How this South Florida arts group is boosting students’ confidence, academics

When a 10-year-old reluctantly attended an improv workshop by the Art Prevails Project with her mom, she was so shy she barely spoke. Two years later, her mother reached out to thank the organization and shared an update: That same girl is taking acting classes and is thriving in school.

Stories like this, says Darius V. Daughtry, founder and artistic director of Art Prevails Project, embody the mission of the Fort Lauderdale-based nonprofit that provides arts education and exposure to students and families.

“Most of our students are not going to be future artists, that’s not necessarily going to be their path. But the skills that they get from being connected to the arts are going to be in their lives. These young people become lifelong lovers of the arts, but also, they just become better people,” says Daughtry.

He has been down that path, being encouraged as a child to write poetry as a form of self-expression. Though Daughtry began his college career as an accounting major at the University of Florida, late nights spent writing plays convinced him to change course, eventually graduating with a degree in English and finance.

He went on to teach English, creative writing, and theater in high schools for 10 years. It was there, leading poetry and drama clubs, that he first saw how the arts could change the trajectory of students’ lives. That realization would plant the seed for what became Art Prevails Project. But before launching his own nonprofit, he spent a few years working for the Jason Taylor Foundation, where he was director of poetry programs and realized the potential community impact a nonprofit organization could have.

“I wanted to give opportunities and access to communities through art education, but also through actual performances. I wanted to give community members an opportunity to see and hear voices that reflect their own experiences,” said Daughtry, an accomplished poet and playwright himself.

Founded in 2015, Art Prevails Project began as a one-man operation and has grown into a nonprofit with two intertwined missions: Providing arts education and staging performances that reflect the voices of the community.

“We are committed to empowering communities through the power of art and authentic storytelling,” he says.

On the education side, trained teaching artists – local writers, actors, and musicians – bring creative writing, theater, and performance residencies into schools. The students write poems, devise plays, and often publish booklets of their work. Along with literacy skills, he says, “they’re working on being able to communicate and collaborate with other students and articulate their point of view,” Daughtry says.

On the performance side, Art Prevails Project produces original theatrical performances, some written and directed by Daughtry such as this summer’s “The Bard in Bars” performance at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts that blended Shakespeare, hip hop and a string ensemble.

The nonprofit also hosts community events, including an annual literary festival called Our Voices that has brought nationally recognized voices such as Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown to South Florida. Tickets for these events, if required, are kept very affordable, he says. “The whole idea with that is to continue to expose communities to these literary areas in as many ways that we can and hopefully inspire the next generation.”

Each year, Art Prevails Project reaches about 2,000 students through its educational programs and 3,000 to 4,000 community members through performances and events. Yet Daughtry insists numbers tell only part of the story.

The real impact shows up in small but powerful ways, he says, like when he sees students run up and hug their teaching artists, or when children’s faces light up when they see their words published in a book of poetry they contributed to, or when a parent is moved to tears during a post-show discussion about how much a performance resonated with his or her family.

“When I think about impact, I think about those things. That’s what excites me,” Daughtry says.

Hit hard by budget cuts

As with most grassroots nonprofits, the greatest challenge is raising funding to sustain and grow that impact. Art Prevails Project relies primarily on grants and donations, with only a small percentage coming from ticket sales and fee-for-service work such as corporate workshops or city partnerships.

The unpredictability of grants, especially during the current environment in which arts organizations have been hit hard, makes sustaining programming difficult. Daughtry says his own organization and some of his partnering organizations have experienced recent cutbacks.

“People forget nonprofits are businesses, too,” Daughtry notes. “We still need to pay staff and pay bills while making sure we’re reaching students and audiences consistently.”

That’s where individual supporters can make all the difference. For instance, he says, “a $25 donation can help provide teaching artists for classrooms that support 25 to 30 students, or it is the cost of a ticket for a show that may change somebody’s life.”

Despite the challenges, Art Prevails Project continues to grow. Just before the pandemic, Daughtry participated in Radical Partners’ social impact entrepreneurship accelerator for nonprofit leaders. Among many other things, the program taught him to run his nonprofit as a business with multiple revenue streams. Another learning: Stay true to your mission and be wary of taking on projects that don’t contribute to your core mission. Last year, he was chosen for the Miami Foundation’s inaugural yearlong Saltwater Fellowship.

Today, Daughtry’s team includes a director of operations, an education manager, and a communications manager. They are joined by a rotating cohort of 10 to 15 teaching artists that Art Prevails Project trains to lead classroom workshops.

What’s next?

Art Prevails Project plans to do a regional tour of its theatrical productions across South Florida, bringing original work to new audiences. The nonprofit also has been piloting a program designed for students with exceptionalities, ensuring that all children have the chance to experience the arts.

Daughtry’s longer-term goal is to establish a permanent home for the nonprofit, a space where community members can come and engage, whether it is as artists, workshop participants or audience members.

“If not for the arts, my life would have been entirely different,” Daughtry reflects. Ten years in, he remains driven by the belief that exposure to the arts can change lives.

How to help

Donate or volunteer to help Art Prevails Project bring the arts to more schools: www.artprevailsproject.org/support

More information: https://www.artprevailsproject.org/

Editor’s note: This story is part of the Miami Herald Giving Section that highlights local nonprofit organizations in the community.