Hundreds of Artists Share a $2.7 Million Grant to Help Stay Afloat

Hundreds of Artists Share a $2.7 Million Grant to Help Stay Afloat

by | Nov 10, 2020 | Feature, General, News

Los Angeles, CA. Four hundred artists and 80 arts organizations received $2.7 million in total grants as part of a broad-based COVID-19 relief effort for the visual arts in the Los Angeles region, the J. Paul Getty Trust and the California Community Foundation announced today. (Beneficiaries include the Craft Contemporary Museum seen above.) The emergency support was designed to reach individual artists throughout all areas of LA County and arts organizations that serve the region’s culturally diverse communities.

“The arts are a source of expression, resistance, and healing,” says Joan Weinstein, director of the Getty Foundation, an operating program of the Getty Trust, which initiated the $10 million LA Arts COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund to help small and midsize visual arts organizations. “But our creative artists and arts organizations, who do so much to advocate for social change, will not survive this pandemic and its economic fallout if we don’t take action now to support them.”

The economic impact of COVID-19 has been especially hard on small and midsize arts institutions. The pandemic also laid bare inequities in funding, particularly for organizations that serve communities of color. Smaller arts organizations tend to operate without any endowment funds or cash reserves. Yet they act as essential community anchors, supporting creative expression for artists of color, providing access to the arts for underserved groups, and offering arts education in schools and at their own sites. Even while their doors have been closed, many have worked hard to maintain their community bonds, hosting COVID-19 testing sites or food distribution centers on their premises.

After months of lost revenue, these organizations are struggling to maintain staff, provide safe galleries and workspaces that meet new health and safety standards, and still ensure meaningful arts participation for their communities when they reopen.

The Getty is the world’s largest cultural and philanthropic organization dedicated to the visual arts. The Getty includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute (GRI), the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), and the Getty Foundation. The Getty welcomes visitors from around the world to its two Los Angeles locations: the Getty Center in Brentwood and the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades.

The more than $2 million in emergency relief grants awarded to 80 visual arts nonprofits and museums provides support to meet urgent financial needs over the next three months, including staff salaries, rent, and emergency supplies to comply with public health measures. This basic operating support will also allow organizations some leeway to plan for reopening, restructuring, and collaboration. Innovation will be critical if these institutions want to continue their work.

“We’re going to have to become semi-experts in how to manage spaces and arts experiences through a public health lens,” says Betty Avila, executive director of the arts nonprofit Self Help Graphics & Art, which received an emergency grant.

Self Help has worked at the intersection of arts and social justice since 1973, serving its community in East Los Angeles by promoting local Chicana/o and Latinx artists. But Avila recognizes they won’t endure if they don’t adapt, and the COVID relief grant will start them on that path. “We cannot return to our work with a ‘back to business as usual’ perspective.” In the meantime, the emergency grant will help them cover operational expenses, including support for Self Help Graphics’ teaching artists.

The threats facing arts institutions extend to visual artists. Thousands saw their income evaporate as the museums and non-profit spaces that exhibit their work shuttered. Many also depend on part-time work as teaching artists or preparators who set up and take down exhibitions. Countless artists also survive on work in the gig economy. With high unemployment across the region, they are straining to find alternative sources of income.

The California Community Foundation and Getty responded by creating the Relief Fund for L.A. County Visual Artists. The Fund has provided emergency grants of up to $2000 each to 400 local artists who work in all visual arts disciplines. Artists who applied for grants were asked to demonstrate their artistic practice through an online presentation of their work and to describe their financial needs. Additional contributions came from a trio of local artist-endowed foundations: the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, the Sam Francis Foundation, and the Shepard and Amanda Fairey Foundation. The artist relief fund is administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation.

“This crisis is a wake-up call to all Angelenos to support the organizations that provide access to the arts and the artists that inspire us to be resilient,” says Antonia Hernández, president and CEO of the California Community Foundation, which is administering the LA Arts COVID-19 Fund. “The emergency grants will reach a wide array of arts nonprofits and dedicated artists, but more help is needed. The demand for funds was far greater than the supply. We welcome others to join us in this effort to ensure the arts continue contributing to the cultural vitality and wellness of our region for the benefit of all residents.”

For over 30 years, Getty and CCF have been longtime collaborators in the arts, supporting one of the most prestigious fellowships for visual artists in the country, the biennial Fellowships for Visual Artists. The Fellowship, led by CCF, was created by an earlier endowment from the Getty and has grown with subsequent donations from CCF and individual donors. The LA Arts COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund was a natural extension of that partnership. The next phase of their work together will focus on recovery grants to help key museums and visuals arts organizations reimagine their operations in order to survive and thrive in the coming years. More information on recovery funds will be available before this fall.

This link has a list of the LA Arts Covid-19 Relief Fund Grantees 

From the associated organizations:

Getty is a leading global arts organization committed to the exhibition, conservation, and understanding of the world’s artistic and cultural heritage.  Working collaboratively with partners around the globe, the Getty Foundation, Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Museum and Getty Research Institute are all dedicated to the greater understanding of the relationships between the world’s many cultures.  The Los Angeles-based J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs share art, knowledge, and resources online at Getty.edu and welcome the public for free at the Getty Center and the Getty Villa.

The Getty Foundation fulfills the philanthropic mission of the Getty Trust by supporting individuals and institutions committed to advancing the greater understanding and preservation of the visual arts in Los Angeles and throughout the world. Through strategic grant initiatives, the Foundation strengthens art history as a global discipline, promotes the interdisciplinary practice of conservation, increases access to museum and archival collections, and develops current and future leaders in the visual arts. It carries out its work in collaboration with the other Getty Programs to ensure that they individually and collectively achieve maximum effect. Additional information is available at www.getty.edu/foundation.

About The California Community Foundation

The California Community Foundation has served as a public, charitable organization for Los Angeles County since 1915, its mission is to lead positive systemic change that strengthens Los Angeles communities. CCF manages 1,700 charitable foundations, funds and legacies. For more information, please visit calfund.org.

The Downtown Women’s Center Keeps Doors Open During Pandemic

The Downtown Women’s Center Keeps Doors Open During Pandemic

by | Oct 30, 2020 | Feature, General, News | 1 comment

Los Angeles, CA. Over the last forty years, The Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) has helped nearly 110,000 disadvantaged women with meals and housing. DWC was launched in 1978 because of the friendship between two women; Jill Halverson (pictured on the right above) created the nonprofit to help an inspiring homeless woman, and friend named Rosa (pictured above on the left). During the four decades that followed, DWC has grown into a nonprofit providing many vital services to disadvantaged women. DWC is the only organization in Los Angeles focused exclusively on serving and empowering women experiencing homelessness and formerly homeless women.

DWC representative Anita Vukovic says it’s hard to keep up with all the need, especially during a pandemic. “A lot of DWC work had to change due to consideration of social distancing measures, our community is especially vulnerable to COVID-19 due to underlying health conditions that many women experience. Our community is usually 55 years old and older,” Vukovic explained. DWC is able to provide more than 800 meals a day and offer on-site services in its parking lot, which enables social distancing. “Our health clinic also continues to operate Tuesday to Friday.”

Today, DWC manages 119 units of permanent housing across greater Los Angeles (like the apartment seen above) and has grown to serve more than 5,400 women annually.

DWC was recently selected as one of the 2020 California Nonprofit of the Year by California Senator Holly Mitchell of the 30th Senate District. DWC is one of over a hundred other nonprofits that will be honored by their state senators and assembly members for their contributions. State leaders want to honor DWC staff and volunteers, because they provide women with access to basic needs and resources, housing assistance, trauma-informed case management, mental and physical healthcare, job readiness and workforce development, and advocacy training and resources. “As our services expand to meet the community’s growing needs under COVID-19, we are deeply humbled to be recognized as a 2020 Nonprofit of the Year,” said DWC Chief Executive Officer Amy Turk. “DWC’s decades-long relationship with Senator Mitchell has always been a special one, and we are thrilled to continue working with her to bring greater visibility and resources to women experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles and across California.”

Women’s Health Center Clinic, DWC.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also made it difficult for DWC to use outside helpers.

“Volunteers have been the heart of our community in everything we do and how we are able to serve women,” says, Vukovic. DWC is still looking for opportunities to get their volunteers together. In September DWC had a three-week virtual campaign. “We saw a lot of positive feedback and engagement with that, people were really excited to be able to engage. We are looking into actually continue with that into the future.”

From Women’s Health Center:

How can you be informed on Housing First and Trauma-Informed:

  • Access to basic needs and resources through our Day Center, where women can receive three daily meals and access to showers, restrooms, mail, laundry, and telephones.
  • On-site housing and supportive services, with our 119 units of permanent housing across two residences making us one of the largest housing providers for women in the country.
  • Community-based housing services, provided in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, and various private foundations and corporations.
  • Health and wellness services, including individual and group counseling, medical care, mental health services, preventive screenings, Trauma Recovery Center services, and enrichment activities.
  • Job readiness and employment training, as well as job placement services and transitional jobs at MADE by DWC, in partnership with LA:RISE.
  • Advocacy training, to empower women to become successful advocates for themselves and others by participating in press interviews, public policy meetings, lobby visits with legislators, fundraising events, press conferences, and more.
  • Public education and volunteering, with a volunteer program that engages over 5,000 individuals annually.
  • Research and evaluation, to continue to push the envelope on creative solutions to ending homelessness by providing real-time data on needs and impacts (see the DWC 2019 Los Angeles City Women’s Needs Assessment here).

We envision a Los Angeles with every woman housed and on a path to personal stability. Our mission is to end homelessness for women in greater Los Angeles through housing, wellness, and advocacy.

Nonprofit “Reading to Kids” Delivers Children Reading Clubs on Zoom

Nonprofit “Reading to Kids” Delivers Children Reading Clubs on Zoom

by | Jul 22, 2020 | Feature, General, News

Los Angeles, CA. Reading to Kids is a grassroots organization based in Los Angeles that pairs underserved children with volunteers in monthly reading clubs to promote a love of reading and success for their futures. Reading in person like the photo above was common before the pandemic. Reading to Kids primarily serves children from Title 1 schools where up to 95% qualify for free lunches. Their mission to spread the love of reading to children was briefly interrupted by COVID-19, however, the organization has found it’s online footing through Zoom.

Charlie Orchard, the managing director of Reading to Kids, is one of two employees serving eight schools and managing hundreds of volunteers. He believes that they overcame their initial challenge of delivering online reading clubs, the remaining challenge “is not unique to our nonprofit”, Orchard said. “The challenge we have now is maintaining enough funding so we can continue our reading clubs. Fundraisers may not have enough money because of the economy. In March and April, I wasn’t sure what I could tell my funders but now I have a story to tell my funders that Zoom reading clubs work!” he said. 

That story is one of success as the number of students participating from July 2019 to July 2020 reading club has dropped by merely seven people from 235 to 228 students as reported by Orchard. The organization runs its fundraising projects from October to December every year. Orchard anticipates that fundraising may be harder this year due to the current COVID-19 induced economic recession. On the bright side he notes, “We might find new funders because they will look at who can still provide services to kids.”

Reading to Kids brochure

Since the non-profit’s shift to Zoom in May, they’ve limited the number of volunteers to people who’ve volunteered before. Because they wanted their volunteers to be screened personally and not have to train new volunteers in the time being. They’ve temporarily stopped parental training due to concerns over having enough devices in their homes. Orchard thinks that “20% to 30% of students” won’t be able to join Zoom reading clubs due to the lack of an internet connection.

When asked about the most important trait of his organization, Orchard replied “They should know that adaptability is important for everybody and Reading to Kids can adapt and we hope people will support us in how we adapt to share the love of reading with children. We’re still here.”

Orchard believes that the shift to online learning has shown that the “technological divide is real”.  One positive that could emerge from this, is higher technological access to underserved children and children of color which may lead to more people of color in technological fields in the future, Orchard hopefully said. 

From Reading to Kids:

This outstanding group of volunteers is a grassroots organization dedicated to inspiring underserved children with a love of reading, thereby enriching their lives and opportunities for success in the future.