Jesse Cohen is the founder and executive director of Mount of Angels, a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) youth arts nonprofit focused on giving young creatives access to the resources, mentorship, and opportunities they need to develop their talent. The organization supports children and teens through visual art, music, performance, photography, and other creative disciplines, with an emphasis on removing financial and structural barriers to participation.
Mount of Angels provides support that can include art supplies, private lessons, coaching, transportation, professional tools, portfolio development, auditions, showcases, and other resources designed to help young artists grow their skills and prepare for meaningful futures in the arts. Its programs include community art outreach, individualized young-artist mentorship, youth-designed merchandise, and public events that give young people opportunities to create, perform, and share their work.
Cohen’s connection to the mission is personal. He has spoken about art as a safe space during childhood and later returned to his own creative practice after more than two decades working in law. Founding Mount of Angels became part of that return to art, while also creating a structure through which young people could receive the kind of encouragement, access, and support that can make a creative path feel possible.
The organization has continued to expand its public programming across Los Angeles, including youth photography initiatives, interactive community art experiences, teaching programs, live events, and ART JAM, a youth arts showcase featuring music, workshops, visual art, and other creative activities. At the center of the work is a simple idea: young people should be seen, supported, and given real opportunities to develop their creative voices.
For Jesse Cohen, Mount of Angels is about more than arts education. It is about confidence, identity, access, and helping young people understand that their creativity has value — and that a future in the arts can be something they are allowed to pursue seriously.
