Since 2015, the Department of Arts and Culture has collected consistent data about the demographic makeup of people who attend our professional development and technical assistance (PD/TA) programs. This report summarizes our analysis of six years of PD/TA programs offered by the department, from 2015-16 through 2020-21.

LA County’s long-running creative workforce development program, the LA County Arts Internship Program (AIP), will provide 228 university and community college students with paid on-the-job experience in the arts at over 140 nonprofit organizations starting this summer.

April is Arts Month! Los Angeles County’s creative ecosystem is one of the most vibrant in the world—with arts nonprofits, businesses, artists, and creative workers collaborating in performing arts, design, film and screen industries, and literary arts.

Project Manager Pat Gomez’s occasional nickname in the Civic Arts Division is the “Kevin Bacon of the LA Arts World” because similar to Bacon, she’s worked with a lot of people—and if she hasn’t worked directly with a particular artist or an arts administrator, she’s only a few degrees away from working with someone who has.

While schools play an important role in providing young people with regular access to the arts, community-based arts learning has the power to cultivate creativity beyond the classroom. Thanks to the work of many of our partners in the field, local programs in neighborhoods across LA County are helping young people develop a deep sense of belonging, and an appreciation for their own community.…

Madeline Di Nonno’s career trajectory brought her from intern to CEO, from East Coast to West Coast, and from for-profit to non-profit. She has marketed both consumer products and content, and developed business in media—using a blend of Brooklyn tenacity, networking, and leadership skills she modeled from the exemplary executives she’s studied her whole life.

As we advance arts, culture, and creativity under the leadership of the historic all-female Board of Supervisors, I want to wish you a happy close to Women’s History Month! We have spotlights of two incredible women below that we’re proud to have in the Department of Arts and Culture family, Arts Commissioner Madeline Di Nonno, the President and CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and Pat Gomez, an artist and Project Manager whose career has brought incredible opportunity and support to the LA public art world…

The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture has announced that Carol Zou has been selected for a two-year residency as part of its Creative Strategist-Artist in Residence program. Zou will work with staff in the Community Centers division of the Department of Workforce Development, Aging, and Community Services (WDACS) to develop new, multicultural, and intergenerational programming for County-operated community centers in the First Supervisorial District.

The March professional development newsletter contains opportunities for grantees and individuals. It was sent out on Friday, March 18. 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.

To support nonprofits in South and Central Los Angeles as they recover from COVID-19 losses, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture has awarded grants to 80 nonprofit organizations in the $1M Second Supervisorial District Recovery Grant.

Schools and school districts play an essential role in ensuring that young people grow up with the arts. But changing public education so that ALL schools provide arts instruction for ALL students is a tall order. With this goal, the LA County Board of Supervisors launched the Arts Education Collective in 2002 with just five school district partners. Today, the Arts Ed Collective includes 74 of LA County’s 81 school districts, plus five charter school networks, each working to expand arts learning for students in all of their schools. Yet, the work is not done…

I want to first acknowledge February's Black History Month and all our Black-identifying colleagues, communities, artists, and grantees who bring their experience, change agency, and cultural contributions to the LA County field I am so proud to work in.…

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.