Artistic Dreams International was founded by Lillian Alonzo Marín with a simple but powerful belief: art has the power to transform lives from the inside out.

Our journey began in 2011 in the classrooms of New York City — Harlem and Queens — where we brought professional arts education to children in underserved communities for the first time. Since then, we have expanded across the U.S. and México, reaching communities in Sonora, Chiapas, Puebla, and most recently, Tucson, Arizona.

For over 15 years, Artistic Dreams International has empowered young people across immigrant, Indigenous, rural, urban, and border communities to discover who they are, believe in who they can become, and transform their futures through the power of art.