Santa Monica : Arts Projects Get Grants

An art exhibition about AIDS is among 13 projects receiving grants totaling $25,000 from the city, officials announced.

The grants are part of the city’s Community Initiated Arts Program, which is in its fifth year. The program is designed to provide free arts programs and provide funding for nonprofit community groups.

Grants are awarded on the basis of artistic merit and community need, as well as the professional qualifications of applicants, according to Maria de Herrera, the city arts administrator.

The AIDS art exhibition, “Images of Hope: Latino Artists Against AIDS,” will be at the Santa Monica Museum of Art for two weeks. It is a collaboration of the UCLA Chicano Research Center, UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, UCLA Wight Art Gallery, Bienestar and the Abeytia-Canales/Balderas-Vasquez Fine Arts Consultants.

Other projects that received funds include performance art workshops, outdoor concerts by the New American Orchestra in conjunction with the Bike-A-Thon “Rhapsody on Wheels,” and design and architecture workshops for children by the Pico Neighborhood Assn. as part of the redevelopment of Virginia Park.