Yes, the arts are alive! Welcome to the first column brought to you by Culver City’s Cultural Affairs Commission and Cultural Affairs Foundation. Presenting regular updates, this joint effort shares our common mission as volunteers and advocates – to inform, to engage, and to inspire the neighborhoods and generations, throughout the five-mile spread that is Culver City.
No doubt, Harry Culver, Culver City’s visionary founder, would be pleased with the progress that “The Heart of Screenland” has made since its incorporation in 1917. Nearing its Centennial, a rich film legacy and historical archive exist to shape our experiences by way of artifacts, stories and songs.
Ever find yourself warbling “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” when noting the colorful arc — artist Tony Tasset’s homage to “The Wizard of Oz” that inhabits Sony Studio’s airspace? Or, perhaps, pondering Prohibition-era Jazz and Louis Armstrong (who lived on Culver City’s Wade Street in the 1930s), while imbibing at a local pub, it’s a spirited round of “When the Saints Go Marching In!”
Today’s offerings also include a public art collection nearing 100 pieces, landmark buildings – facilities re-purposed as performance venues and museums, a vibrant arts district and a growing creative economy. Fortunate are we that the Culver City Historical Society exists to help put this all in perspective (as our local heritage actually reaches back through centuries).
A debt of gratitude is owed to our cultural pioneers, including those comprising the City’s Arts Committee in 1988 (when Culver City’s Art in Public Places Ordinance was adopted) – and to those that have carried the baton forward since 2001, when the Cultural Affairs Commission was established as an advisory body to the City Council. Through budgetary feasts and famines, Commissioners’ efforts have contributed to public art, historic preservation, cultural planning, performance arts grants, and more.
This month’s columnist has had the pleasure to serve on the Performing Arts Grants Subcommittee, along with fellow Commissioner John B. Williams, and to participate in the City’s annual review process. Since 1994, grant recipients – all non-profit arts organizations, ensure accessible, affordable performances in Culver City. In all, 17 grantees received awards in the new funding cycle, which provided a total allocation of $65,000, made possible by Culver City’s Cultural Trust Fund with additional support from Sony Pictures Entertainment.
April’s sponsored performances begin on the dates below (see websites for details):
April 24 VOX Femina Los Angeles at C.C. Presbyterian: www.voxfemina.org
April 24 to May 22 Center Theatre Group’s “Endgame” at The Kirk Douglas Theatre: www.centertheatregroup.org
