Who we are.

KL is an urban arts youth development organization founded in 1996 by three women, Jaquanda Villegas, Leida Garcia-Mukwacha, and Jacinda Bullie. For two decades, alongside many of Chicago’s artists, activists, educators, and youth communities, KL has honed an arts making practice that presents, preserves and promotes Hip Hop as a tool to reimagine and demonstrate a more just world. KL’s Program Facilitators are a collective of artists, activists, educators, and healers.

How we do it.

Kuumba Lynx’s Hip Hop Arts Program (HHAP) continuum creates pathways across the city at various locations including park districts, schools and community spaces.

Sequential learning designed by Ritual, writing and freestyle ciphers fused with dance, beatbox, spoken word, music production, deejaying, graffiti art, photography, video and more.

What we do.

Kuumba Lynx provides performances & productions, community cultural events and praxi sharing, all rooted in an indigenous culture of urban artistry and activism.

Annually, KL Hip Hop Arts Programs directly support and create opportunities for approximately 1,000 participants directly and another 1,500 indirectly through free to public activities. KLPE reaches an estimated audience of 15,000+ people.

Who we engage.

KL primarily facilitates programming in Uptown, Little Village, and Austin, however program participants represent over 27 Chicago communities. From Auburn Gresham to Humboldt Park, and from South Shore to Rogers Park, KL’s celebrates its participants global experiences and perspectives. KL program participants are 55% African American, 30% Latino, 1% Native, 5% White and 9% other. Our participants are generally 8 to 18 years old (70%), but we also serve 19 to 25 year olds (30%).