Announcements

I write with huge pride and excitement with the news that the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion by Supervisors Solis and Kuehl to adopt the Cultural Policy Strategic Plan! As you may have read in earlier dispatches, this is an important next step in our ongoing work to expand cultural equity and access across LA County. Once again, thank you for you for input and advocacy. Please check out our press release in the body of this newsletter.

As it continues to expand access to the arts for all residents, the Board of Supervisors today [unanimously] approved a motion by Supervisors Solis and Kuehl to adopt the LA County Cultural Policy Strategic Plan.

Phung Huynh is a Los Angeles-based artist and educator whose work explores cultural perception and representation. Known for exploring the complexities of Southeast Asian refugee communities through drawings that include the iconic pink donut box, Huynh applied her artistic practice and her own experience as a refugee and immigrant to her work with Office of Immigrant Affairs (OIA) on strategies to build trust and increase participation in LA County support services.

Alexis Camins moved to the Bay Area from the Philippines when he was 9 years old. When a friend dragged him to audition for a musical in high school—42nd Street—his fate was sealed. "I just fell in love with theater. I fell in with being on stage, with being around friends that wanted to express themselves. I felt like I had met my people," he says.

Helen Hernandez is a community advocate at heart. Born in Azusa, she was the oldest daughter of 12 children—inheriting a passion for service from her family, and a fierce sense of determination. “We didn’t have much. My dad was a plumber, and he struggled to give us all a good Catholic school education. So, I always took every opportunity because I never felt like I had anything to lose.”

In this month's newsletter, we are thrilled to share the Countywide Cultural Policy Strategic Plan for Los Angeles County. I am grateful to Supervisors Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl, who directed us to develop a plan to implement the Cultural Policy, and to our community for your input, advocacy, and participation. We will share updates soon…

The Department of Arts and Culture (Arts and Culture) announced today $750,000 for 75 Community Impact Arts Grants (CIAG), one-year grants for arts programming at nonprofit social justice and social service organizations, and municipal departments throughout LA County.

To support local arts nonprofits and the communities they serve, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture has announced $4,518,000 million in grant awards through its Organizational Grant Program (OGP). The awards provide two-year grants for 227 organizations.