The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture (Arts and Culture) invites Los Angeles County-based artists to apply for an artist residency with the LA County Cultural Climate Commons: Community Memory Lab & Living Archive, a collaboration between Arts and Culture, LA County Library / LA County Library Foundation, the Altadena Library District / Altadena Library Foundation, and Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) / Library Foundation of Los Angeles (LFLA).

The Artist-in-Residence will collaborate with the Project Partners named above to develop a project that may include but is not limited to artistic interventions, approaches, and strategies; community engagement and participation; the creation of new artworks; and/or access to artistic and cultural experiences to meet the goals of the residency:

1. Develop a series of collective memory and artmaking workshops for Altadena residents and others impacted by the January 2025 fires that provide space for creative expression and storytelling and that foster healing and strengthen community bonds. Facilitate the addition of community created artworks created during workshops to LA County Library’s new digital archive.
2. Facilitate an opportunity for Altadena-based artists to digitize their artwork as part of LA County Library’s digital collections, elevating and giving more permanence to work that may have been previously overlooked, and contributing to a more holistic Altadena history.
3. In collaboration with LAPL, explore ways to connect Artist’s workshops in Altadena to similar efforts led by LAPL, LFLA, and others in the Pacific Palisades.

Programmatic activities for this residency may include but are not limited to conducting stakeholder mapping, research, artist outreach and curation, program design, scheduling and coordination, and community engagement. The Artist may employ a range of healing-centered arts practices and storytelling techniques to engage the fire-impacted communities of Altadena and the Pacific Palisades.

This project is rooted in socially engaged art and civic practice. This residency requires a commitment to working collaboratively and a dedication to community engagement. Applicants must have a portfolio or body of work that demonstrates their ability to align creative practice with social and public need and their experience engaging culturally diverse communities.