Arts Orange County Bestows $110,000 in Grants

It’s only $2,500, but Huntington Beach artist Anna Friesen, 52, was deeply moved over winning her first grant.

“People think an artist brings a political agenda or a personal aesthetic to a community, but we really bring the energy of hope,” Friesen said. “This validates hope.”

Friesen will use the grant to create large-scale photographs for a 1999 solo exhibition at the Huntington Beach Art Center. It is one of 23 awards totaling $110,000 announced Wednesday by Arts Orange County in the 3-year-old countywide arts council’s inaugural round of annual grants to individual artists and art and cultural organizations.

Ranging from $750 to $15,000, the funds are intended to support organizational projects, such as exhibitions or festivals, work by individual artists like Friesen, and educational programs--which received the lion’s share of the awards--in an effort to strengthen collaborations among arts groups, artists and schools.

The recipients were chosen by peer panels whose decisions were approved by Arts O.C.’s board of directors. The awards constitute the first centralized cultural grant disbursement program in county history, according to the Irvine-based nonprofit council.

Funding for this year’s grants was provided by the James Irvine and the Margaret E. Oser foundations, both of which have a history of supporting the arts.

Pacific Symphony won the only $15,000 grant for its Class Act elementary school outreach program. Imagination Celebration, the annual countywide youth arts festival, received the second-largest amount, $10,000. Other recipients and their grant amounts:

Arts Organization Projects

All American Boys Chorus ($3,700); Alternative Repertory Theatre ($2,500); Ballet Pacifica ($5,000); Discovery Museum of Orange County ($2,500); Huntington Beach Art Center ($3,700); Laguna Playhouse ($5,000); Once Upon a Story ($2,600).

Arts Education Programs and Projects

Anaheim Ballet ($3,750); Art Institute of Southern California ($5,500); Fullerton Museum Center ($7,500); Irvine Youth Symphony ($3,000); Orange County Museum of Art ($5,000); Orange County Performing Arts Center ($3,500); Pacific Chorale ($5,500); Philharmonic Society of Orange County ($5,500); Placentia-Yorba Linda Educational Foundation ($4,000); San Clemente Community Theatre ($750); Stop-Gap ($6,000); UC Irvine School for the Arts ($5,000).

Individual Artist Projects (disciplines will vary annually)

Friesen ($2,500); Molly Lynch, choreographer ($2,500).