Monrovia Association of Fine Arts Youth Activities and School Art Programs

Monrovia Association of Fine Arts Youth Activities and School Art Programs offers kids art workshops, art classes, art workshops, and an after school art curriculum. The program includes activities such as at-home virtual chalk festivals, Summer Art Walk events, the Art in the Park Show with Chalkfest, and Friday Teen Nights art workshops. Students can take part in specific sessions like “The Tree of Life: Drawing and Painting Inspired by the Beauty of Our Local Oak Trees,” “Portraits in Pastel workshop,” “Creating Stunning Atmospheric Effects in Watercolor,” “Creating Art with Recycled and Leftover Objects,” “Creating Dynamic Portraits with Pastels,” “Paint your Pet,” “How the Old Masters Might Have Painted,” “Draw and Paint This Colorful Barnyard Rooster,” “Creating Sunset Seascapes,” “How to Draw Wolves,” “How to Draw Horses,” “Intro to Fluid / Pour Painting,” and “New Dimensions in Watercolor.”

• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Schedule: Open Monday–Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with workshops held on the fourth Wednesday of the month in the evening

Monrovia Association of Fine Arts’ mission is to be a resource for the community, local artists, art supporters and students, providing opportunities to gather, learn, showcase, sell and celebrate fine art. The group came into existence in the 1950s, organized the first Monrovia art festival in 1964, incorporated as the Monrovia Arts Festival Association in 1965, and changed its name to Monrovia Association of Fine Arts in 2012. It is a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and membership is open to artists and non-artists alike.

The program is part of a larger organization that partners with the City of Monrovia to establish the Artist Alley Gallery and supports rotating galleries of MAFA artists’ work. MAFA fosters professional development for students at Monrovia High School and California School for the Arts–San Gabriel Valley, and provides art classes for students at Clifton Middle School and Santa Fe Computer Science Magnet School funded by a grant from the Ruth & Joseph C. Reed Foundation for Art. MAFA artists lead kids art workshops for hundreds of underprivileged children at Foothill Unity Center’s “Back to School” event and holiday distributions, and have organized at-home virtual chalk festivals for families, students, kids and professional artists. Since 2004, MAFA has contributed more than $50,000 for art education for the students of Monrovia and has earned grant funding from the Ruth & Joseph C. Reed Foundation for the Arts, the Tournament of Roses Foundation and 3M Unitek Corporation. The Santa Family YMCA and other community groups have provided Friday Teen Nights in Library Park, and MAFA artist instructors led the art workshops for these events with support from Tournament of Roses Foundation grant funding. MAFA collaborates with local organizations serving communities of color, including city departments, community groups, and faith-based organizations. All attendees must register in advance for workshops.

Last updated June 23, 2026.