great collaboration!”

At the end of the Talent Show, all 18 performers came on the stage for their final applause. They each received a colorful basket filled with goodies like cool sunglasses, iPod headphones and other music accessories, CDs and special Certificates of Completion that were printed on thermal paper, which changes colors (one of the most popular items). In addition, we’re giving every performer a DVD copy of the entire performance and beautiful still photos.

All of the staff at Create Now has been thrilled to collaborate with the Westside Children’s Center and the DCFS. We look forward to working with them on more exciting community projects. We also greatly appreciate the generous support from the staff at the Westside Pavilion mall..

Thanks to the Westside Children’s Center and Los Angeles County Children and Family Services for their support, as well as Ashley Jones, videographers Mike and Sam Binkow, and photographer Kelsey Borlan Lee.