The Funding Is a 12% Increase in Recipients From the Last Cycle
By Zach Armstrong
The City of Santa Monica awarded 56 grants totaling $525,525 to local artists and arts organizations as part of an investment to bolster local access to arts and help local artists flourish.
The funding is an increase of 12% recipients from the last grants funding cycle. It also advances the recent priority of the city council to “Cultivating Economic Recovery and Expanding Community and Cultural Offerings” via investments in cultural amenities and programs.
“Santa Monica Cultural Affairs invests in people and programs that enrich our lives through the arts,” said Cultural Affairs Manager Sofia Klatzker in a release. “We do this by making public funding accessible for local arts organizations and individual artists who reflect and serve the diversity of people and experiences across the City. All of our grant programs are focused on supporting a healthy creative sector and prioritize equity and organizational sustainability. This is ultimately how we support the City’s resiliency—by building back and growing the creative economy.”
More than $400,000 was granted to the Organizational Support Program, which provides multiyear discretionary funding to Santa Monica-based arts and heritage nonprofits. 22 cultural agencies, which the city describes as the “most diverse grantee pool to date”, will receive funding through OSP.
Grants totaling $70,000 were given to 29 community programs through the Community Access & Participation program. The CAP grant program has two funding categories. The Community Access & Participation category supports heritage experiences. The Building the Future category supports programs that engage local youth. CAP has a Latino funding priority aimed at growing diversity in funded programs for Santa Monica’s Latino community. Seven of the 29 programs met the Latino priority.
$15,800 was awarded to five artists through the Artist Fellowship Program. Two are Fellowship grants, in the discipline of literary and performance arts, given to writer and poet Cynthia Alessandra Briano and choreographer and interdisciplinary artist Ann Carlson. Three are Project Fellowship grants given to digital media artist Lola del Fresno, writer Mia Alvar and choreographer Suchi Branfman.
