January declared L.A. Arts Month to promote local artistry
Chris Schmitt Photography
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks at an L.A. Arts Month event. L.A. Arts Month is now in its second year.
By Rei Estrada
Jan. 12, 2010 9:00 p.m.
When you’re surrounded by the Hollywood Hills, dozens of museums and hundreds of artists and actors, it’s easy to take Los Angeles’s artistic history and presence for granted. Angeleno artists and friends of the arts are hoping to reawaken the public eye this year by declaring this January as L.A. Arts Month.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa officially launched L.A. Arts Month Tuesday at the REDCAT, where he stressed the importance of the arts in Los Angeles.
He was joined by Councilmember Tom LaBonge and Olga Garay, Department of Cultural Affairs executive director, as well as figures like Ford W. Bell, president of the American Association of Museums and artists like Alec Mapa, an actor whose credits include “Ugly Betty” and “Desperate Housewives”.
Now in its second year, L.A. Arts Month continues to reach out and unite the artistic community of Los Angeles, acting as a public hub for art events across the city.
Arts Month has seen significant growth since its freshman year, drawing many more tent-pole events, with some artists even moving their events to coincide with L.A. Arts Month.
“Everyone’s out there kind of doing their own marketing. If we could get everyone to still do that, but then also have a united voice, how great would that be?” said Kim Martindale, co-chair of L.A. Arts Month. “Maybe a lot more people that don’t pay attention to the arts in their daily life, maybe these people would hear about the arts, and it would spark some interest and create that critical mass that would help propel art in Los Angeles.”
The program allows for artists to submit their events to the city, where upon approval by a small committee, they are posted online at the L.A. Arts Month Web site.
The myriad of events that have already been listed by artists all over the city speaks to the large artistic presence in the city, whether it be visual or performing, musical or spoken word, dramatic or comedic.
“Art is something that feeds a part of us that nothing else can, and I think that it’s important that that part of us ““ whatever you want to call it, our soul, our psyche ““ is fed with art,” said Martindale.
The artistic community also fuels much of the workforce in Los Angeles, providing jobs in not just the Hollywood film and television industry but in the visual and performing arts housed in the dozens of Los Angeles museums and theaters.
“The goal of L.A. Arts Month is to create more awareness about visual and performing arts institutes in Los Angeles and throughout the city,” said Rob Hartwig, second co-chair of Los Angeles Arts Month. “L.A. is a city that is often called the creative capital of America. So many of our jobs rely on creativity.”
L.A. Arts Month also aims to recapture the attention of Angelenos who so often tend to overlook the art scene in their own city, garnering attention from the inside out.
“L.A. residents aren’t as loyal as other communities. Arts Month is an attempt to turn up the heat,” said Hartwig. “There are so many competing interests in our lives. … Arts Month gives us a chance to focus and raise visibility.”
