Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe announced the return of the County’s Arts Internship Program, which will provide 74 paid summer internships for college students.

Requirements
Position descriptions and contacts are posted on the Arts Commission’s website. Go to Los Angeles County Arts, click on “Internships,” then “Opportunities for Students.” Interested students should act as soon as positions are posted as there is stiff competition for a limited number of internships. Students apply directly to the organization offering the internship, not the Arts Commission. The organizations make final candidate selections quickly, as internships begin on May 30.

Graduating seniors who complete their undergraduate degrees by September 1, 2011 are eligible, as well as undergraduates. Applicants must have completed at least one semester of college by June 2011 and be currently enrolled (full-time) in a community college or a four-year university. Applicants must be a resident of and/or attending school in Los Angeles County.

Internship Details
The positions are for 10 weeks and pay $350 per week. Interns also take part in educational and arts networking activities. Through the program, interns gain real work experience to strengthen their resumes and develop business skills that can be put to use in their future careers.

Organizations in the County’s Fourth Supervisorial District offering arts internships include:
Angels Gate Cultural Center
Arts & Services for Disabled
Arts Council for Long Beach
Culture Shock LA
Grand Vision Foundation
Institute of Arts Music and Science
International City Theatre
La Mirada Theatre
Long Beach Opera
Long Beach Symphony Orchestra
Norris Center for the Performing Arts
Precision Dance
Sangeet School of World Music
Shakespeare by the Sea

Examples of County internship experiences include:
• The Multidisciplinary Arts Intern at Angels Gate Cultural Center will receive valuable experience in all aspects of arts administration and be involved in events such as the annual Angels Playfest Play Reading Series and prepare for the on-site Cevapcici Fall Festival.

• At Long Beach Opera, the Arts Administration Intern will play an integral role in Long Beach Opera’s 2012 season marketing campaign. The intern will analyze and evaluate past marketing efforts and use traditional and cutting edge marketing tactics to help expand Long Beach Opera’s patron base.

• The Music Production and Radio Broadcast Intern at Arts & Services for Disabled will provide critical support for the performing arts and music program. The intern will create and produce a musical piece for broadcast on several community and state college radio stations.

To support the internships, Los Angeles County, through its Arts Commission, has given grants totaling $250,000 to 74 arts organizations throughout the County.

Funding for non-profit arts organizations to hire college undergraduate interns in summer 2011 is available from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. The guidelines, application and application instructions for the Arts Internship Program are now available on the Arts Commission’s Web site.

The program is for Los Angeles County-based nonprofit performing, presenting (including film and media organizations with a presenting program), arts service and literary arts organizations that are interested in mentoring an undergraduate college student for ten weeks during summer 2011. Grants of $2,500 to $3,500, depending on organizational budget size, to be used to pay interns are awarded to successful applicant organizations. To support the internships, Los Angeles County, through its Arts Commission, will give grants totaling $250,000 to approximately 75 arts organizations throughout the County. The deadline to submit an application is Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A free application workshop will be held on Thursday, November 18 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Arts Commission offices, 1055 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800, in downtown Los Angeles. To sign up for the workshop please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2011internapp or go to www.lacountyarts.org, then click on “Internships.”

Organizations interested in this program should review the guidelines before beginning an application and be aware of the following:

Only nonprofit arts organizations that possess 501(c)(3) status and are not part of a college or university are eligible for the program, including municipal arts agencies and municipal performing arts organizations.

Each organization may request only one full-time intern.

Organizations with budgets over $1.5 million are required to provide a cash match of $500.

Organizations with budgets greater than $4 million are required to provide a cash match of $1,000.

The purpose of the County’s program is to provide undergraduate students with meaningful on-the-job training and experience in working in nonprofit arts organizations, while assisting arts organizations to develop future arts leaders.

For more information, please visit LA County Arts

Supervisor Don Knabe is pleased to announce The Los Angeles County Arts Commission has awarded two-year grants to 24 arts organizations that focus on cultural services for residents of the Fourth Supervisorial District. The Organizational Grant Program (OGP) grants were awarded competitively, reviewed and scored by panels, and approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The grants for the Fourth District are part of awards totaling $4,118,000 to 166 nonprofit arts organizations for fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12. An estimated 10 million people will be served by the organizations receiving grants.

Additionally, 20 organizations delivering services in the Fourth District will also receive grant funds in 2010-11 through two-year awards made last year.

Grant recipients providing most of their services to the Fourth District are listed below.

ORGANIZATIONAL GRANT PROGRAM I/SMALL BUDGET ORGANIZATIONS

Camerata Singers of Long Beach (Long Beach)

Concert Singers (Long Beach)

Garage Theatre (Long Beach)

Golden State Pops Orchestra/Friends of the GSPO (San Pedro)

Harry Bridges Project (Los Angeles)

Helios Dance Theater (Pacific Pallisades)

Interact Theatre Company (North Hollywood)

Rhapsody In Taps Incorporated (Long Beach)

Second City Council (Long Beach)

South Coast Chorale Inc. (Long Beach)

Zhena Folk Chorus (San Pedro)

A Window Between Worlds (Venice)

Enrichment Works (Valley Glen)

Grand Vision (San Pedro)

Los Angeles Dream Shapers (Inglewood)

Masters of Harmony (Santa Fe Springs)

Pacific Crest Youth Arts Organization (Diamond Bar)

Taiko Project (Long Beach)

Harmony Project (Los Angeles)

Arts & Services for Disabled, Inc. (Long Beach)

Long Beach Museum of Art Foundation (Long Beach)

Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach)

Norris Center for the Performing Arts (Rolling Hills Estates)

Palos Verdes Art Center (Rancho Palos Verdes)

The Music Center of Los Angeles County, a national leader in arts education, is seeking nominations for its Annual Bravo Award, honoring teachers and schools for exemplary arts education. The nomination acknowledges the hard work and dedication these educators have given to their students, their profession and their communities.

Teachers and schools can be nominated in four categories: School, School Arts Program, Generalist Teacher, and Arts Specialist Teacher. The Bravo Awards is a two-step process involving the completion of a nomination form and an application form. In order to be considered for a Bravo Award, arts educators must first be nominated by principals, faculty committees, superintendents, parents or through self-nomination.

Nominations are open to Los Angeles County educators and schools who deliver arts education programs during the regular school day. Nomination forms are available at www.musiccenter.org/education or by calling (213) 972-3387.

All those nominated will be invited to attend an information meeting offered to assist in the completion of the applications which will be reviewed by a judging committee of educators and artists. Nomination deadline is October 15, 2010. Completed applications are due November 1, 2010.

Upon completing an application, teachers and schools will participate in an extensive review process including site visits and feedback by the judging committee, as well as an invitation to participate in a winter forum addressing key topics in arts education. All Bravo Awards applicants will be recognized at an event to be held at the Music Center in spring 2011.

The Music Center Bravo Awards program was established in 1982 to recognize teachers and schools for innovation and excellence in arts education. It honors educators who use the arts to revitalize teaching, enhance student achievement and foster self-esteem, teamwork and cross-cultural communication and understanding.

Catalina Island is perhaps the only place in the world where Baywatch means something other than the popular television show of that name. Baywatch on this island refers to the cadre of highly trained paramedics, lifeguards, fire fighters and rescuers who handle everything from bee stings to diving accidents to lost hikers. This vital service is celebrated in a ceramic tile mural created by artist Sandow Birk for the fa cade of the new Avalon Lifeguard Paramedic Headquarters dedicated today.

Rendered in blue tones on white tiles in the tradition of azulejo tiles found throughout Europe, North Africa and Latin America, the mural, on the curved wall of the headquarters’ entrance, depicts the idyllic harbor of the town of Avalon. In the distance a plume of smoke rises from a boat as a lifeguard vessel speeds to assistance. In the sky above the dots and dashes of Morse code spell out S.O.S. The mural’s border features sea life from the area, while six vignettes depict the various specialized activities and vehicles of the Baywatch Avalon lifeguards.

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission through its Civic Art Program commissioned the mural as well as the tile work on the headquarters’ staircase risers leading up to the mural. Baywatch Avalon is part of the Lifeguard Division of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The use of ceramics reflects Catalina’s history of tile making which dates from the 1920s. The staircase tiles mix traditional Catalina Tile Co. tiles with new tiles hand painted by Birk and fabricated by his wife and partner Elyse Pignolet. The risers bear the core values of the Fire Department , Commitment, Courage, Community, Caring, Teamwork, Integrity , and a poem that is the informal code of the U.S. Lifesaving Service.

The Avalon Lifeguard Paramedic Headquarters is located at 440 Avalon Canyon Road in Avalon, a 15-minute walk from the ferry dock.

Sandow Birk worked closely with the staff Baywatch Avalon while developing the artwork for the new headquarters. The lifeguard and paramedic station is 7,005 square feet and includes office space, reception area, living quarters for personnel and a bay for emergency vehicles and watercraft trailers.

Carrie Brown of the Arts Commission was project manager for the Avalon Lifeguard Paramedic Headquarters artwork. Under the County’s Civic Art Policy, adopted in 2004, one percent of design and construction costs on County capital projects over $500,000 is set aside for the incorporation of civic art.