A Little Inspiration for Artists

Los Angeles, for years lagging behind other major cities in its support for the arts, is starting to come into its own with the most recent award of nearly $1 million in grants to artists. And most encouraging, for the first time the endowment is recognizing not only well-established artists already showcased in local theaters and galleries, but the stars of tomorrow who are working out of garages and warehouses--and sometimes getting by on little more than inspiration and hope.

Since the endowment was established by the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Tom Bradley last year, it has dispersed $4.5 million in grants to the singers, dancers, actors, painters and poets whose aesthetic expressions lend beauty, richness and gentility to the often harsh realities of city life.

Not that an artistic utopia is here yet--far from it. The endowment’s funding process is still taking shape. Some Southland artists argue that the city should give larger grants to a few instead of a few thousand dollars to many. Certainly the option of awarding fewer artists more meaningful sums should be discussed.

Nonetheless, the endowment is now really an important player in the art community--thanks in no small part to the persistent efforts of Councilman Joel Wachs, who is the council’s leading champion of the arts, and Al Nodal, the former director of exhibitions at Otis/Parsons Art Institute, who last year took over a deeply troubled cultural affairs department and infused it with new credibility and commitment to multicultural art.

The endowment has been a boost for what one council member called the “artistic oddballs who may in fact be the Impressionists of tomorrow.” At a time when some publicly funded arts programs are being scaled back and even under attack by ideologues, Los Angeles is beginning to support its artists, as cultural historian and city planner Lewis Mumford said many years ago, in their “special task and duty: The task of reminding men of their humanity and the promise of their creativity.”