More help is on the way for arts organizations in Los Angeles struggling through continued closures and economic challenges. Building on two previous relief efforts, Getty is now collaborating with local and national funders to provide $38.5 million in pandemic recovery assistance to nonprofits across the LA County arts sector, from the visual arts to dance, music, and theater.
Initiated by Getty and administered by the California Community Foundation, the $38.5 million LA Arts Recovery Fund pools contributions from more than a dozen funders to provide multi-year operating support for small and medium-sized arts organizations affected by COVID-19. The fund will also help organizations gain access to technical assistance and expand their capabilities.
“Los Angeles’s arts organizations embody the diverse cultures of our region and are critical to making us one of the most vibrant, innovative, and collaborative arts communities in the nation,” said Joan Weinstein, director of the Getty Foundation. “We’re mirroring their commitment to collaboration, coming together to provide what we hope will be meaningful support at a time when the very existence of these organizations is threatened. In the process, we hope to help create a more equitable and inclusive arts sector for the future.”
Last April, at the beginning of the pandemic, Getty announced a $10 million commitment that has already provided $2 million in emergency grants to visual arts organizations in LA County. Getty also collaborated on a related effort to provide emergency funding to 400 visual artists across the region and began working with local foundations to build the new LA Arts Recovery Fund, so as to support the entire arts sector.
National funders have now joined this latest effort, including the Ford Foundation through its “America’s Cultural Treasures” initiative. Ford’s grant will be directed specifically towards Black, Latinx, Asian and Indigenous arts organizations. Other supporters of the fund are the Ahmanson Foundation, Vladimir & Araxia Buckhantz Foundation, California Community Foundation, Ford Theatre Foundation/L.A. County Department of Arts and Culture, J. Paul Getty Trust, Rita and Tom Hanks, Jerry and Terri Kohl, Robert Lovelace and Alicia Miñana, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Music Man Foundation, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Perenchio Family Fund, Snap Foundation, and Sony Pictures Entertainment & Sony Global Relief Fund.
Partners of the fund are calling on community members, philanthropic organizations, and public and private institutions to join in and increase the pool to reach a goal of $50 million to sustain LA’s vital community organizations and save jobs in the arts. As part of this effort to include support from the community, Getty is allocating all contributions to the Getty Patron Program and Getty Fund made this year to the LA Arts Recovery Fund.
To learn more about how you can join this important initiative, visit getty.edu/artsrecovery.
