Young Storytellers Creates Fund in Memory of Jamie Tarses

Young Storytellers, an arts nonprofit that teaches writing to Los Angeles students, has created a fund in the name of Jamie Tarses. Deadline reported the announcement. Tarses was a television executive and producer, and she died in 2021.

The Jamie Tarses Fund will support Young Storytellers' programs in Los Angeles public schools. It launches in 2026 with a fundraising goal of $400,000, according to the organisation, which says the fund is being set up with help from Tarses' family and friends. Young Storytellers plans to grow it year after year.

Tarses had a long connection to the group. She became involved in the 1990s and joined its founding board in 2003, the year it became an independent nonprofit. She served on the board for seven years. In October, Young Storytellers named her its 2026 Storyteller of the Year.

The group's model is simple to describe. Volunteer mentors work one-on-one with students to write original scripts. Professional actors then perform those scripts on stage. Young Storytellers started in 1997 as a volunteer project run by three film students in a single classroom at Playa del Rey Elementary School.

The scale has grown since then. In 2025, 786 volunteers mentored more than 440 students every week at 39 public schools and after-school sites across Los Angeles. In its 2025-26 impact report, published in June 2026, the group said it served 1,131 students during the school year.

The fund will be celebrated on October 29 at The Biggest Show, the organisation's annual event, held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. It says 100% of participants complete their script and see it brought to the stage. It reports 12,500 stories told through its programs, and says 120,000 friends and family members have attended its Biggest Shows.

For the students involved, the work ends with a finished script and an audience. The new fund is meant to keep that path open in public schools for years to come.