Impact
Creative
Class Collective
provides spaces that encourage collaboration, centered on the belief
that connection is an engine
of creation.
Location: Downtown Long Beach Marriott Hotel
Who We Are
Creative Class Collective is a non-profit rooted in Long Beach.
Our work spans Youth, Arts/Culture, Community, & Music – shaping the city’s creative future.
What We Believe
MISSION
Empowering creators through experience and community.
VISION
Cultivate a vibrant creative economy
By championing artist growth
And enriching communities through creativity
Fostering cultural vitality.
Location: GRAMMY Museum
A Snapshot of Our Year
We’re proud to share some of the artwork, creativity, and cultural moments Creative Class Collective helped bring to life in 2025-26. Created alongside artists, students, partners, and our community, this work reflects our shared commitment to shaping Long Beach’s cultural landscape into the future.
Bringing Community Together Through Art
Long Beach Walls and Art Renzei is a multimedia art festival that celebrates Long Beach by transforming public spaces into vibrant canvases. By showcasing the city’s natural beauty and bringing art and culture directly into neighborhoods, the festival creates moments of connection.
Location: Lincoln Park Skatepark
Festival Programming
Festival week for Long Beach Walls and Art Renzei goes far beyond murals on walls. It becomes a full citywide celebration of art, culture, and community. The week featured a Night Market food festival that spotlighted local vendors and brought people together over shared flavors; a community mural bike tour that turned the city into a moving gallery and invited residents to rediscover Long Beach through public art; and an artist talk and closing party that created space for dialogue, storytelling, and connection between creators and the community.
Bringing Long Beach to the World
Last year’s festival, themed “A Catalyst for Change,” continued to beautify Long Beach by adding nine new murals across the city and generating more than 2.1 million media impressions, shining a spotlight on the Long Beach community.
Location: Renaissance High School of the Arts
Empowering AAPI Youth to Amplify Their Voices Through Storytelling, Creativity, and Community
Make Noise Today is an initiative of Creative Class Collective that empowers AAPI youth by amplifying their voices and sharing their stories to inspire meaningful change.
We engage youth through workshops, exhibitions, and conversations both in person and online where young people lead the content and dialogue, supported by partnerships with schools and community organizations to extend impact.
Who We Are
Formed in 2020 in reaction to Asian hate, Make Noise Today is Creative Class Collective’s social justice program designed to empower, inspire, and amplify AAPI youth.
Our mission: Empower youth to champion racial equality by amplifying Asian American stories.
Our Vision: Create a space to share Asian American stories that provide youth a platform to write their own future.
Title: “Way Back Home”
Title: “New Cowgirl in Town”
AAPI Youth Contest and Exhibition
The annual Make Noise Today AAPI Student Contest & Exhibition invites AAPI high school students nationwide to interpret each year’s theme through literary, performing, and visual arts. Top submissions receive over $11,000 in scholarships. The top 50–70 works are then featured in a summer exhibition at the Billie Jean King Main Library, with portions of the collection traveling to partner organizations throughout the year to amplify AAPI youth voices.
2025 Contest and Exhibition
2025 marked the fourth year of our annual student contest and exhibition—and our biggest yet. We received over 620 submissions from AAPI high school students across the country, a meaningful milestone that reflects the growing importance of AAPI youth claiming their own narratives and having their voices seen, heard, and valued.
Title: “Between Two Worlds”
Where Music Inspires Art and Imagination Brings it to Life.
Creative Class Collective launched Music to My Eyes this year, a student-driven exhibition at the historic Edison Theatre. LBUSD high school students interpreted iconic music from Miles Davis to Nirvana through visual art.
The Exhibitions
In 2025, we hosted two exhibitions (Spring and Fall), showcasing over 55 student art pieces (painting, mixed media, storytelling). This powerful fusion highlighted the talent of our local youth.
School: Milliken High School
Song: “Viva La Vida by Coldplay”
School: Renaissance High School for the Arts
Song: “Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana”
What’s Next
In 2026, we’re expanding Music to My Eyes to additional high schools across the Long Beach, elevating student voices and spotlighting local creative talent, giving young artists a platform to be seen, heard, and celebrated.
Building Community Through
Creativity and Conversation
Unexpected Connections brings together inventive thinkers and makers across industries—people who see patterns early, connect ideas across disciplines, and help move culture forward. Through global culture conferences and intimate dinners, the series has grown into a trusted nexus for creatives, entrepreneurs, and operators who spark new conversations and catalyze meaningful change across markets and industries.
In 2026, Unexpected Connections expands into audio with the launch of the Unexpected Connections Podcast, extending these conversations beyond the room. The podcast will spotlight cross-industry voices, cultural connectors, and emerging ideas—bringing the insights, relationships, and moments that happen at our tables to a wider audience and continuing to connect the dots between culture, creativity, and impact.
Over $2M in cumulative programming hard cost investment for all CCC initiatives
Over $40K in Youth Scholarships to date
140+ Murals Painted over 40 square miles
17 years of Unexpected connections bringing people together
“A City without Art and Culture is just a Space.”
Intertrend Communications
Engaging Our Communities
We connect, inspire, and empower our communities to take action and create change.