Arts Service Organizations Receive Support From LA Arts Recovery Fund Via California Community Foundation

$1.42 Million in Grants Recognizes the Vital Infrastructure Behind LA’s Thriving Arts Scene

LOS ANGELES, July 17, 2025  /PRNewswire/ — Thirteen arts service organizations across Los Angeles County are receiving funding from the LA Arts Recovery Fund, highlighting the essential role these organizations play as the backbone of the region’s vibrant cultural ecosystem. These grants, totaling $1.42 million in general operating support, recognize that behind every thriving arts community are dedicated organizations providing the infrastructure, advocacy, and resources that make artistic excellence possible. This marks the final round of grants made through the Fund and administered by the California Community Foundation.  The LA Arts Recovery Fund originated in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic to sustain cultural organizations, promote economic recovery, and restore community health and wellbeing.

Arts service organizations are the often-unseen champions of LA’s cultural landscape, providing professional development for artists, advocating for equitable policies, and creating platforms for collaboration that help both individual artists and arts organizations flourish. As conveners, they bring together artists, cultural leaders, and advocates across disciplines to tackle pressing issues, plan for the future, and foster creativity that transcends traditional boundaries. Whether connecting emerging artists with mentorship opportunities or championing fair wages and working conditions, these organizations ensure that LA’s arts sector remains accessible, sustainable, and inclusive.

“By investing in arts service organizations, we are not only supporting them individually—we are strengthening the entire network that allows artists, cultural projects, and creativity to thrive in Los Angeles,” said Kristin Sakoda, Director of LA County Department of Arts and Culture. “These organizations provide a foundation of support for our LA region’s cultural ecosystem.”

Gustavo Herrera, CEO of Arts for LA, emphasized the critical timing of this support: “LA’s creative people, places, and institutions have endured extraordinary challenges this year. This grant invests in the very purpose of our existence which is to unite and advocate for artists, creative workers and organizations across our region. As we recover from wildfires, funding cuts, and threats to our most vulnerable, the time to advocate for a more equitable, healthy, and vibrant Los Angeles is now.”

Stephania Ramirez, CEO of Perenchio Foundation, shared “These investments come at a crucial time when arts service organizations face pressure to meet growing demand for their services while navigating economic uncertainty and rising operational costs. It is our hope that the grants will provide these organizations with the flexibility to adapt their programming, expand their reach, and continue serving as vital connectors within LA’s cultural community.”

The LA Arts Recovery Fund represents an unprecedented collaboration of local and national philanthropy, and public and private funders, initiated by the J. Paul Getty Trust. This pooled fund—the largest ever one-time fund for the arts in Los Angeles —has invested nearly $43 million in strengthening the region’s arts ecosystem through the COVID-19 pandemic with the support of major contributors including The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Jerry and Terri Kohl, Perenchio Foundation, The Ahmanson Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The Rose Hills Foundation, The Music Man Foundation, Snap Foundation, Sony Pictures Entertainment & Sony Global Relief Fund, the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, The Weingart Foundation, and many others.

Launched in 2021 with a deep commitment to equity and access, the Fund provided multi-year general operating support grants to more than 90 small and mid-sized organizations, with particular attention to uplifting Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and other historically underfunded communities—an effort strengthened by Ford Foundation’s “America’s Cultural Treasures Regional Initiative” challenge grant, which specifically recognizes organizations that have made significant cultural impact despite historically limited resources. 

About the 2025 Grantees The following thirteen organizations and coalitions will be receiving grant awards:

Alliance for California Traditional Arts
Promotes cultural traditions by providing advocacy, resources, and connections for folk and traditional artists. Offers consulting and collaboration to strengthen traditional arts locally, across California, and at the national level.

Arts Council for Long Beach
Strengthens Long Beach neighborhoods by advancing the arts through advocacy, education, public art, and grantmaking.

Arts for Healing and Justice Network
An interdisciplinary collaborative providing arts programs to build resilience, reduce recidivism, and transform the juvenile justice system.

Arts for LA
Mobilizes communities, artists, and organizations to advocate for a more equitable and vibrant Los Angeles through arts education, affordable space, increased investment, and a diverse creative workforce.

Association of California Symphony Orchestras
Strengthens 130+ orchestras and music organizations through professional development, capacity building, advocacy, and connection to enhance their vitality and impact.

California Lawyers for the Arts
Empowers artists and creatives through education, legal resources, dispute resolution, and advocacy as well as job training with arts organizations for disadvantaged youth and adults.

Center for Cultural Innovation
Advances self-determination for artists and creative entrepreneurs through research, regranting, advocacy, and partnerships.

Create CA
Advocates for high-quality arts education for all students by providing policy expertise and mobilizing a statewide network of advocates and allied partners.

Fulcrum Arts Fosters collaboration between art and science to drive civic-scale social change via exhibitions, residencies, festivals, fiscal sponsorship, and education.

Los Angeles Visual Arts Coalition
A network of small to mid-sized visual arts nonprofits promoting mutual support through shared resources, fundraising, and collective advocacy.

Skid Row Arts Alliance
A coalition of artist-driven groups fostering community and amplifying Skid Row voices through collaborative arts projects.

Dance Resource Center of Greater LA
Strengthens, engages, empowers and connects Greater LA’s dance sector through visibility, infrastructure and technical assistance, information and resource sharing, networking and collaborations, and robust and nuanced programs.

Theatre Commons LA
A growing service organization building capacity to provide technical resources, advocacy, and convening power to support an inclusive, cohesive, and thriving LA theatre ecosystem.

For a list of past grantees and more information about the LA Arts Recovery Fund, visit: https://www.calfund.org/laartsfund

Media Contact: Peter Hong [email protected]

SOURCE California Community Foundation