Our Making LA Initiative Is Awarded an Art Works Grant from the NEA!

We are beyond excited to announce that de LaB is the recipient of a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts! The funds will support our Making LA initiative, a new event series we'll be producing over the next year that will include... drum roll... the first-ever de LaB conference!

As part of this round of funding, the Art Works program awarded 817 grants totaling $26.3 million to projects across the country, according to their press release:

In August 2012, the NEA received 1,547 eligible applications for Art Works grants requesting more than $80 million in funding. Art Works grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts. The 817 recommended NEA grants total $26.3 million and span 13 artistic disciplines and fields. Applications were reviewed by panels of outside experts convened by NEA staff and each project was judged on its artistic excellence and artistic merit.

We're so honored to be in such great company! You can read more about the Art Works program and see the list of grantees [PDF].

Now, we need your ideas for how to make Making LA!

This special event series will feature ten important and inspiring community-focused projects located across the east side of Los Angeles, where you'll have the opportunity to learn from the designers, architects, and artists who completed and/or fostered these projects. The series will culminate in 2014 with the Making LA conference, a one-day conference hosted on the east side of L.A., that features local creatives covering the elusive act of implementation for socially focused design ideas. The Making LA conference will also significantly highlight each of the creatives featured within the year-long Making LA event series, in addition to effectively educating hundreds of local creatives on how to move forward on their own projects for Los Angeles.

So let's hear it! What designers and projects should we feature? How can we produce the most dynamic, inspirational (and fun) events and conference you've ever attended?

Let us know in the comments or send us an email at hello@designeastoflabrea.org

And we know we've been saying this a lot lately, but we really are so honored and humbled by your ongoing support as we grow* together. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

*And while we're talking growth, we should mention that the newest member of the de LaB family was born today, a baby boy to our co-founder Haily Zaki and her husband Brian Tuey. Welcome Rowan Phoenix Tuey!

Vote for de LaB's "Making LA" at LA2050!

Fellow de LaBbers—we need your help!

We've submitted a proposal to the Goldhirsh Foundation's ambitious My LA2050 initiative, a program that plans to give away 10 $100,000 grants to local organizations and projects that will shape the future of LA. The initiative looks at the health of this city across eight key indicators: arts & cultural vitality, education, environmental quality, health, housing, income & employment, public safety and social connectedness. Our project Making LA, can be found under the arts & cultural vitality indicator.

A grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation would allow us to continue to offer amazing design programming through the next year. Making LA, a special event series, would feature ten important and inspiring projects located across the east side of Los Angeles (maybe you!). Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from the designers, architects, and artists who completed and/or fostered these projects. The series will culminate with the Making LA Conference, a one-day conference hosted on the east side of LA that features local creatives instructing attendees on the elusive act of implementation for socially focused design ideas.

Angelenos are a creative bunch—we want to enable and empower all creatives and help them implement their vision for the city of the future!

But we need YOUR help to make this a reality. We need to be listed in the top 10 here to even be considered for a grant, so please vote for us! Voting opens April 2nd at noon and runs until April 17th at noon. Tell your friends, your family, help us spread the word!

We've always been humbled by the generosity and enthusiasm of our fellow de LaBbers—we can't thank you enough for the support you've shown us as we grew from a small group of design nerds to an official non-profit with more than 3,000 dedicated de LaBbers.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Vote here for our LA2050 proposal: Making LA!

Here's how to vote:

• Visit our project page at http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/delab
• Click VOTE
• Log in with your GOOD account. If you don't already have one, you'll need to create one. It's free and all you need is an email or Facebook account. You'll be emailed a link to verify your address.
• Once you've voted, you'll see a verification on the top of the page that your vote has been counted. You can only vote once, however, you can change your vote if you've already voted: simply click vote on the project you want to vote for, and you'll be asked if you want to change your vote.

How else can you help? We're glad you asked!

• Post a link to our project page on your Facebook page or send a Tweet with a link to our project page. Here are some examples you're free to use:

I voted for @de_LaB's #MakingLA in @LA2050 because I support creatives working to make a better Los Angeles. http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/delab  

Vote for @de_LaB's #MakingLA vision for @LA2050 and support free design events in Los Angeles! http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/delab

• Email your contacts to encourage them to vote. Feel free to copy this entire blog post, or forward our recent email newsletter. 
• Add a comment under the project description adding why you support Making LA, it helps give us more visibility on the site!

Vote now!

Thank you again!