West Hollywood Awards $344K In Arts Grants

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA — The city has awarded $344,000 in arts grants to 38 new recipients and 10 continuing recipients to support projects serving the local community, officials announced Tuesday.

Recipients of the 2027-28 Special Arts Project Grant are One Institute, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Tierra del Sol Foundation, The New Arts Foundation, Emer Kinsella, Lena Chen, Blue 13 Dance Company Inc., Dancessence Inc., Ana-Marija Stojic, Anthony Cardella, NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, Rogue Artists Ensemble, Brockus Project Dance Company, Versa-Style Dance Company, Whitney Weston Stein and Autumn Breon.

The City Council approved the awards Nov. 2 following peer panel reviews and funding recommendations from the West Hollywood Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission. The city received 151 applications across a range of arts disciplines, officials said.

Established in 1997, the Arts Grant Program supports Los Angeles County artists and nonprofit arts organizations presenting work in WeHo. Funding helps recipients offer free or low-cost programming and develop new projects, city officials said.

The 2027 awards include a two-year grant supporting large-scale projects tied to the city’s Creative Plan and cultural programming during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Public programming must take place between March and September 2028, officials said.

Recipients who fulfill grant requirements will receive the same award amount in 2028.

According to the city, the Community Arts Grant supports organizations with a history of serving Black, Indigenous and people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer communities as well as female artists and audiences.

Recipients are The Grey Administration, Rogue Machine Theatre, Naomi Bustamante, Dawn Smith, Street Poets Inc., Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, Saint Remy Arts & Culture, Seanna Latiff and Kindra Windish.

Sharzad Kiadeh and Venkatesh Potula received awards through the pilot Filmmakers Grant, which helps filmmakers exhibit and distribute completed projects. Eligible expenses include distribution consultants, film festival submission fees and marketing materials, according to the city.

The Transgender, Gender Diverse, Intersex Arts Grant supports the presentation of work by transgender artists, collectives and organizations with a history of supporting transgender artists. Recipients this year are Plead the Fifth, Yozmit The DogStar, Trans Stories, Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, Jordin Dearinger and Mars Wright. The grant category began in 2013.

Five West Hollywood residents received WeHo Artist Grants, which support artists’ long-term creative and professional development. They are Toi’ya Leatherwood, Matthew Scott Montgomery, Sean Hemeon, Amy Stretten and Dan Monteavaro.

Ten recipients will continue into their second year of programming under multiyear grants: West Coast Singers, Greenway Arts Alliance, Pride Poets, Banjee Ball Foundation, Helix Collective, LA Contemporary Exhibitions, Heidi Duckler Dance, Prism Comics, MashUp Contemporary Dance and Southeast European Film Festival.

More information is available at weho.org/arts or by contacting Eva Angeloff, the city’s arts grants coordinator, at 323-848-6354 or eangeloff@weho.org.