Announcements

What’s going on? Get the latest news and announcements about Arts and Culture programs and initiatives.

Alis Clausen Odenthal has been devoted to voice and music her entire life. She has forged a long career teaching, managing, and supporting the arts by following two rules: diversify your arts skillset, and say "yes" as much as possible.
Rosalyn "Ros" Escobar grew up in Koreatown with the arts all around her. Her mom sang, her dad played guitar and piano, and her sister was very dramatic. Her mom found the girls a performing arts magnet, the Bancroft Middle School. "I met kids from all over the city there. It’s where my love of diversity started. My best friends were from South LA, Russia, India. It was such rich experience," says Ros.
We first acknowledge last month's Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month which we celebrated by uplifting a few of the many remarkable artists and organizations of the AAPI community. We also acknowledge May as Jewish American Heritage Month, as well as June as Pride Month, and recognize all of the rich cultural diversity we have the honor of engaging through the arts here in Los Angeles County—year round. Looking ahead, we are excited to continue to expand our work catalyzing cross-sector arts collaboration to advance equity across civic life.
In June, 2022 Randi Tahara joined the Arts Commission, the LA County Board of Supervisors' longstanding advisory body for the arts. The Commission seats 15 members, diverse arts community leaders choasen by the Board to represent each of the five districts in the County. Tahara was appointed by BOard of Supervisors Chair, Holly J. Mitchell.
Kim Glann is a self-described theater nerd—she loves collaborating with people who have different skill sets to create something larger than themselves. The Department of Arts and Culture’s Creative Strategist-Artist in Residence program, which she manages, is steeped in a similar kind of collaboration.
Eric Eisenberg was born in Los Angeles and raised by his actress mom. He saw a lot of community theater, with his brothers in tow, and took part in countless fundraisers and telethons—most notably, the Variety Club. Eisenberg was an actor early on, then transitioned into the visual arts as an artist and gallery owner in Venice, California, becoming part of its 1980s-era street art scene. He’s an avid horseback rider and dirt biker, but his main passion and focus is as a martial artist, practicing and teaching every week at a dojo in Little Tokyo.
So far we’ve walked you through two of the six key strategies that guide our collective impact work: School-Based Arts Education and Community-Based Arts Education. This month, we’ll dive into our next strategy for expanding arts education across the region: Creative Career Pathways for Youth, which helps prepare young people ages 14-24 to contribute to LA County’s robust economy. The arts teach us how to communicate, collaborate, problem solve, re-imagine, and innovate—all skills needed for success in the 21st century workforce…
Thank you for celebrating April as Arts Month! This year, it was launched by a Board of Supervisors motion, authored by Chair Holly J. Mitchell and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, to designate Arts Month, recognize the role of arts in the work of healing and recovery from COVID-19, and continue the County’s work of ensuring that all the benefits of, and opportunities provided by, the arts are accessible to everyone.
The Department of Arts and Culture has announced that artist and entrepreneur Jacob Pratt has been selected for a one-year residency as part of its Creative Strategist Program. Pratt will work with staff at the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission to develop a project that could include performing art presentations, community engagement, cultural asset mapping, and other programming.
The March professional development newsletter contains opportunities for grantees and individuals. It was sent out on April 22, 2022. 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.
The Department of Arts and Culture has announced media executive Anita Ortiz has joined its Arts Commission, the LA County Board of Supervisors’ longstanding advisory body for the arts.
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.