Give a Beat

06/17/2026

Their first gig starts here. 🎧

These three DJ Academy participants will be performing their very first public DJ set tomorrow at LA County Parks’ Pride at the Park event at San Angelo Park.

Over the past several months, they’ve been building their skills, developing their own musical styles, and gaining confidence behind the decks. Now, they’re taking the next step by sharing their talents with the community.

We’re proud to see young people turn their passion for music into real-world opportunities and experiences.

If you’re attending Pride at the Park, be sure to stop by and support these emerging DJs as they make their debut!

📍San Angelo Park
🗓 June 18 | 5:00–7:00 PM

🎧 DJ Academy in partnership with County of Los Angeles Department of Parks & Recreation

06/15/2026

This Juneteenth, we're not just celebrating freedom — we're feeling it.

Join Give a Beat in supporting a very special event produced by Give a Beat teaching artist and program graduate Daniel Mast.

Sounds of Freedom: A Juneteenth Cultural Experience is happening this Friday, June 19th at Eugene's on Pico, 4PM–11PM. Live bands, open mic, DJing by geriFree, music production workshop, a community chess tournament, Juneteenth buffet, happy hour, and vinyl on the patio.

Because creativity is a form of liberation — and this is a space where artists, neighbors, organizers, and creatives come together in expression, connection, and purpose.

Give a Beat is hosting "Crate Digging for Freedom" on the patio. If you have vinyl at home to contribute, please drop off after 4pm any day this week before the event on Friday.

Hope you can hear. Freedom you can feel.

📍 Eugene's on Pico | 3230 Pico Blvd

06/12/2026

In our Prison Electronic Music Program, we see this again and again.

Men who come in carrying years of disconnection, and leave with something they can bring home. A sense of who they are. A reason to keep growing. A vision of the father, partner, neighbor they want to become.

Music is the doorway. What walks through it is so much bigger.

Watch this video to learn more: https://youtu.be/7_3k5vR4_44?si=lavsFqasHjwFXtim

Explore DJ Drew Giggity's journey with Give a Beat. "Music was th...

06/10/2026

"Four hours of mental freedom - thank you."

We hear something like this every single cohort.

Think about what that means. Inside a prison, where every hour is accounted for, where movement is restricted, where the weight of a sentence sits on your chest every single day, our participants describe four hours of making music as freedom.

Not a distraction. Not a perk. Freedom.

That's what your support makes possible: not just music lessons, but moments of real, felt freedom for people who have very few of them.

🎧 More stories like this: https://giveabeat.org/impact-stories
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📸 by Sergio Miranda. Photos are for illustrative purposes only and do not depict individuals quoted.

06/08/2026

It had been a rough day at the juvenile hall.

Multiple fights broke out in our unit before our Teaching Artist arrived. The officer on duty looked exhausted. She'd been managing chaos since morning.

Our team set up the equipment, started the class, and for one hour, there were no incidents.

When it was over, the officer pulled our Teaching Artist aside and thanked him. She credited the program for keeping the youth calm and focused when nothing else had worked.

Music didn't fix the underlying issues those kids are carrying. But it gave everyone, youth and staff alike, one hour of peace.

That matters. Will you help us keep showing up?

giveabeat.org/donate
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Photos are for illustrative purposes only and do not depict individuals quoted.

06/03/2026

For the first time in Give a Beat's history, we brought our Electronic Music Program into a women's facility.

By the second week, there was already a waitlist.

The program is co-taught by Teaching Artists Spinorita and Geri two women whose connection runs deeper than this classroom. Spinorita has mentored Geri since she first came through our “On a New Track” Reentry Program. Now they're teaching together inside the same facility where Geri was once incarcerated.

💬 "I returned not as my past," Geri shared, "but as the woman I have become."

That's what Give a Beat is building: not just music programs, but pathways. The demand is there. We need the resources to meet it.

Will you help us grow to keep showing up?

giveabeat.org/donate

06/01/2026

Years ago, Geri walked the grounds of California Institution for Women serving a 40-years-to-life sentence. Last month, she returned as geriFree.

She came back as a Teaching Artist leading our electronic music curriculum, by her side her mentor and co-Teaching Artist Spiñorita, the same woman who has guided her since she first joined our On a New Track Reentry Mentoring Program.

"Returning to CIW was one of the most surreal experiences of my life," Geri shared. "I returned not as my past, but as the woman I have become."

This is a milestone for Geri and for Give a Beat. Supporting alumni with skills they can build on and pathways back into the community is exactly what we are here for.

Read what that day meant to her, in her own words: https://giveabeat.org/impact-stories/returning-as-gerifree

Once incarcerated at CIW, Geri returned as a Teaching Artist.

05/29/2026

"I want to be a better dad, and I think music is going to help me get there."

That's DJ A-God, just before his first performance in our Prison Electronic Music Program.

Music was the doorway. But what walked through it was so much bigger: a father thinking about his son, planning for the day he gets home, already imagining what they'll build together.

This is what healing in prison looks like. This is why we show up.

Help us open more doors: giveabeat.org/donate

05/21/2026

“I'm usually a stressed guy, I don't smile much. But this class is like therapy to me.”

Inside Give a Beat programs, participants are finding ways to process stress, express themselves, and build community through music.

At the same time, organizations working across arts access, incarceration, and reentry are navigating growing funding instability.

This work continues because Teaching Artists, staff, and supporters keep showing up.

Flexible community support helps sustain the foundation behind these programs, from staffing and transportation to equipment and coordination.

Help keep this work accessible and consistent: giveabeat.org/donate

05/15/2026

More people are asking to join Give a Beat programs than we currently have the capacity to serve.

Waitlists are forming in some prisons. In other teaching locations, we keep hearing the same question: when can this come back?

“There’s very little mental or creative stimulation behind bars. When I discovered Give a Beat’s program, I was ecstatic.” — Daniel, alumnus

The demand is here. Meeting it takes sustained support for Teaching Artists, equipment, coordination, and the infrastructure that keeps programs running consistently.

Help us reach those still waiting: giveabeat.org/donate

Help Us Provide a Pathway to Healing and Opportunity $250 Provides 3 months of mentoring for an On a New Track participant. $1,000 Covers the cost of 1 person to join our Prison Electronic Music Program. $2,000 Provides music production & DJ equipment. $5,000 Supports 1 participant to join On a New....