Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles Awarded California Arts Council Arts Education Exposure Grant
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles Awarded California Arts Council Arts Education Exposure Grant
State funds support the enhancement and expansion of the Arts Programming at two Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles Clubhouses: Bell Gardens & Watts Willowbrook.
Los Angeles, CA
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Today the California Arts Council announced a grant award of $19,000 to Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles as part of its Arts Education Exposure program.
With funding from the California Arts Council, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles will support the Art Programming at Bell Gardens & Watts Willowbrook Clubhouses. The Clubhouses will be able to take even more kids on high-quality and impactful field trips and off-site excursions to LA’s premiere cultural institutions, exhibits and performances. Each Club site will host at least four field trips, with up to 50 youth participating in each trip. At least 100 different children and teens will be impacted by these off-site excursions.
Presently, Watts/Willowbrook hosts a teen photography class and a hands-on arts and crafts course for all ages. A Michaels (craft stores) MAKE Space grant recipient, Bell Gardens has a newly renovated Arts and Crafts room where the Club hosts a number of arts and crafts programming.
“We are immensely grateful for the California Arts Council’s generous support of arts education and programming at our Bell Gardens and Watts/Willowbrook Clubhouses,” said Karen Pointer, Chair of the Board of Directors of Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles. “Arts education should be a part of every child’s world of possibility. Art is fuel for imagination and a source of passion. The most effective way to understand art is to experience it many forms up close and in person. Museums, exhibits and other art-filed spaces are wormholes to other worlds where ideas, beauty and truths are on vivid display. The California Arts Council’s grant will help ensure our youth are able to peek through the wormholes to experience firsthand the depth, sparkle and boundless creativity in artistic expression.”
Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council of more than 1,500 grants awarded to nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state for their work in support of the agency’s mission to strengthen arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. The investment of nearly $30 million marks a more than $5 million increase over the previous fiscal year, and the largest in California Arts Council history.
Organizations were awarded grants across 15 different program areas addressing access, equity, and inclusion; community vibrancy; and arts learning and engagement; and directly benefiting our state's communities, with youth, veterans, returned citizens, and California's historically marginalized communities key among them. Successful projects aligned closely with the agency's vision of a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Arts Council recognizes that some grantees may need to postpone, modify, or cancel their planned activities supported by CAC funds, due to state and local public health guidelines. The state arts agency is prioritizing flexibility in addressing these changes and supporting appropriate solutions for grantees.
"Creativity sits at the very heart of our identity as Californians and as a people. In this unprecedented moment, the need to understand, endure, and transcend our lived experiences through arts and culture is all the more relevant for each of us,” said Nashormeh Lindo, Chair of the California Arts Council. “The California Arts Council is proud to be able to offer more support through our grant programs than ever before, at a time when our communities’ need is perhaps greater than ever before. These grants will support immediate and lasting community impact by investing in arts businesses and cultural workers across the state.”
The mission of Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles (BGCMLA) is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring and responsible citizens. Committed to sustainable impact, BGCMLA is the result of a partnership unifying Los Angeles’ Boys and Girls Clubs that have been serving youth in the region’s most vulnerable neighborhoods since 1960 including Challengers, Watts/Willowbrook, Bell Gardens, Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens. BGCMLA offers nationally-recognized programs in three core areas to ensure the achievement and empowerment of youth and their families: Academic Success, Good Character and Citizenship and Healthy Lifestyles.
The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. It supports local arts infrastructure and programming statewide through grants, initiatives, and services. The California Arts Council envisions a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts.
Members of the California Arts Council include: Chair Nashormeh Lindo, Vice Chair Jaime Galli, Larry Baza, Lilia Gonzales Chavez, Jodie Evans, Kathleen Gallegos, Stanlee Gatti, Donn K. Harris, Alex Israel, Consuelo Montoya, and Jonathan Moscone. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.
The California Arts Council is committed to increasing the accessibility of its online content. For language and accessibility assistance, visit http://arts.ca.gov/aboutus/language.php.
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