Major museums such as the Getty Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, along with philanthropists such as Qatar's Sheikh Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and foundations such as Steven Spielberg, are involved in the California earthquake. raised $12 million for a fund to support artists affected by the Wildfire.
“LA is a vibrant arts culture. We don't want it to hit rock bottom, we don't want artists who have lost something to pick themselves up and leave, and we don't want people to forget about them.” said Catherine. E. Fleming, Chief Executive Officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust. “When we asked people to participate, it was like pushing an open door.”
The initiative, called the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, will support “artists and arts workers from all walks of life who have lost their homes, studios, livelihoods, or otherwise been affected by the devastating Los Angeles fires.” The group said it aims to.
The fund will be managed by the Arts Support Organization Cultural Innovation Center. Applications will be accepted starting Monday at the center or through Getty.
Other funding efforts for artists are being done in more grassroots ways through GoFundMe pages, donation centers, and Google Docs.
Contributors include the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. East West Bank; Ford Foundation. The Mohn Art Collective is comprised of LACMA, Hammer, and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.
“This is an incredibly vibrant, complex, beautiful, and quintessentially multicultural place in America,” Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander said of Los Angeles. “As soon as these tragic fires started happening, we heard amazing stories from people and it became clear that we needed to help.”
“We don't yet know the full scale of what the losses will be from an artistic and archival standpoint,” she added. “It's clear this is just stage one.”
Participating organizations include director George Lucas' Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. Spielberg and Kate Capshaw's Hersland Foundation. Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and A&L Berg Foundation.
Two of the world's largest galleries, Gagosian and Hauser & Wirth, have joined forces.
“This collaborative spirit was immediately activated,” said Michael Govan, LACMA Director and CEO. “It's kind of groundbreaking that LA, which was so scattered, is coming together so quickly. I don't know if there's any precedent for that.”
