I wish all of you a Happy New Year! We are happy to share that Creative Recovery LA, our grant initiative that directs over $26 million in American Rescue Plan funds to local arts nonprofits, is well underway. There are a few remaining workshops designed to assist applicants, opportunities for office hours, and lots of resources on our website. The application is open now, and closes February 15.

The final newsletter of the year is an opportunity both to reflect and to look forward to the new year. Perhaps most urgently for the field, we are getting ready to open applications to Creative Recovery LA in January. In this unprecedented funding investment, we will award over $26 million in American Rescue Plan funds to deliver financial relief and recovery to the LA County nonprofit arts and culture sector. It is an incredible opportunity for local nonprofits, with an equity lens, and I am proud of our team working to deliver public funding for the arts where it's needed most. Help us spread the word.

This year, the Department of Arts and Culture celebrates its 75th anniversary. We started as the Music Commission created by the Board of Supervisors back in 1947, and over 75 years we've grown alongside—and often in response to the needs of—Los Angeles County’s dynamic arts and culture landscape. I thank Chair Holly Mitchell and Board of Supervisors for recognizing this milestone and five honorees.

There are exciting changes at the LA County Department of Arts and Culture! In the County, the budget process has several phases. This fall, the Board of Supervisors passed the Supplemental Budget with great news for arts and culture—we are thrilled to receive our budget request in full, and then some, including six new staff positions in our Research and Evaluation, Civic Art, Communications, and Grants divisions, as well as a new Arts Commission Manager role. Each of these new roles will advance equity in the arts in the Department and help us get more programs, opportunities, announcements, and data to you our cultural community. I am thankful this Board wants to invest in arts, culture, and creativity, and I am also very grateful for our wonderful Arts Commissioners and their tireless advocacy during the budget process.

It is a busy time of year for all of our divisions, as you can see in the updates below. Our Civic Art Division’s Illuminate LA initiative launched this month, with a first panel, "Current State of Monuments." Three of our grant programs are open, and we have been thrilled to get queries from organizations that have never applied before. We are also getting ready to for the I.D.E.A. WAVE workshops for education practitioners next month.

I write with huge pride and excitement with the news that the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion by Supervisors Solis and Kuehl to adopt the Cultural Policy Strategic Plan! As you may have read in earlier dispatches, this is an important next step in our ongoing work to expand cultural equity and access across LA County. Once again, thank you for you for input and advocacy. Please check out our press release in the body of this newsletter.

In this month's newsletter, we are thrilled to share the Countywide Cultural Policy Strategic Plan for Los Angeles County. I am grateful to Supervisors Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl, who directed us to develop a plan to implement the Cultural Policy, and to our community for your input, advocacy, and participation. We will share updates soon…

We first acknowledge last month's Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month which we celebrated by uplifting a few of the many remarkable artists and organizations of the AAPI community. We also acknowledge May as Jewish American Heritage Month, as well as June as Pride Month, and recognize all of the rich cultural diversity we have the honor of engaging through the arts here in Los Angeles County—year round. Looking ahead, we are excited to continue to expand our work catalyzing cross-sector arts collaboration to advance equity across civic life.