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.

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

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.

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…

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.

As we close out March, Women’s History Month, on behalf of the Department I acknowledge the vital and vibrant contributions of all the female-identifying artists, arts leaders, culture bearers, creative workers, and community advocates throughout LA County! Just above this note, for instance, is artist Rebecca Méndez with the artwork she created for our Civic Art Collection at the Greater Whittier Regional Aquatic Center, and below, we highlight news about the film of our Arts Commissioner, Pamela Bright-Moon.

This February we recognized Black History Month and its national theme of African Americans and the Arts. We celebrate all artists, organizations, artworks, and individuals that uplift African American and Black arts, culture, and history here in Los Angeles County. This year, I had the additional honor of being the keynote speaker for the Los Angeles County African American Employees Association gala, following a performance of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by youth from Arts and Culture grantee Amazing Grace Conservatory!

I am grateful that LA County recognizes that arts and culture strengthen the quality of life and the social and economic development of our people and communities. The Countywide Cultural Policy, adopted by the Board in 2020, serves as a roadmap for how the County and its departments can ensure that every resident has meaningful access to arts and culture… Learn More

In our final newsletter of 2023, I wanted to celebrate our many accomplishments, which this year, I believe, share a connective thread—we provided resources, tools, and professional development so that individuals and organizations could build equity through the arts in their own lives and work...

This November, as the home of the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission (LANAIC), the LA County Department of Arts and Culture is proud to acknowledge Native American Heritage Month, a time to highlight and lift up the cultural contributions of the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) community

October is national Arts and Humanities Month! At the Department of Arts and Culture, we envision LA County as a region where arts, culture, and creativity are integral to every aspect of civic life for all people and communities.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! This month, the Department of Arts and Culture uplifts LA County’s Hispanic and Latino/a/x artists, nonprofits, educators, and culture bearers with celebratory social media and a digital art kit from artist Lorenzo Hurtado Segovia. September is also Deaf Awareness Month, and we're pleased to also feature a beautiful site-specific mural at ICA LA...