Following the grant already received by Musical Theatre West, two other Long Beach arts organizations — Khmer Arts and the Arts Council for Long Beach — also scored major National Endowment of Arts (NEA) grants. As part of 788 grants distributed nationwide that amounted to some $24.81 million, the grants recognize arts organizations which exemplify the highest standard of excellent in arts support, education, and public engagement.
Long Beach’s increasingly large Cambodian population has brought with it an enormous amount of Cambodian culture, particularly classical Cambodian dance. The Khmer Arts’s Academy Program exemplifies keeping this part of Cambodian culture alive and well in Long Beach, offering year-round after-school and weekend training classes, along with performances throughout the Southern California region. Co-founder Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, one of the world’s foremost leading and innovative practitioners and teachers in this style of dance, has fostered this ideal (including one of her students, Prumsodun Ok, becoming a TED fellow and teaching throughout Long Beach).
The Arts Council for Long Beach has many programs and offerings that affect the way art is practiced and seen in Long Beach. However, the NEA recognized the Council for its Eye on Design program, which the Long Beach Post covered earlier this year. This program uses an interdisciplinary approach that is becoming common within arts programs, using language arts and history/social science in combination with the visual and performing arts to provide students with a 15-week residency that engages them in the overall artistic process. This year, it culminated in public works. Artist Candice Gawne, in a collaboration with graphic artist Eric Lynxwiler, worked to reinterpret various versions of artwork from the students of Burbank Elementary as banners to hang along the streetlamps lining 4th Street. The whimsical banners, complete with saturated colors and pattern-like graphics, brighten the pathway from Cherry to Junipero.