Kala Receives $100,000 Grant From The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mayumi Hamanaka, mayumi@kala.org, 510-841-7000 x201, https://www.kala.org

Date: January 15, 2021

Kala Art Institute Receives $100,000 Grant From The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Berkeley, CA— The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts announced their Fall 2020 grants, including support of $100, 000 over two years for Kala Art Institute to strengthen Kala’s artist-in-residency program and support special initiatives that build community resilience in the face of the pandemic.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts awarded grants totaling $3.9 million to 51 organizations from around the country to support visual arts programs, exhibitions, and curatorial research. “The Foundation’s commitment to supporting artists by funding the institutions that incubate, encourage, exhibit and critically engage their work is unwavering. Non-profit arts organizations face profound challenges due to the political, economic, social and cultural upheavals of our current moment. At the same time, and more than ever, artists need the supportive community and creative encouragement that these organizations provide,” states Joel Wachs, President of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, “Our granting program recognizes the equal importance of small, community-oriented spaces, major museums, and everything in between. Together, and with the foundation’s support, they work to collectively amplify the voices and visions of artists, which deepens and diversifies the national cultural discourse.”

“Kala Art Institute is thrilled to receive funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts,” writes Kala Executive Director Ellen Lake. ” Support like this is critical to a mid-size non-profit arts organization like Kala so we can sustain our work during the global pandemic and times of political unrest, while meeting the needs of artists struggling with economic hardships. Kala’s residency program works hand in hand with Kala exhibitions and public programs to address community challenges and serve our mission: to help artists sustain their creative work over time through artist residencies, and to engage the community through exhibitions, public programs and education. We are inspired by the Warhol’s Foundation deep commitment to supporting artist-centered organizations.”

Kala’s artist residency program is respected around the world for the support it offers to artists, points of contact with accessible staff, and the caliber of work artists are able to produce and share with the community while in residence. Kala’s artist residencies provide time, space, equipment, and a knowledgeable network of artists to foster dialogue, risk-taking, and creation of new work. Kala exhibitions, free to the public, provide a platform for innovative presentations of contemporary art – sparking conversations across views and timely topics including exploring ways the pandemic has highlighted deep racial and socioeconomic disparities and the role art can play in equitable engagement and in making changes.

About Kala: Kala is a vital community hub for artistic experimentation. Located in West Berkeley, Kala annually serves 100+ artist-in-residence and offers workshops open to the public in techniques ranging from letterpress to lithography, photography and media arts. Kala’s youth art programs nurture the next generation of creative problem-solvers and reach 2,500 students in Alameda County public schools and through on-site/online youth art programs. In addition to core artist residency and education programs, Kala provides professional development opportunities for artists including commissions for new work, exhibitions, teaching, consulting, and art sales. With access to a wide array of traditional and digital equipment in the print studio and electronic media center, Kala fosters a fresh approach to artistic experimentation, as Kala artists investigate the interface of digital work, work made by hand, and everything in between. To learn more about Kala, please visit our website, https://www.kala.org

About The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts: In accordance with Andy Warhol’s will, the mission of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is the advancement of the visual arts. The foundation manages an innovative and flexible grants program while also preserving Warhol’s legacy through creative and responsible licensing policies and extensive scholarly research for ongoing catalogue raisonné projects. To date, the foundation has given over $218 million in cash grants to over 1,000 arts organizations in 49 states and abroad and has donated 52,786 works of art to 322 institutions worldwide. More information about the Foundation is available at warholfoundation.org.