Media Contact: Rhonda Mitchell
Public Information Director
City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
rhonda.mitchell@lacity.org
DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS ANNOUNCE COVID-19 ARTS EMERGENCY FUND FOR PERFORMING ARTISTS AND ENSEMBLES IN DANCE, MUSIC, AND THEATRE
Round-one of emergency relief grants for artists with scheduled events that were to take place within the City of Los Angeles and open to the general public.
LOS ANGELES, CA – COVID-19 has had an unanticipated impact on Los Angeles artists and small arts groups who had planned public performances, only to have those events canceled in a city-wide effort to slow the spread of the virus. The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) and Community Partners aim to provide relief to this spectrum of LA based performing artists who were financially affected by this disruption through round-one of this emergency grant relief opportunity.
This emergency relief grant is open to performing artists and small ensembles in dance, music, and theater who planned performances, shows, or concerts within the City of Los Angeles and open to the general public that had to be later canceled due to COVID-19.
“Together with Community Partners, the Department of Cultural Affairs is responding to this public health crisis by reallocating funding through a micro granting process for artists to recoup a portion of their lost wages from cancellations due to COVID-19, said Danielle Brazell, DCA General Manager. “DCA will continue to actively seek additional partners and resources to provide relief and support to as many different artists as possible during this crisis.”
Solo artists may request up to $400 and ensembles may request up to $1,200. Funding in this first round is focused on artists and groups who were headlining an entire event. Given the modest amount of funds, artists and ensembles who were scheduled to perform at a festival, in any private engagement, or within a limited teaching exchange are not eligible.
Eligible events should have been publically advertised and scheduled to take place between March 16, 2020 and May 16, 2020 at an address within the City of Los Angeles, and must have been canceled or postponed until after August 30, 2020.
Eligibility
DCA is working to identify additional resources to benefit as many different artists as possible. Professional dance, music, and theater solo artists, as well as small ensembles who designate a single individual to represent the group can apply. Applicants may not be high school or college students performing projects for school accreditation.
Artists who are currently getting assistance from the Actors Fund, Behind the Scenes, Dance Resource Center, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Community Services AFL-CIO, Motion Picture & Television Fund, SAG/AFTRA, or Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation may not request DCA funding relief.
For a complete list of eligibility requirements, instructions on the application process, and the timeline for application and approvals, please visit: https://culturela.org/grants-and-calls/aer-fund/. The deadline to submit your application (one per person, event, and venue) is Friday, May 1, 2020 by 11:59 p.m. Once DCA receives 450 eligible proposals, a round-one lottery will determine who is supported and the standard allocation for each grant. Applications received after the 450th submission, as well as proposals not supported in round one, will be rolled into any future rounds of this relief fund.
Applicants who fulfill all program eligibility requirements will be placed in an eligible pool, from which proposed grantees will be selected via random lottery until all round one funding is exhausted.
A list of names and allocated grant amounts will be presented to the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission for review and final approval in early May, 2020. DCA will notify applicants of their funding status before May 31, 2020. Payments will come from the Community Partners who will solicit W-9 forms and disperse checks.
DCA will notify applicants of their funding status before May 31, 2020.
About the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA)
As a leading, progressive arts and cultural agency, DCA empowers Los Angeles’ vibrant communities by supporting and providing access to quality visual, literary, musical, performing, and educational arts programming; managing vital cultural centers; preserving historic sites; creating public art; and funding services provided by arts organizations and individual artists.
Formed in 1925, DCA promotes arts and culture as a way to ignite a powerful dialogue, engage LA’s residents and visitors, and ensure LA’s varied cultures are recognized, acknowledged, and experienced. DCA’s mission is to strengthen the quality of life in Los Angeles by stimulating and supporting arts and cultural activities, ensuring public access to the arts for residents and visitors alike.
DCA advances the social and economic impact of arts and culture through grant-making, public art, community arts, and strategic marketing and development. DCA creates and supports arts programming, maximizing relationships with other city agencies, artists, and arts and cultural nonprofit organizations to provide excellent service in neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles.
For more information, please visit culturela.org or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/culturela; Instagram @culture_la; and Twitter @culture_la.
About Community Partners
Community Partners offers expert guidance and essential services to help foster, launch, and grow creative solutions to community challenges. For more than 25 years, hundreds of individuals, groups, foundations, and other institutions have worked with Community Partners to create new nonprofit projects, establish coalitions, and manage major philanthropic initiatives to benefit the region.
Community Partners’ mission is to accelerate ideas into action to advance the public good through fiscal sponsorship, intermediary services, and knowledge sharing. Community Partners supports close to 200 of those creative solutions. Taken together, these efforts offer a panoramic view of social innovation taking place across the region and beyond. Community Partners projects are using the arts to build self-esteem among young women, helping disadvantaged students achieve their dreams for college, addressing food justice, tackling obesity, and much more.