The Los Angeles LGBT Center has been awarded a $25,000 Arts Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) benefiting art education programs tailored to LGBT seniors. Over the course of 18 months, Reflections of a Lifetime courses will provide seniors with opportunities and tools to share their personal life stories through the arts. The initiative is projected to attract more than 75 participants through the Center’s Senior Services. Most of the activities will occur at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Senior Center located within the new, intergenerational Anita May Rosenstein Campus in Hollywood. This is the second consecutive year the NEA has awarded an Arts Works grant to the Center.
“Our LGBT older adults deserve opportunities to express themselves through creativity and to share stories about their life experiences with the younger generations. These art education projects will depict the power of community and intergenerationality—one of the tenets for building our new Anita May Rosenstein Campus,” said the Center’s Director of Senior Services Kiera Pollock. “Thanks to this prestigious grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, all generations served by the Center can continue to thrive and be inspired.”
Reflections of a Lifetime will include the following courses:
- Still We Rise
A women’s writing workshop for poetry and prose taught by Dorothy Randall Gray, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs’ awarded Poet-in-Residence. - Stand-Up Comedy
Taught by Los Angeles-based comedian Caitlyn Durante, the beginning level workshop series guides participants through the process of creating their own short set. - Sculptural Storytelling
Sequential classes taught by studio-artist Molly Allis will inspire seniors to transform their stories into sculptures constructed from found objects. - Spirit of Survival
Artist Nick Paul and cancer survivor Anne Stockwell teaches the ancient art of mask-making to help heal seniors who have been affected by cancer, HIV, or other health challenges. - Rise Up Together
Self-Help Graphics, a storied arts nonprofit based in East Los Angeles, will offer workshops in silk screening and mural making at three community sites.
The $25,000 grant is part of the NEA’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2019 in which NEA Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $80 million in grants.
“These awards, reaching every corner of the United States, are a testament to the artistic richness and diversity in our country,” said Carter. “Organizations such as the Los Angeles LGBT Center are giving people in their community the opportunity to learn, create, and be inspired.”
For more information about the Los Angeles LGBT Center, visit lalgbtcenter.org.
For more information about the Center’s Senior Services, visit lalgbtcenter.org/seniors.
For more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
