For 10-year-old Aniah Williams, Haven Academy of the Arts isn’t just a place to perform. It’s where she learned to feel more comfortable with herself.
“I’m more open now,” Williams said. The fourth grade student is part of one of Haven’s programs at Los Angeles Christian School in Pico Union.
“It means that I get to do a bunch of shows and I get to have fun with my friends,” Williams added. She’s especially loved performing dances in productions like “The Jungle Book.”
But after nearly two decades serving young people through performing arts education, Haven Academy of the Arts announced that Summer 2026 will be its final season before permanently shutting down because of financial challenges.
“It’s kind of sad when you’ve been doing something for your whole life, and then they’re just like, ‘Oh yeah, you can’t do it anymore,’” Williams said.
In a statement, the organization’s board said in part that “the changing economic and funding landscapes have made it increasingly difficult to sustain our programs.”
“For nearly twenty years, Haven Academy of the Arts has been a safe space for thousands of young people to explore the performing arts and discover how they are uniquely qualified to make a difference in their community,” the statement from the board and Executive Director Rebekah Kellaway reads in part.
The closure will leave a significant gap in neighborhoods like Pico Union and Westlake, where Haven provided free, year-round musical theater training for children, many from immigrant families. Staff members say the organization was one of the only groups in the area that provides a creative space for local kids.
Wellness and emotional safety
Emily Murtaugh Barish, Haven’s Los Angeles City Program Director, first became involved with the organization as a student herself before eventually joining the staff in 2018.
“I just remember getting home after work and just being like, ‘I get paid to do this. This is the best,’” Murtaugh Barish said about her early years with the organization. “I felt like I found my calling.”
Murtaugh Barish develops and oversees all programming and programs at Haven’s Pico Union and West Adams sites, as well as their summer camp partnerships, where students rehearse for spring and fall musicals and attend summer camps focused on acting, singing and dancing.
She described Haven’s approach as intentionally different from traditional theater training.
“It’s very trauma-informed,” Murtaugh Barish said. “It’s not competitive. It’s very gentle, very welcoming to any child’s level of how much they want to participate or would feel confident.”
She said Haven became a space where many students found comfort and support outside of both school and home, with some even seeing her as a parental or older sibling figure.
Murtaugh Barish said the closure was devastating both personally and professionally.
“I genuinely love the children,” she said. “We are not everything to them, but we are a pretty strong part of their wellness and emotional safety.”
She said many students struggled to process the news when staff informed them in April.
“They kept asking, ‘But it’ll come back in a few years?’ or ‘It’s not forever, right?’” Murtaugh Barish said. Some students also asked whether the program might return “when Trump’s not president anymore,” given the amount of funding in grants for the arts that have been cancelled during this current administration.
A safe place to get to be themselves
The organization’s roots date back to 2008, when it launched in the South Bay before later expanding into Pico Union in 2014 through a partnership connected to First Evangelical Free Church of LA and their after-school program, S.A.Y Yes! Center of Pico Union. Unlike its South Bay counterpart, the Pico Union program is tuition-free.
The organization continued operating even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Murtaugh Barish delivered supplies, crafts and snacks directly to students when many families lacked reliable internet access. Murtaugh Barish said the small office staff also took pay cuts in order to keep the program running.
Britney Acosta, 26, began working at Haven in 2022 as a choreographer and dance instructor and later working in wardrobe and directing. She saw firsthand how much the program changed the lives of students.
“I just love getting to see these kids grow and see them challenge themselves and just find a safe place to get to be themselves,” Acosta said.
Acosta grew up in the area herself and said opportunities like Haven did not exist for her as a child.
“I was a kid that desperately wanted theater and desperately wanted a space to be able to perform and express myself that way,” she said. “There wasn’t anything available, nothing that my parents had resources for. So I love being able to provide that.”
She said many students initially arrive shy or resistant to activities like dancing, especially boys who sometimes describe it as for girls, but later become more confident.
“To get to see them blossom and really push themselves year after year… it’s really cool to see that turnaround,” Acosta said.
Acosta said learning about the closure during a staff Zoom meeting before spring break was heartbreaking.
“It was really hard,” she said. “Knowing everything we put into this program for the last few years and the commitment we’ve gotten from the communities, to kind of see that come to an abrupt end.”
Students described the emotional impact of losing the program, including the connections they made with their supportive instructors.
Fifth-grader Ariana Mendez said the teachers were supportive of her during difficult moments.
The 10-year-old added that she enjoys learning the songs and dances and is sad to see things coming to an end.
“They comfort me, and they talk to me about my feelings when I’m too stressed out during theater, especially when everything is too much for me,” said Mendez. “I have so many memories and it’s like I’m leaving them behind.”
Another student, 10-year-old Cristinne Ramirez, said participating in Haven’s shows helped build her confidence by pushing her out of her comfort zone.
“In a lot of the shows, I had at least one solo. It’s hard to memorize steps,” she said.
Murtaugh Barish said the closure will likely ripple throughout the community long after the final performances end.
She added that Haven was about far more than performances.
“It’s not just they come, they learn,” Murtaugh Barish said with a sincere tone. “We’re deeply involved in their lives.”
