County OKs $2.27 Million in Grants for the Arts

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission, largely shielded from county government’s budget crunch, has earmarked $2.27 million in grants for nonprofit cultural groups in 2002-03, a figure just shy of last year’s $2.35 million.

R. Renae Williams, grants manager for the arts commission, said the grants, which are intended to support day-to-day operations, amount to 3.4% less than was distributed last year. The county Board of Supervisors’ overall annual spending on the arts commission, which also advises arts groups and runs other cultural programs, Williams said, is expected to rise slightly: from $4.72 million in 2001-02 to a tentative $4.75 million for the 2002-03 fiscal year (July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2003).

To balance the county’s overall $16.3-billion budget, supervisors have looked at such options as restricting spending on health services, the Sheriff’s Department, welfare and other departments.

Arts grants will go to 196 organizations among a record 217 applicants, Williams said. She attributed the increase in applications to the commission’s campaign to seek out and encourage folk-arts organizations. Of 75 grant recipients with annual budgets of less than $100,000, Williams noted, 36 were first-time applicants. Two examples: the Rangoli Foundation for Art and Culture, a Sherman Oaks-based East Indian music and dance group that will receive $3,758 over two years; and the Venice-based Thai Community Arts and Cultural Center, which will receive $2,000 over two years.

The commission’s largest grant went to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, which will receive $107,730. The orchestra is one of 44 grant-recipient groups with annual budgets over $800,000.