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For Immediate Release

LA County Support for the Arts is Largest by Any County in the United States

(Washington, D.C.) - Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading arts advocacy organization, awarded its 2001 County Arts Leadership Award to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at an August 14 board meeting held in Los Angeles. Nominated by Laura Zucker, executive director of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the five County Supervisors honored were Gloria Molina (1st District), Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (2nd District), Zev Yaroslavsky (3rd District), Don Knabe (4th District) and Michael D. Antonovich (5th District). Support for the arts in Los Angeles County exceeds $35 million annually - the largest amount by any county in the country.

"The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is an extraordinary example of how integration of the arts into a community greatly benefits its citizens," said Bob Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. "With increased support for the arts everywhere, our country will become a more diverse, prosperous, and enriching place to live."

"We’re honored to receive this prestigious award from Americans for the Arts," said Michael D. Antonovich, mayor of Los Angeles County. "We hope our success will encourage and inspire other communities across the country to invest in their arts programs."

Under the Board’s leadership, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s budget has increased from almost $900,000 in 1992 to more than $5 million in 2001. In addition, grant allocations for local arts initiatives and programs have tripled since 1992.

The Board has established numerous community improvement initiatives and grant programs to benefit the arts through the years. In 1926 it designated the Hollywood Bowl, a County Regional Park, as a summer home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Over the past decade, the Board has allocated more than $25 million to fund capital improvements to the Bowl and the Ford Amphitheatre to meet modern production standards and ensure access for the disabled.

Among the Board’s other accomplishments is the donation of land for three projects-the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Music Center of Los Angeles County in the 1960s, and Disney Hall in the 1990s. The Board also provided critical leadership to complete funding for the Frank Gehry-designed landmark symphony hall and provided a $95 million parking garage in 1997.

The Board provided leadership to create and fund the Los Angeles County Arts Internship Program in 1999, and the Arts Commission later partnered with the J. Paul Getty Trust to jointly award more than $1 million for visual, performing, and literary arts summer internships throughout the county. The Los Angeles County portion of the program awarded almost $520,000 to fund 127 internships at 66 performing arts organizations last year.

Through the County’s Productivity Investment Fund, the Board funded the creation of an Arts Education Hub in partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education that works to implement sequential arts education in all K-12 public schools in the county. The Hub will reach 1.7 million children, accounting for 3.4 percent of children in public schools in the country.

In addition to direct monetary support, the Board also provides access to the arts for county residents through transportation funds to provide park and ride shuttles to the Hollywood Bowl and Ford Amphitheatre, as well as transportation to museums and performing arts events for county youth and senior citizens.

The second oldest local arts agency in California, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission was created in 1947 by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to foster excellence, diversity, vitality, and accessibility of the arts throughout the county. The Commission plays a leadership role in cultural services for the county by providing information and resources to the community, individual artists, arts organizations and municipalities. There are more than 1,000 arts organizations and 150,000 working artists in Los Angeles County, creating the largest concentration of arts activity in the United States.

Americans for the Arts established the County Arts Leadership Award in 1999 to recognize the positive role county governments play in improving arts programs, increasing funding to the arts, and making the arts accessible in their communities. Past recipients include County Commissioner Park Helms of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina; and County Commissioner Betty Lou Ward of Wake County, North Carolina.