by Laura Garber
One million conscious minds. That is the goal for Indivisible Arts, a Hermosa Beach-based non-profit organization aiming to meld youth and teen artistic expression with mental and emotional wellbeing.
Indivisible Arts will host their biggest event of the year “State of the Art” (SOTA,) an immersive fundraising experience, on Saturday, May 16 from 5-9 p.m., with the goal of bringing one million conscious minds a step closer.
The event will utilize part of Cypress Avenue as a block-party. Check-in for the event will be at 6th Street between Cypress Avenue and Loma Drive.
Indivisible Arts founder Rafael McMaster said SOTA is meant to show not tell how the non-profit utilizes “Fundamental Life Tools,” like consciousness and connection to sow a deeper community.
“Instead of talking about the work we do, show them the heart, soulfulness and creative consciousness that we serve with,” he said. “This is truly the art of community.”
The fundraiser invites guests to “step into a dynamic evening featuring a nine-stage ‘creative adventure,’” which includes artwork available for auction featuring pieces from street art icon Shepard Fairey and artists from Germany, Ireland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, alongside South Bay locals, including Victoria White. There will be teen music performances, an immersive light and projection experience in Indivisible Arts’ Illuminarium, a collaborative community collage led by TED speaker and artist Josh Madson, and the inaugural “Hermosa’lympics,” an interactive games experience curated by Sandlot Social. Food comes from Martha’s/Bottle Inn, Gum Tree Cafe, California Sushi & Teriyaki and others, with an open bar sponsored by Palmilla, Tower 12, Culture Brewing and more.
The evening will culminate in an immersive dance party.
“What the local young creatives have in store is truly one of a kind,” McMaster said. “Anyone who’s going to walk through this will feel the heart and soul of the local youth and experience the heart, care and consciousness of what we’re doing as a nonprofit.”
“A lot of times, fundraisers are this formula; you sit down in a ballroom, they serve you a meal, you sit and listen, you have a paddle,” McMaster said. “What our youth and our board wanted was to create an experience where people could really feel.”
The nonprofit, now in its 10th year in Hermosa Beach, started as the South Bay Artist Collective before evolving during the pandemic into something greater. While watching local teens navigate screen addiction, isolation and a deepening mental health crisis, McMaster and his team realized that art alone wasn’t enough.
“We realized our mission was greater than art, that it included mental health,” McMaster said. “The mental health epidemic we’re currently seeing is just the tip of the iceberg, but we have figured out how to build life rafts through mental health tools and consciousness that we can effectively teach through creativity.”
The result is a curriculum McMaster developed titled the Fundamental Life Tools, which teaches seven practices; awareness, acceptance, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness and connection through art and creativity. The approach draws on thinkers from Eckhart Tolle to Joe Dispenza, translated into language that feels natural to teens. Partner programs span the South Bay, connecting Indivisible Arts to organizations including the Jimmy Miller Foundation, Friendship Foundation, Da Vinci Schools, Mira Costa High School and Beach Cities Health District.
What makes the model distinctive, McMaster says, is that teens teach each other.
“When students hear about these tools of consciousness from each other, that has a completely different effect,” he said. “We teach teens to teach other teens.”
Over the years, more than 20 youth groups have logged over 400 volunteer hours each. This summer, a cohort of those teens will help build an online video program through StreamOfConsciousness.org where teens can learn how to utilize the Fundamental Life tools through other teen’s videos.
None of this can continue without Saturday’s fundraising night. The lease on Indivisible Arts’ Hermosa Beach space is up in February, and McMaster says the outcome of SOTA will help determine whether the doors stay open through 2027.
“This one night is the single biggest night of our year,” he said. “It makes every single one of our programs possible.”
Tickets are available at Indivisiblearts.org/sota. ER
