I was writing about a contraction in arts funding when the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out, incinerating the entire neighborhood in the hill above Malibu, along with any number of prized artworks once held in those homes, and the diverse, thriving artists’ community in Altadena. The fires hit the homes of artists and collectors, art dealers and curators, writers, actors and other art professionals. Palisades resident, art collector and gallerist Ron Rivlin lost some 200 pieces of art, including about 30 works by Andy Warhol, as well as others by Damien Hirst, John Baldessari and Kenny Scharf, as the New York Times reported. This was millions of dollars of art, up in smoke, along with family photo albums that he said were more emotionally valuable. 

At least 27 people were confirmed dead as of Monday, and 12,000 homes and businesses destroyed across areas that acted as strong houses for America’s cultural capital. Some 100,000 scores written by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg burned up at the Palisades home of his son Larry, who runs Belmont Music Publishers. Though the original manuscripts are held at the Schoenberg Center in Vienna, Belmont Music provided scores for orchestras around the world. In Altadena, 79-year-old artist Paul McCarthy, who was working on a solo show to be mounted at Hauser and Wirth, lost his home, works of his own and pieces by numerous artist friends, as well as an historic art library, as Artnet reported. His two grown children, who lived in the neighborhood, also lost their homes. Many other Altadena artists also lost work, community space and homes, Artnet reported, including Molly Tierney, Ross Simonini, Alec Egan and more.  

The Getty Villa and Getty Center remain standing, thanks partly to serious investment in fire protection at the two sites, including careful selection of plants, regular pruning of the grounds, double-thick walls, special air and water systems — and all that travertine. But other private centers of art and architecture have been reduced to ash in the flames that were visible from the beach to the city, from the Valley to Pasadena.

In their wake has come a palpable sense of shared experience, rare in this huge and hugely varied city. You can feel communities pulling together, overhear conversations about past experiences of loss and recuperation. You can also witness a wide-ranging drive to volunteer and an accompanying rapid philanthropic response.

Here are some of the efforts philanthropy is making to support artists and arts workers in L.A.

Major institutions and funders create the L.A. Arts Community Relief Fund

On Wednesday of last week, a week and a day after the first fire broke out, while both the Palisades and Eaton fire were still burning, the J. Paul Getty Trust announced the creation of the L.A. Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, a $12-million-and-counting, mass-cooperation emergency relief fund for artists and arts workers of all disciplines who have lost homes, studios and livelihoods, or been otherwise impacted by the fires. It opened for artists and arts organizations to apply for funding starting January 20.

Getty spearheaded the coalition, which includes the three institutions of the Mohn Art Collective — the LACMA, Hammer Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art — and with East West Bank, partnered with Mellon Foundation, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Qatar Museums, and Ford Foundation. “We were fielding a lot of questions and hearing from a lot of different people around the city,” said Joan Weinstein, director of the Getty Foundation, speaking by phone on Friday. “The Mohn Art Collective called us to see what we were doing. We thought a really coordinated effort would be the most valuable.”

Almost immediately, Weinstein said, foundations on the East Coast reached out, “particularly the artist-endowed foundations — Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol — they all jumped in quickly, and Ford, Mellon. We also got support from local foundations, such as the Mike Kelley Foundation, the Broad Art Foundation, and then from individual donors, which was amazing. We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the foundation community. Within three to four days, we put together this $12 million fund.”

The leaders were still hammering out the details of how the fund will work on Friday. The expanding list of donors also includes Karyn Kohl, Terri and Jerry Kohl, Trellis Art Fund, Teiger Foundation, Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg/The Hearthland Foundation, Maria Seferian, Arison Arts Foundation, Snap Foundation, the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, the Smidt Family Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, the California Community Foundation, Kraus Family Foundation, Howard and Nancy Marks Charitable Foundation, the A&L Berg Foundation, The Willem de Kooning Foundation, Jane Hait and Justin Beal, Joan Mitchell Foundation, the David Hockney Foundation, Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Frieze, Michael Asher Foundation, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Sam Francis Foundation, Artadia, Jay DeFeo Foundation, and the Carolee Schneemann Foundation.

That’s the list so far. And donors are still calling, said Weinstein. The fund is being managed and administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation, a nonprofit founded in 2001 with a mission to support “artists, culture bearers and creative entrepreneurs — to realize greater self-determination so as to unfetter their productivity, free expression, and social impact.”

This fund is also partly an attempt to stem the tide of artists fleeing L.A. for less-expensive — and now less-devastated — locales. “There is an incredible arts community, particularly in Altadena, and the idea of losing those artists and the arts workers in those areas would be devastating,” said Weinstein. “We want to do everything to help those impacted from the fires, show the support of the community, and help them on the road to staying within our community.”

Even the amount raised from all these sources,$12 million, could buy maybe two houses in an area comparable to the Palisades, four or five at the most. And the housing market was already incredibly tight before the city lost 12,000 homes in the fires. Is any amount of money really enough to help an artist rehome? 

“This is really emergency relief for immediate needs, a roof over your head. It’s typical emergency funding to get you over the next several weeks. Then, as an arts community, we will have to look at what mid-term and long-term recovery will look like,” said Weinstein, agreeing with my math. “It will have to be integrated with broader efforts in philanthropy and with state, local and federal government. We want to make sure that arts are part of the conversation in that broader recovery.”

Entertainment industry foundations support wildfire victims

Contributions are also coming in from the generally far more lucrative edge of the creative arts known as the entertainment industry, and not just for those in the field. The CAA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), announced last week its partnership with Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), a global humanitarian organization, and Los Angeles Unified School District Education Foundation to launch the SoCal Fire Fund to offer immediate and long-term support for community-centered recovery initiatives for students, school employees and families impacted by the fires. The Entertainment Industry Foundation is administering this fund. CharityBuzz has a list of experiences you can buy as a way to donate to the SoCal Fire Fund, including things like meeting George Clooney at the premiere of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” meeting Scarlett Johansson at the “Jurassic World Rebirth” premiere, and a chance to win lunch with Julia Roberts.

The Entertainment Community Fund (ECF), formerly the Actors Fund, is offering money to those who can show professional entertainment industry earnings within theater, film, television, music, radio and dance for the most recent three consecutive years. ECF also lists other arts and entertainment organizations that welcome applications here. The Motion Picture Television Fund lists a number to call for community members needing help.

Other local and national funders step in to support artists and the arts

Other philanthropic efforts of all types have sprouted up in the past week. L.A.-based artist- and arts organization-initiated funding also includes the Art World Fire Relief LA GoFundMe campaign, the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to Support Music Professionals of the Recording Academy and MusiCares, and the We Are Moving the Needle Microgrants: Wildfire Relief Fund. The Authors Guild lists organizations offering support for writers of nonfiction, fiction, journalism and more, as does Pen Parentis.

Many local funders and L.A.-based funders we’ve covered before are also stepping up support for fire victims, including in the arts. Eisner Foundation, the family foundation started by entertainment mogul Michael Eisner and his wife, Jane, announced on Thursday $215,000 in rapid-response fire relief grants to eight existing partners, including $20,000 to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and $25,000 to the Motion Picture & Television Fund, which is providing financial and material assistance, including with navigating insurance claims, and supportive counseling, to working and retired members of the entertainment community impacted by the fires.

The Annenberg Foundation is spearheading a FireAid benefit concert on January 30 at two venues simultaneously, with some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Billie Eilish, Alanis Morissette, Joni Mitchell, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Rod Stewart, Sting, Stevie Nicks and a dozen more. Contributions made to FireAid in connection with the FireAid benefit concert and other direct donations will be distributed under the advisement of the Annenberg Foundation for short-term relief as well as long-term efforts to prevent future fire catastrophes in Southern California.

“YoungArts, established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to “identify exceptional young artists, amplify their potential, and invest in their lifelong creative freedom,” is offering $5000 in unrestricted emergency microgrants to National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) or YoungArts community members in Los Angeles who have been significantly impacted by the wildfires and are experiencing “urgent financial emergencies,” which YoungArts defines as the lack of — or imminent threat of losing  — essentials such as housing, medicine, child care and food in the next month. The grant application opened Thursday.

More arts funding likely to come

As firefighters press on to contain these blazes, donors, foundations and volunteers continue to come forward. The L.A. arts community has experience pulling together in catastrophe, as Weinstein pointed out. “We kind of developed the muscle for this work during COVID, when we had a relief fund for arts organizations, a coalition of local and national funders, the LA Arts Recovery Fund. We’d raised about $40 million for that to support arts organizations,” she said. This time around? “Everyone has stepped up and been wonderful.”

The Getty Center, meanwhile, remains closed this week. “Hopefully, it will reopen quite soon. I think it is a place of incredible beauty and healing and we really look forward to having the public back with us again,” said Weinstein.