$38.5 million LA Arts Recovery Fund gives local art-based nonprofits financial support to recover from pandemic drought

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A major effort is underway to help local art and cultural institutions that have been hit hard by the pandemic. The new L.A. Arts Recovery Fund hopes to provide some much needed support.

Art, from performance to the visual, is said to be food for the soul. But since the pandemic, museums, art galleries and theaters have shuttered.

"This has devastated the sector and so we've heard from hundreds of organizations. We also know artists and others, creative workers they employ really looking for relief and ways to get to recovery," said Kristin Sakoda, Director, LA County Department of Arts & Culture.

Help is on the way, thanks to the J. Paul Getty Trust which initiated the recovery fund. The $38.5 million fund will give small and midsize art-based nonprofit groups a much needed financial shot in the arm.

Antonia Hernandez is the CEO of the California Community Foundation, which will dispense the funds to cash strapped art organizations and groups who qualify for the help.

"This is a collaboration of many local foundations and also national foundations to support the infrastructure of our nonprofit community in the arts," said Hernandez.

The multi-year grants are unrestricted to ensure organizations can rebuild or reimagine their futures.

"We want to move past relief and into recovery and provide meaningful support for small to midsize nonprofits, so this isn't an extinction moment but instead one of renewed support for art and cultural institutions," said Wendy Garen, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.

The L.A. art scene represents a $200 billion economic engine. The L.A. Arts Recovery Fund will ensure that art will continue to feed the hearts and souls of Angelenos and the world.

The L.A. Arts Recovery Fund is accepting applications from organizations that meet the criteria. For more information, visit www.calfund.org/laartsfund

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