Foundations and Arts Organizations Create $12M Emergency Relief Fund for Arts Community Impacted by Los Angeles Fires

A coalition of major arts organizations and philanthropists in Los Angeles led by the J. Paul Getty Trust, including the Mohn Art Collective joined with the Mellon Foundation, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Qatar Museums, Ford Foundation, and other national and international institutions to announce the creation of the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, an emergency relief fund for artists and arts workers in all disciplines who have lost residences, studios, or livelihoods or have otherwise been impacted by the devastating Los Angeles fires. The fund will be administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation, a longstanding intermediary providing funding, advocacy, and research support on behalf of individuals in the arts.

The LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund has launched with $12 million and is continuing to grow in response to the severe need. An expanding list of generous individuals, foundations, and corporations includes Karyn Kohl, Terri and Jerry Kohl, Trellis Art Fund, Teiger Foundation, Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg/The Hearthland Foundation, Maria Seferian, Arison Arts Foundation, Snap Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, The Broad Art Foundation, Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, the Smidt Family Foundation, the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, Terra Foundation for American Art, the California Community Foundation, Kraus Family Foundation, Howard and Nancy Marks Charitable Foundation, the A&L Berg Foundation, The Willem de Kooning Foundation, Jane Hait and Justin Beal, Joan Mitchell Foundation, The David Hockney Foundation, Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Frieze, Michael Asher Foundation, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Sam Francis Foundation, Artadia, Jay DeFeo Foundation, and The Carolee Schneemann Foundation.

To join the coalition and partner in this initiative, please visit here.

Recognized internationally as a thriving center for all aspects of the arts, Los Angeles has an exceptionally diverse and vibrant community of artists, arts workers, and related professionals. They have been gravely affected as the ongoing fires have destroyed residences, studios, archives, artworks, and places of employment, striking a blow at thousands of individuals and the creative economy of Los Angeles and its region.

Beginning Monday, January 20, artists and arts workers in all disciplines who have been impacted by the fires can go to http://www.cciarts.org to apply for an emergency grant. The process is being designed with an understanding of the need to get funds to impacted individuals as rapidly as possible. As the situation evolves, funds raised may eventually be applied to longer-term needs.

The LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund is one of several fundraising efforts in Los Angeles and across the nation, which include the artist-initiated Art World Fire Relief LA GoFundMe campaign, the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to Support Music Professionals of the Recording Academy and MusiCares, the We Are Moving the Needle Microgrants: Wildfire Relief Fund, the Entertainment Community Fund, and the Motion Picture Television Fund.

“People around the world are watching in horror as vast areas of Los Angeles burn, but this regional tragedy has global cultural repercussions,” says Katherine E. Fleming, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. “Amid the losses suffered by the artists and arts workers who so strongly define LA, Getty is grateful to the many partners, local, national, and international, who have come together to meet the urgent needs of this community.” 

Lise Motherwell, Chair, and Clifford Ross, President, of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation’s Board of Directors, said, “The fires ravaging Los Angeles exemplify the devastating impacts of climate change that affect us all. With a history of supporting artist relief efforts and an ongoing commitment to advancing climate action in the arts, the Foundation joins the Getty at this critical time to offer our resources to LA’s arts and cultural community.”

“Far beyond its borders, the city of Los Angeles shapes our collective consciousness as a locus of astonishing imaginative power and artistic ingenuity,” said Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation. “Its people include artists, culture makers, performers, and workers in the arts writ large—and its people need the nation’s immediate support. We will stand by Angelenos in the arts in this time of loss and devastation. Mellon is honored to join with the Getty Trust and Center for Cultural Innovation in launching this crucial fund, and to embolden others to do the same.”

In a joint statement, the Mohn Art Collective said, “Los Angeles is home to one of the world’s most prolific and creative group of artists and people working to support our many artists, galleries, and art institutions. In particular, the fire-ravaged neighborhoods in Altadena are long-time home to an astounding concentration of artists and art workers. Our local spirit of collaboration is being evidenced right now. And we're immensely grateful to those outside LA offering support.”

Joel Wachs, President of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, said, “Los Angeles still feels like home to me, despite my years away from it, and LA’s artists in many ways remain my community. Contributing to the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund is an expression of the Warhol Foundation’s mission of responding to the needs of artists and is also a moral imperative for those like us who recognize the critical importance of Los Angeles to the world of the arts.”

H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums and a Trustee of LACMA, said, “It is the essence of the arts to connect cultures and bring people together. At Qatar Museums, we welcome this opportunity to join with so many others in helping the people of Los Angeles’s great arts community.”

Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, said, “We stand with Los Angeles’s artistic community and are proud to help launch this effort to uplift artists and arts workers across creative disciplines during this critical moment. The LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund expands on the emergency arts funding infrastructure and networks built during the pandemic. The moment demands strengthened collaboration, and we invite fellow funders to join us in growing this vital initiative to support all impacted artists. We share the fund's commitment to disability inclusion, recognizing this crisis has disproportionately impacted disabled lives.”