Pierre Ivan Arreola
Pierre Ivan Arreola (a.k.a. Pierre Boogie) is an artist and community advocate from Pacoima, CA with 8+ years of organizing youth and young adults locally and globally. As a high school senior, Pierre came together with his friends to form “The GR818ERS” (pronounced ‘great-one-eighters’), a positive community movement utilizing Hip Hop culture to uplift and empower their community. While studying Sociology at Brown University, Pierre was awarded the Royce Sport and Society Fellowship and the C.V. Starr Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship to build the capacity of The GR818ERS as a force in social development through the arts and athletics. Since then, The GR818ERS have continued to build relationships with community leaders to create programming opportunities across Los Angeles County and around the world.
Pierre’s critical understanding of social change and human interaction, coupled with his experience as a grassroots activist and professional dancer, inform his approach to community organizing. In 2016, Pierre was awarded the Impact Maker to Watch Award for his dedication to community development efforts in the City of Los Angeles and beyond. Currently, as an ACTIVATE Fellow with Arts for LA, Pierre is leveraging the network he has fostered through The GR818ERS to establish “AWOKE”, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and supporting similar community development efforts globally. Pierre has been featured as a guest speaker in various forums across the United States, Mexico, and Canada including Brown University, the University of Southern California, the University of California Los Angeles, Cal State University Northridge, Casa de Cultural Altamira, and the Tempe Center for the Arts to name a few.
As a Senior Human Relations Consultant, Pierre co-leads the Police Community Relations Project. Additionally, he serves as a crime report analyst for the annual Hate Crime Report that is produced by the Commission. All the while, Pierre continues his journey spreading hope, justice, and mindfulness as a Hip Hop educator, community advocate and socially conscious artist.