Where a community can grieve together.
Classroom of Compassion is a Los Angeles-based arts organization dedicated to healing communities affected by mass shootings and public tragedy. Since 2018, we have traveled to more than 21 cities across the United States to create personalized memorial altars honoring the lives lost to senseless acts of violence. Each altar is a place for public grieving and remembrance — a way for a community to come together in the aftermath of tragedy and begin to carry it forward, together.
Why this work Matters
Public attention moves on. Grief doesn't.
After a tragedy, the news cycle moves quickly but the people left behind are still grieving long after the cameras leave. Our altars stay behind as something a community can return to: a place that says the loss was real, the people mattered, and no one has to carry it alone. This work amplifies the voices of those affected and makes room for healing and compassion in the face of violence.
About Us
Classroom of Compassion was founded by David Maldonado and Noah Reich, two Los Angeles-based artists who were moved to act after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016. Their first major memorial marked the one-year anniversary of the Route 91 Harvest shooting in Las Vegas and what began as a way of processing their own grief grew into an organization. Since 2018, Classroom of Compassion has traveled to more than 20 cities across the country, building memorial altars at the sites of mass shootings and public tragedies.
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Each altar is handmade for a specific community and the specific lives it lost.
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The goal is to create a sacred space that honors the victims and reflects the community grieving them.
