Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, or YOLA, rehearses in Inglewood's Judith and Thomas L. Beckman YOLA Center. Photo courtesy of LA Phil.
What is Creative Recovery LA?
Creative Recovery LA was a new grant initiative to address pandemic impacts on the arts and the creative economy, one of the most economically significant and hardest-hit sectors, while leveraging the unique capacity of arts and culture to catalyze our region’s economic recovery, civic connectivity, and community wellbeing. Through this initiative the Department of Arts and Culture awarded over $26 million in American Rescue Plan funds to 668 grantees to deliver financial relief and recovery to the LA County nonprofit arts and culture sector.
Creative Recovery LA included five grant opportunities:
- Arts Relief and Recovery Grant
- Creative Works and Jobs for Artists Grant
- Reopening Culture, Tourism, and Marketing Grant
- Creative Career Pathways for Youth Grant
- Arts for Justice-Involved Youth Grant
Eligiblity
LA County-based 501(c)3 nonprofit and Model A fiscally sponsored organizations that are arts focused, or have a demonstrated history of arts programming, were eligible to apply for up to five grant opportunities through a single, streamlined application process.
Creative Recovery LA used an equity framework to prioritize applicant organizations based on their geographic location and budget size. More information is available in the program guidelines.
WHAT CAN FUNDING BE USED FOR?
Funding can support costs directly associated with:
- Financially sustaining operations (payroll, rent, technical assistance, safe reopening, etc.)
- Providing arts programs and cultural services to communities
- Hiring and retaining staff, artists, and creative workers
- Marketing and promoting arts and culture programs
- Creative career pathways and training programs for underrepresented youth
- Serving justice and systems impacted youth through the arts
MORE INFORMATION
The online application closed February 15, 2023. For more information visit Community Partners' webpage.
Sign up to receive additional information and updates through the Department of Arts and Culture’s monthly newsletter or email creativerecovery@communitypartners.org. Small businesses and other entities that are not 501(c)3 nonprofits with a focus on the arts may find out about other grant opportunities available through Los Angeles County at ceo.lacounty.gov.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
The arts play an important role in the health, wellbeing, economy, civic engagement, and positive outcomes of our communities. Organizations providing arts and cultural services in Los Angeles County have been disproportionately negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to face challenges to resume programming and operations. The pandemic also disproportionately negatively impacted communities of color and those who were already facing barriers, historic disinvestment, and systemic inequity.
Supporting the nonprofit arts and creative sector with an equity lens supports the recovery of our County—by preserving and stimulating our region’s creative economy, cultural identity, vitality, and the wellbeing of our residents and communities. In addressing key needs, this initiative seeks to advance cultural equity, strengthen the capacity of the cultural field for the future 2028 Olympics, and ensure a sustainable arts and creative sector for the long term.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the LA County Department of Arts and Culture has supported the relief and recovery of the arts and creative sector of the region. These efforts are in addition to ongoing programs of the Department of Arts and Culture.
Creative Recovery LA is an initiative of the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, administered through Community Partners, and funded by the LA County Board of Supervisors through the American Rescue Plan Act.
For information on all other American Rescue Plan Act programs of LA County, visit https://ceo.lacounty.gov/recovery/arp/
