Every year, the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission selects three community members to recognize Native American Heritage Month. As we close November, we recognize this year’s honorees: Kenny Ramos—Spirit of Creativity, Cynthia Ruiz—Spirit of Community, and Chief Anthony Morales—Spirit of Tradition. We're proud to be the home of the LANAIC and congratulate the honorees on their contributions to culture and community.

This October, in a first-of-its-kind partnership with the County’s Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiative (ARDI) and the LA City/County Native American Indian Commission, we honored Indigenous People’s Day by supporting two cultural events with The Music Center and Indigenous-led arts organization Chapter House that provided artmaking, cultural activities, music, food, and more to foster awareness, respect, and understanding of the ongoing cultural contributions of Indigenous people. Thank you to all the partners, artists, and community.

First, for September, we recognize Hispanic Heritage Month, as declared in this motion by Supervisors Hilda L. Solis and Janice Hahn. We celebrated by uplifting some incredible artists with work on display in Whittier’s Los Nietos Community Senior Center, and collaborating with LA Plaza de Cultural y Artes, Michelin starred Chef Gilberto Cetina, City of Paris, and Food Temple to highlight food as culture as part of our LA/Paris Cultural Olympiad artistic collaboration projects.

It’s summer, of course, but it’s also Grants Season! Our flagship Organizational Grant Program (OGP) and the innovative Community Impact Arts Grant opened this week, and the Arts Internship Grant opens September 10.

In 2023, 228 positions were initially awarded to 157 organizations and of those, 224 positions at 155 organizations were successfully launched. An estimated 4,180 applications were received for these positions.

What a month! As we take in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, we were pleased to announce the 2024 Cultural Olympiad Poster Competition in a special Board of Supervisors presentation honoring the dazzling creativity of LA and Paris student artists and their art schools. Explore Newsletter

With excitement from the opening of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and in anticipation of Los Angeles’ role as host of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, students from three LA County art and design schools in the 2024 Cultural Olympiad Poster Competition were honored today with a celebration at the Board of Supervisors meeting and a presentation by Board Chair Lindsey Horvath.

LA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE AWARDS OVER $6.4M TO ARTS, CULTURAL, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS Funding Grows for Arts Nonprofits, as Flagship Organizational Grant Program Receives First Increase in LA County Budget in Over 15 Years

This month, we convened researchers, funders, and practitioners for LA County Arts and Health Week, rolled out a new Arts and Culture department logo, launched more Arts Internship positions, released a program evaluation of the Creative Wellbeing initiative, and have an opportunity for organizations with creative career programs to add your listing to Creative Careers Online—you can explore these updates below.

In its second evaluation of the Creative Wellbeing approach, Harder+Company Community Research found that young people who participated experienced positive social-emotional benefits while also exploring their interests, building technical art skills, and increasing their access to the arts. Adults who participated in the program are experiencing and embodying Creative Wellbeing values and healing themselves through this work. They further found that

Today, in a motion authored by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously declared the week of June 10, 2024 as Arts and Health Week. There is growing research that demonstrates the arts have a positive impact across physical, mental, and public health.

I want to first acknowledge the close of May, which marked both Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month and Mental Health Month! I am grateful to our many incredible grantees, artists, Creative Strategists, and partners who serve our AANHPI communities, and I am of course also very proud of our collaborators with whom we work at the intersection of arts, health, and recovery—including our growing Creative Wellbeing programs and resources…

The March professional development newsletter contains opportunities for grantees and individuals. It was sent out on May 2, 2024. Explore newsletter

What an Arts Month it has been! It began with a motion by Chair Lindsey Horvath and Supervisor Solis declaring April as Arts Month in LA County, praising the artists, creatives, educators, organizations, and advocates vital to arts and culture, and highlighting our decades of continued work to ensure the people of Los Angeles County have access to arts. This motion, and other motions before it, also called for support in expanding our flagship Organizational Grant Program (OGP), which supports over 650 cultural and arts organizations of all sizes.

This third study by SMU DataArts analyzing the demographic makeup of the arts and cultural workforce in LA County finds a significant shift toward greater racial and ethnic diversity since 2019, particularly at the leadership level.