We know you’ve been hearing a ton about voting lately, but here’s one election where there’s really no bad outcome, no matter who wins: My LA2050 will be handing out $1,000,000 in grant money to fund projects dedicated to improving Los Angeles—and you can vote right now to support the coolest projects. Creatives and activists from across the city have submitted their applications for ways to make L.A. better, from public art projects to childhood nutrition initiatives.
The LA2050 goals are to make L.A. the best place to learn, play, create, connect and live, and the My LA2050 projects up for grants are sorted by which of those goals they move the city closer towards. Voters can choose one project for each goal.
Up for consideration this year are a bunch of creative and smart ideas. Actors’ Gang, Armory Center for the Arts, Write Girl and eight other arts outreach groups have proposed all working together to bring multi-disciplinary arts education to juvenile detention centers. The Bowtie Project wants to transform a formerly industrial area in East L.A. into a vibrant park along the L.A. River with events and play-spaces.
One project, backed by 5 Every Day, Tom Explores Los Angeles, Downtown Art Walk and Art Share L.A., is seeking $100,000 to transform a forgotten piece of public art into a new landmark for Downtown. The Triforium, designed by Joseph Young in 1975, was a high-tech sculpture ahead of its era. "Imagine if you could control the individual street lights in Chris Burden’s 'Urban Light'. Imagine they made music," the team behind the restoration project says in their application. The interactive, colorful artwork could become a destination, not to mention a new essential photo op (or even an artsy Halloween costume!), located adjacent to City Hall and Grand Park.
If picking between all the worthy projects is too stressful, don’t worry. At least ten of them will be funded. Online polls are open from now until October 25, so read up on the applicants and vote in an election that you can actually feel proud of.
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