We had the good fortune of connecting with ALLIN Los Angeles and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi ALLIN, what matters most to you?
Our community, accountability and imagination. There is a saying “If you want to change the world, start at home.” Home is with our community, where we can be most attentive to discover creative solutions. Home is where we demand more each other – to show up for the needs of others and learn from our past.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We are a collective dedicated to artistically curating experiences that celebrate the arts while raising awareness and support for local causes in the Los Angeles area. Since 2016, we have produced seven successful events, featuring over 75+ artists, while raising over $7,000 for local non-profits such as the Downtown Women’s Center and Project Q. We are a grassroots organization born out of a passion to make more space for local artists while diverting the hyper focused “me” to the collective “we”. During COVID-19, we have had to re-evaluate how we gather and show up as an organization safely. Like the world at large, we are in transition. This collective moment we are sharing in history is a time to look deep inside ourselves and re-align our priorities with our moral compass. With the cosmic pause for events and performances in America, we are effectively mobilizing with the tools at our disposal. Ignited by the tidal wave of energy from the Black Lives Matter movement, we have gathered with a core group of our ALLIN family to meet bi-monthly and hold each other accountable. Our strength has always been bringing people in our community together and now that’s in the shape of holding space via zoom calls, regular check ins and creating action items.  We are both artists first and foremost, so a struggle we have run into over the past four years of building ALLIN is consistency. Since ALLIN isn’t our source of income, it unfortunately can take a backseat to us surviving in the fast paced hustle that is Los Angeles. Quarantine has brought us a big gift in terms of time and our relationship to it. Without the distraction of socializing, we can focus more on what matters most – demanding justice for our POC communities .  One way we’ve learned to overcome that struggle is by being kind to ourselves. We can’t do it all, but we won’t ever stop trying. We meet ourselves where we are at, and then we get to work. It’s a balance of that grace & grit because we know that how we show up to ALLIN, is how we show up to our jobs, is how we show up to our family. It’s all the same attention and dedication. We are excited for our focus and our ALLIN family that is holding us accountable as we lay the foundation of ground work for the good work.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
This is an interesting question in the age of the corona virus. We aren’t traveling or showing any friends around town to minimize the spread of this disease. Here are some black owned businesses we are supporting from the safety of our homes. – Comfort LA (food) http://www.comfortla.net/ – Hyperion Public (food) http://www.hyperionpublic.com/ –  Miller’s Room (fashion) https://themillersroom.com/ – Adele Designs (brand) https://adelebyadele.com/ – See You Soon (Events) http://www.seeyousoon.us/

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We met in NYC in 2016 at an Artist as Citizen conference put on by an organization called ASTEP, Artists Striving to End Poverty, so they certainly deserve our shout out as we wouldn’t be friends or co-creators of ALLIN without them! Mary Mitchell Campbell, the founder, is a very successful Broadway Music Director, who has dedicated her life to connecting her community of artists to serve and inspire underserved youth in the US and abroad, through their most powerful tool: their art. She left us with a motto that is the foundation of our mission statement: “If you want to change the world, start at home”.

Most recently we’ve been inspired by Brianna Agyemang & Jamila Thomas, senior directors of marketing at Atlantic Records, and the women behind the movement #theshowmustbepaused, that caught like wildfire and grew into the music industry’s “Blackout Tuesday”. In response to the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, and exhausted of putting on a game face at work in the midst of so much horror and police brutality, they took an active step in disrupting the corporation they work for and holding them accountable to educate themselves and actively end racism. The music industry today profits predominantly from Black art and they demanded their company protect the artists and black bodies they benefit from. We are inspired by their attitude, their gumption, and their protest culture – it’s the equivalent of what’s happening in the streets but in the workplace.
We are consistently empowered by the Black Lives Matter Organization who will go down in history with their impact around the world. They have their minds in proposing bills and hands in supporting other BLM chapters around the world.
We are all fed up with white supremacy in this country – enough is enough!

Instagram: instagram.com/allinlosangeles
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALLINLOSANGELES
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allinlosangeles
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MBAeRsQIMaw2n5aCq3IdQ

Image Credits
IMG 1 – Melodie Casta IMG 2 – Nicole Biesek 2nd Page – IMG 3 – Nicole Biesek IMG 4 & 5 – Alex Tafreshi IMG 6 – Chris Camaro IMG 7 – Nicole Biesek IMG 8 – Monique Piazza others aren’t uploading so I am emailing these + credits to Sid