Getty Creates $10M COVID-19 Relief Fund For Museums, Visual Arts In LA

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The J. Paul Getty Trust will create a $10 million COVID-19 relief fund to support Los Angeles-based nonprofit museums and visual arts organizations, its Board of Trustees announced Thursday.

The fund, to be administered by the California Community Foundation, will provide emergency operating support and recovery grants to small and mid-size organizations located in L.A. County and will focus on museums and arts nonprofits.

The CCF Fellowships for Visual Artists that launched more than 30 years ago will be repurposed this year to provide emergency support to visual artists.

"Over the last 20 years, Los Angeles has become one of the most vibrant, diverse and relevant visual arts centers in the world, and we want to
be certain that the region is able to remain a global arts leader,'' said Getty President James Cuno.

"Getty has been proud to play a role in this coming of age by leading the Pacific Standard Time regional arts collaboration. And at this juncture, we are moved by a sense of responsibility to support many of those same organizations as they struggle with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic fallout,'' Cuno said.

Getty Board Chair David Lee said the board "offers its resounding support of this measure and encourages other local leaders and arts lovers to join us in this effort. Los Angeles is unique in the willingness of the arts sector to collaborate, and the current crisis gives those who are in a position to help the opportunity to band together and do even more for the cultural institutions and artists that drive our region's creative economy.''

Grant details are said to be finalized in the coming days.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)