$12M LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund Starts Applications Monday

LOS ANGELES, CA — Starting Monday, artists and arts workers in all disciplines who have been impacted by the Los Angeles-area fires will be able to apply for emergency grants from the newly formed LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, which was created by a coalition of local arts organizations and philanthropists, led by the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Launched with $12 million, the fund will provide emergency relief to artists and arts workers "in all disciplines who have lost residences, studios, or livelihoods or have otherwise been impacted by the devastating Los Angeles fires," according to the Getty.

The fund is being administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation, an arts support organization.

Los Angeles has an exceptionally diverse and vibrant community of artists, arts workers and related professionals, the Getty said.

The city's arts community has been "gravely affected as the ongoing fires have destroyed residences, studios, archives, artworks, and places of employment, striking a blow at thousands of individuals and the creative economy of Los Angeles and its region," according to the coalition.

Prospective applicants will be able to visit www.cciarts.org to apply for an emergency grant. The process is being designed with an understanding of the need to get funds to impacted individuals as rapidly as possible. As the situation evolves, funds raised may eventually be applied to longer-term needs, the Getty said.

The LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund is one of several fundraising efforts in Los Angeles and across the nation designed to help with wildfire relief.

"People around the world are watching in horror as vast areas of Los Angeles burn, but this regional tragedy has global cultural repercussions," Katherine Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said in a statement.

"Amid the losses suffered by the artists and arts workers 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."

Contributors include the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation; the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; East West Bank; the Ford Foundation; and the Mohn Art Collective, which comprises the LA Museum of Art, the Hammer, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

"Los Angeles is home to one of the world's most prolific and creative group of artists and people working to support our many artists, galleries, and art institutions," according to a joint statement issued by the Mohn Art Collective. "In particular, the fire-ravaged neighborhoods in Altadena are long-time home to an astounding concentration of artists and art workers. Our local spirit of collaboration is being evidenced right now. And we're immensely grateful to those outside LA 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 it, and LA's artists in many ways remain my community."

He served on the Los Angeles City Council from July 1, 1971 to September 28, 2001.

Wachs continued, "Contributing to the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund is an expression of the Warhol Foundation's mission of responding to the needs of artists and is also a moral imperative for those like us who recognize the critical importance of Los Angeles to the world of the arts."