History

Eskuwela Kultura in Historic Filipinotown began as a weekend Filipino cultural class conducted by Cisa Payuyo at the Filipino American Library. 

Through a grant from the City of L.A. Community Development Department, Eskuwela Kultura expanded into a three-year partnership program between FilAm ARTS and Search to Involve Pilipino Americans to address the needs of multicultural youth in the newly designated Historic Filipinotown. The program was also supported through grants from the California Arts Council and corporate sponsors. 

In 2008, EK received support from U.S. Congressmember Xavier Becerra to purchase a Mobile Lab with the capability to create more advanced graphic art, short films, and music recordings.  In 2009, FilAm ARTS partnered with A Place Called Home [GC3] in South L.A. to expand its reach to underserved Latino youth.