We recently connected with Kristen DeBenedetto and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I was very lucky to have parents who were very open minded and conscious about the impact a person can have on the world around them. I was always encouraged to pursue my dream of being a dancer, even though they both knew what a hard career choice and life path that could be. They were even more supportive when they found out that I wanted to go down the path of using dance as a catalyst to help others. My parents always taught me the impact of kindness and the power of using your strengths to effect change in the world around you.

Kristen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have always felt to my core that the arts are the greatest form of expression and equalization. Art, in all forms, provides a outlet of emotion, connection, and unification for the artist and for the community that get to experience the results of the artist work. Humans have a desire to connect with each other but not all of us have the same tools. People can communicate through the arts whether they can speak, see, hear, are fully ambulatory, neurodivergent, or cognitively challenged. There are a lot of injustices in the world and they get very overwhelming. I know that I cannot ” fix ” all that I feel needs changing but I can use my love of dance and the arts and my passion for working with persons with disabilities to make a change for good in my community. My friend and I were chatting at a coffee house one day and he was expressing frustration at a situation that his son had faced in a local theater camp. His son had been asked to leave the program early because the camp was not able to accommodate his needs as a child with Prader Willi Syndrome and the challenges that diagnosis can present. We looked at each other and realized that he as a music therapist and I with my dance background were two parts of the musical theater triangle and that why not just find a theater person and do it ourselves. Not 5 minutes later fate swept in our friend Kate to that coffeeshop and she swung past our table to say hi and ask what we were up to. I told her our idea ( her daughter was in my adaptive dance class at the time ). “We just need a theater teacher, Do you know anyone? ” I asked her. She sat down and exclaimed. ” Uh yes, me! I have my degree in theater and it’s my passion.” And from that moment we started to plan our first weekend workshop in the fall of 2017. The workshop went extremely well and we began planning our first week long camp in the summer of 2019. We saw our impact during camp and knew we needed to form an official nonprofit to help more people in our community connect through the arts. We became official in December of 2019 and were off to a great start in 2020 until the world shut down. We pivoted and offered free online zoom jam sessions every week and even held summer camp online in 2021. As life has retuned to normal we have added in two sessions a year of adaptive classes in movement, music and improvisational theater. We have expanded our camp program to two weeks and added a community outreach program of a traveling sensory tent for local events to provide calming and regulating spaces for those who want to attend community events but can find them very overwhelming.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The answer here is an obvious one in two parts. The first is funding! The arts are the first to get cut in a crunch but the most important for emotional health of the community. The arts bring people release, human connection, and joy in tougher times. The second is time! Donate your time if you cannot donate funding . We need volunteers at every event we host: including the sensory tent, camp, and performances. Email us to find out ways to get involved! It all makes a difference, even the smallest increment of fund or time is EXTREAMLY helpful and appreciated I assure you!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Our mission is to provide this creative outlet to all that seek it, We are writing grants, fundraising, and working towards being able to provide this program to all who need it at extremely low cost and scholarships to those who need additional assistance in getting their family in the program. The arts are for everyone and we never want to turn away and artist because of a financial issue. As of now we offer the classes at a fraction of standard arts program tuition fees and have a scholarship program able to support 30% of our students. Our goal is to raise the scholarship and assistance rate to over 50% in the next two years.

Additionally, we want to expand our outreach tent to be able to attend more local events and provide the service to more families in and around the Santa Clarita Valley.

The performing arts are a lifeline for so many and it is our goal to make sure that we do our part in making them accessible for all who wish to participate. SCV is full of great resources for the disabled community but has very few arts options for those families. We seek to continue to provide that here and cannot wait to see how our program grows in the coming years!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.iepscv.org
• Instagram: @iepscv
• Facebook: Include Everyone Project SCV
• Youtube: @iepscv3779