Getty Trust Launches Growing $12 Million Emergency Fund for Los Angeles Artists Affected by Wildfires

A powerful alliance of arts organizations and philanthropists, spearheaded by the J. Paul Getty Trust, has launched an initial $12 million emergency relief fund that continues to grow.

The Los Angeles Arts Community Fire Relief Fund unites the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art through the Mohn Art Collective, alongside East West Bank, the Mellon Foundation, and Ford Foundation in helping survivors of the Eaton and Palisades crisis.

The Center for Cultural Innovation, a longstanding intermediary providing funding, advocacy, and research support, began to administer grants to affected artists through cciarts.org on January 20.

“People around the world are watching in horror as vast areas of Los Angeles burn, but this regional tragedy has global cultural repercussions,” said Katherine E. Fleming, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

The initiative has drawn support from over two dozen major donors, including the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg’s Hearthland Foundation, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

“Los Angeles is home to one of the world’s most prolific and creative groups of artists,” a statement by the Mohn Art Collective said, noting that fire-ravaged neighborhoods in Altadena are long-time home to an astounding concentration of artists.

“Far beyond its borders, the city of Los Angeles shapes our collective consciousness as a locus of astonishing imaginative power and artistic ingenuity,” said Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Mellon Foundation.

The fund joins other relief efforts including the Art World Relief LA GoFundMe, Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to Support Music Professionals, and microgrants from nonprofit We Are Moving the Needle.

“It is the essence of the arts to connect cultures and bring people together,” said H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar Museums.

“The fires ravaging Los Angeles exemplify the devastating impacts of climate change that affect us all,” said Lise Motherwell and Clifford Ross of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.

For more information about supporting the initiative, visit getty.edu/about/development/LAArtsReliefFund2025.html.