Museums and foundations join forces: $12 million to support LA's arts community

Los Angeles foundations, museums, and institutions led by the J. Paul Getty Trust, including the Mohn Art Collective in partnership with the East West Bank, have joined forces with the Mellon Foundation, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Qatar Museums, the Ford Foundation, and other U.S. and international institutions to announce the creation of theLA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund: an emergency fund for artists and arts practitioners of all disciplines who have been affected by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

The fund will be managed by the Center for Cultural Innovation, an organization with long experience in providing funding, support and research for the arts and cultural sector.

With an initial $12 million, the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund is continuing to grow. The ever-growing list extensive list of generous supporters, foundations and corporations includes Karyn Kohl, Terri and Jerry Kohl, Trellis Art Fund, Teiger Foundation, Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg/The Hearthland Foundation, Maria Seferian, Arison Arts Foundation, Snap Foundation, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Broad Art Foundation, Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, Smidt Foundation and Smidt Family, Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, Terra Foundation for American Art, California Community Foundation, Kraus Family Foundation, Howard and Nancy Marks Charitable Foundation, A&L Berg Foundation, Willem de Kooning Foundation, Jane Hait and Justin Beal, Joan Mitchell Foundation, David Hockney Foundation, Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Frieze, Michael Asher Foundation, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Sam Francis Foundation, Artadia, Jay DeFeo Foundation, and Carolee Schneemann Foundation.

Los Angeles, internationally recognized as a vibrant arts center, is home to an extremely diverse community of artists and arts practitioners, which has been severely affected by the ongoing wildfires that have destroyed homes, studios, workplaces, artwork and archives, putting the entire creative economy of the city and region at risk.

As of Monday, Jan. 20, artists and arts professionals of any discipline affected by the fires can access the Center for Cultural Innovation website to apply for an emergency grant. The application process is designed to ensure that funds get to those in need as quickly as possible. In addition, as the situation evolves, the fund could also be earmarked for long-term support needs.

The LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund joins other active fundraising initiatives in Los Angeles and across the nation, such as the artist-initiated Art World Fire Relief LA GoFundMe campaign, the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to Support Music Professionals at the Recording Academy and MusiCares, the We Are Moving the Needle Microgrants: Wildfire Relief Fund, the Entertainment Community Fund and the Motion Picture Television Fund.

“People around the world watch in horror as vast areas of Los Angeles burn, but this tragedy has global cultural repercussions,” says Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. “Amid the losses suffered by the artists and art world professionals who so strongly define LA, Getty is grateful to the many partners, local, national and international, who have come together to meet the urgent needs of this community.”

“Far from its borders, the city of Los Angeles shapes our collective consciousness as a place of amazing imaginative power and artistic ingenuity,” said Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation. “Its people include artists, cultural creators, performers and arts workers in general, and its people need the immediate support of the nation. We will support the people of Los Angeles in the arts at this time of loss and devastation. Mellon is honored to join the Getty Trust and the Center for Cultural Innovation in launching this fundraiser and to encourage others to do the same.”

In a joint statement, the Mohn Art Collective said, “Los Angeles is home to one of the most prolific and creative groups of artists and people in the world working to support our many artists, galleries and art institutions. In particular, the neighborhoods devastated by the Altadena fire have long been home to an amazing concentration of artists and art workers. Our local spirit of collaboration is evident at this time. And we are immensely grateful to those outside of Los Angeles who are offering support.”

Joel Wachs, President of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, said, “Los Angeles still feels like home to me, despite my years away from there, and LA artists in many ways remain my community. Contributing to the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund is an expression of the Warhol Foundation’s mission to respond to the needs of artists and is also a moral imperative for those of us who recognize the critical importance of Los Angeles to the arts world.”

Museums and foundations join forces: $12 million to support LA's arts community

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