Year Founded: 2004

Problem: New Orleans youth have limited access to arts education in school.

Mission: Provide children a space to be creative through after-school and vacation programs that incorporate music, dance, theater, art, and writing.

Startup milestone: Served 250 students in 2015. Reed seeks to double that this year.

Reed’s Inspiration: “What I call the upturn moments in a child’s life. Those are the moments where they go “aha,” where you can see a child light up,” Reed said.

Past life: Reed traded currency on Wall Street by day and worked as a dance instructor at night while living in New York City. “Most people don’t know that about me,” Reed said.

Check out a feature on our Executive Director, Dana Reed, in a Nola.com article about her participation in PitchNOLA!  See the article here: 10 entrepreneurs tackle New Orleans’ toughest problems