Arts Education Research Associate Matt Agustin grew up in Lakewood, California, which is nestled against Long Beach and other gateway cities to Orange County—he is proud of and will never give up his "562" area code. He says that Filipinx-American families love pop music, basketball, church, and food—and his was no different.

Pamela Bright-Moon’s journey in the arts may have started behind the scenes in television but she now finds herself centered in something much broader—the intersection of arts, community, government, and advocacy.

Longtime arts advocate Leticia Rhi Buckley has been named the new CEO of downtown Los Angeles’ LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. Buckley brings nearly 30 years of experience at arts, communications, and entertainment organizations to the Latina/Latino museum and cultural center. She succeeds the retiring CEO John Echeveste, and moves into the new post as LA Plaza celebrates its 10-year anniversary.

The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture (Arts and Culture) has announced artist, business owner, and community organizer Sandra Hahn has joined its Arts Commission, the LA County Board of Supervisors’ longstanding advisory body for the arts. The Commission seats 15 members, diverse arts community leaders chosen by the Board of Supervisors to represent each of the five districts in the County. Hahn was appointed by Supervisor to the Fourth District, Janice Hahn (no relation).

President Joseph R. Biden has appointed Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis to the Board of Trustees at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center, the living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, is this country’s national cultural center—as a presenter, it hosts world-class performing arts that are made available to the broadest possible constituencies, and as an agency, it delivers powerful arts education opportunities nationwide.

As we enter the new year and face its promise and its challenges, we continue to lean in to key themes of recovery, sustainability, and equity. To that end, I invite you to engage in our latest work…

The January professional development newsletter contains opportunities for grantees and individuals. It was sent out on Thursday, January 27. To make sure that you never miss another PD opportunity from the Department of Arts and Culture (as well as our partner organizations), sign up for our Professional Development Newsletter.

Hi friends, it's been a while…

A staff spotlight on Arts and Culture's Human Resources Manager, Alex Hinojosa.

A spotlight on Arts Commissioners Tim Dang.

Civic Art Division annual report for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Creative Strategist Clement Hanami has been in residence with the Department of Public Health’s PLACE Division since 2018 working on the Vision Zero Initiative, a County initiative to reduce traffic fatalities and severe injuries while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all.

From January 3 – 31, 2022, we are seeking public comment on the draft set of Cultural Policy Strategy Proposals.

This December, we are reminded these are challenging times, to be sure. Yet I look back on 2021 with a sense of pride and accomplishment about the work at the Department of Arts and Culture, and the resiliency of the LA County arts and culture community. It was a year that required delays and pivots, but also revealed unique moments of opportunity. We stepped up. We acted quickly to support the arts sector, we secured record levels of funding for recovery initiatives, we adopted landmark arts policies, and we continued to advance equity as LA County's artists and cultural organizations delivered healing, engagement, art, and opportunities for reflection and joy…

An evaluation of the first six residencies of the Creative Strategist program finds that a significant amount of art-as-process occurred across the residencies, with many of the creative strategists doing work engaging communities, especially those historically underserved by local government.