Meet maura mclaughlin | Founder and chief executive

We had the good fortune of connecting with maura mclaughlin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi maura, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
The nonprofit sector is filled with people who want to help others and see where systems are not designed to help, they see a problem which needs solving. Often these problems are systemic and or policy driven, therefore, if you are one who is inclined to follow rules, you wouldn’t find answers to the problems.

Nonprofits are filled with rule breakers who know that they must build new solutions, models and examples of other ways to do something that society has deemed a norm – and then find ways to point to these solutions or have others point to them as good ideas, before reform can happen.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Off The Wall Graffiti has grown and changed a lot over the thirteen years, each shift came from the energy around the organization but always leading it was my background in problem solving through graphic design and the creative process. Underneath our work is a belief that our students have a lot to say and when guided through fine art fundamentals, art history and design, they would be able to say more than thy expected. We have used this belief in all of our projects.

Initially we wanted to just get them in action making art, to try to pull them a little “off the wall” and on to canvases. We saw how they developed and also heard back from teachers were they’d like to develop more so we took that feedback and added our expertise in design and created a curriculum in mural making that used all that we had with all that the students had. The result is now a collaboration in transforming schools.

We teach them and guide them through creating elements, like, characters let’s say, and then from those sketches, we digitize them and create a layout that has all the elements and composition that design demands, then we project them to walls at their school and we all paint them on! They see their work from sketch to mural through the whole process and that program is what has made the most difference for the students, the schools, the neighborhoods and our organization as a whole.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Los Angeles is so vast, we live and work out of the San Fernando Valley so we would start on Ventura to get fresh roasted coffee at The Coffee Roaster and work our way over the hill to the Getty. We like to dip into the Getty not make a day of it though. Just go to see the featured exhibit because we have seen all the permanent collection over the years. Then we’d head down the 405 to the 10 east all the way to the arts district and have lunch at Angel City brewery. We’d walk all over down there and maybe head into the MOCA or up to the Broad Museum. We love the Broad’s permanent collection. After a day walking around downtown we would head up to Silver Lake area, probably hit the Hollywood Good Will and then dine at the Fukurou Ramen shop on Hollywood Blvd. Then, depending on the mood, we might head to Cahenga Blvd and try our hand at singing at the Tramp Stamp Granny’s piano bar.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
To all the principals of continuation high schools in Los Angeles Unified School Districts who have worked with us to transform their schools and work with their amazing students.

Website: offthewallgraffiti.org

Instagram: @offthewallgraffiti_m2art

Twitter: @offthewallgraffiti

Facebook: facebook.com/offthewallgraffiti