The mission of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture is to advance arts, culture, and creativity throughout LA County. We fulfill our mission by providing services and support in areas including grants and technical assistance for nonprofit organizations; professional development opportunities; commissioning civic artworks and managing the County’s civic art collection; implementing countywide arts education initiatives; research and evaluation; career pathways in the creative economy; free community programs; and cross sector creative strategies that address civic issues. This work is framed by the County’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative and a longstanding commitment to fostering access to the arts.
The Florence-Firestone Service Center provides comprehensive human services to neighborhood residents which include elderly care, emergency food assistance, internship opportunities and mediation and conflict resolution. Over 20 County departments and other public and private agencies have satellite offices at the Center. Artist and photographer, Willie Robert Middlebrook created a mural for the entrance lobby. The mural, titled Short Stories, depicts the ethnic diversity of the past and present of the Florence Firestone community and features landmarks from the community and local plant and animal life. To produce the mural, digital images were printed on the archival cotton canvas using archival pigment to create a surface that looks like a painting.
About the Artist:
Artist Willie Middlebrook has been working as a professional artist/photographer for over 20 years. He has participated in over 200 solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Mexico including exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Studio Museum of Harlem, and the Watts Towers Arts Center. Middlebrook has received several awards and fellowships for his work in the arts. In 2009 he was awarded the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship (COLA) award granted by the Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition to his gallery experience Middlebrook was commissioned in 2008 by Metro Transportation Authority (MTA) to complete artwork for the Crenshaw Expo Line Station, scheduled for completion in 2010. “Art is about communication,” Middlebrook states. “My work is based on collaboration between the subjects I select to photography and myself …we have an understanding of each other, an understanding, focused on a single goal; to speak to and about our people, our communities.”
