CALIFORNIA—Each year, California Assemblymembers and State Senators are invited to honor a Nonprofit of the Year for their district.
Under the direction of CFTA Board Member Josiah Bruny, California District 31 Senator Richard Roth has honored Music Changing Lives as the 2021 nonprofit of the year.
NATIONAL—Alma Robinson is the Executive Director of California Lawyers for the Arts, where she leads a multi-faceted, statewide organization with offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Berkeley. While overseeing CLA’s legal referral, education, advocacy, and alternative dispute resolution programs, she has led several groundbreaking initiatives including the Arts-in-Corrections Initiative, a collaborative effort that resulted in an initial two-year $2.5 million contract between the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Arts Council for arts programs in 20 California prisons in 2014.
ORANGE COUNTY—Thirteen months after the Segerstrom Center for the Arts halls lay shuttered and dormant by the COVID-19 pandemic, an 18-member corps of American Ballet Theatre dancers jump-started programming in front of live audiences Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
FONTANA—“Providing more high quality and affordable arts programming in our communities would really help to both nurture the amazing, innate creative abilities of so many and to develop the next generation of creative change makers not only in our Inland Empire, but in the world at large,” she said.
LOS ANGELES—The Music Center in downtown Los Angeles is expected to announce Thursday that it is the first performing arts organization in the country to receive a UL “healthy building” verification, representing high standards for air quality at four venues — Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre.
LOS ANGELES— “We need to find a different way to fund the arts, because at this moment … multiple arts agencies across Los Angeles are fighting to keep their budgets in place,” said another speaker Gustavo Herrera, executive director of Arts for LA, an organization that advocates for equitable access to the arts. “And these are the organizations that are most connected to the community, and if we can’t get our local arts agencies funding to be able to continue to support the arts workers, then how can we call ourselves the creative capital of the world?”
DUBLIN— During the discussion Rachel Osajima, Director of the Alameda County Arts Commission reported that yesterday she accepted the proclamation from the Board of Supervisors that we celebrate March as Art IS Education Month and April as Arts, Culture and Creativity Month.
HOLLISTER— Organizations like Californians for the Arts, where Arts Council Executive Director Jennifer Laine serves as a board member and co-chair of the Programs Committee, is working with elected officials to develop reopening guidelines for the arts sector and also on several initiatives to activate and employ creative industries in service of public health and other public-led campaigns.
SAN DIEGO— Riding the edge of the cusp between comfort and resistance positions you to build resilience and keep the learning process at the forefront of your experience. The experience of COVID19 puts this practice into ‘normal’ operations. Businesses literally cannot do what they have always done. Risk taking now is inspiring innovation in all aspects from planning to implementation.
“The Arts Relief Grant Program for Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations supports the role that arts play in getting us through this pandemic,” said Rachel Osajima, ACAC director. “They’re also an important part of our economy. One out of ten jobs in California are connected to the arts industry.”
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