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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.