(map)
and the Time Travel Mart
12515 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 915-0200
and the Time Travel Mart
1714 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 413-3388
Workshop Overview
826LA’s workshops are an invitation to explore the potential of the written word, all while fostering creativity and strengthening academic skills. Led by our brilliant volunteers, who share their expertise on the subjects at hand, we give students the chance to produce a plethora of products—stories and poems, chapbooks and ’zines, and our student newspapers: The Venice Wave and 826LA Good Times. Other workshop final projects include ingenious robot pencils (from a product design workshop), comic books that stun even the most brilliant artists, and short films (produced in a mere ninety minutes) that will take Hollywood by storm. Don’t let any students you know pass on these opportunities; we wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on being a star filmmaker for a week, or ruling as the snobbish kings and queens of their own countries.
Keep up to date on workshops that 826LA offers by following our online calendar or signing up for our mailing list.
Our Approach
Workshops are designed to get students to think about things in ways that they never knew to think. All of our workshops, whether for 7-year-olds or 17-year-olds, challenge students to approach writing of all styles and genres in ways novel and enlightening. We've had students construct shuffle comic strip frames like cards, learn setting by playing Apples-to-Apples, and write synesthetically while blindfolded. Sometimes, we're outside the metaphorical box, and at others, we're inside a literal one. Our workshops, even for things like standardized-test essay writing, are most successful when students have so much fun they've almost forgotten they've learned something. And every workshop culminates in a finished product—a conspiracy story, a small book of poetry, or a short film.
Our Workshop Teachers
We've had working filmmakers, poets, comedians, architects, and rocket scientists teach our writing workshops. Our volunteers are not only experts in the topics they teach; they are genuinely passionate about both the subject matter of their workshops and the education of our students. If you're interested in teaching a workshop, click here to find out more about becoming a volunteer; you can also send an email to Julius with workshop-specific questions.