ISSUE 1    MAY 2005

In Focus, Venice Arts new e-newsletter, is designed to provide you with periodic updates on what's happening at Venice Arts. We respect your right to control what you receive through email; if you do not wish to receive our e-newsletter, please click here to unsubscribe.


I LIVE HERE: Children Explore HIV/AIDS

I LIVE HERE, our newest Social Art Initiative, is a photo/media project with kids impacted by HIV/AIDS. It will be launched in Kwa-Mashu, Durban, South Africa and is being led by creative director Jim Hubbard, advisory board member and project director, Peter Hermann, and physician/executive producer Neal Baer. Special thanks to the Kaiser Foundation for seeding this new, multi-year initiative!

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AWARDS VENICE ARTS 2-YEAR GRANT
Venice Arts has been awarded a two-year grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to deepen its work at Mar Vista Gardens, a low-income housing development in the Mar Vista/Culver City area. This is Venice Arts' 3rd grant from the NEA.
Read full press release (pdf 112k)

FOX FAMILY & THE GREENHOUSE PROJECT
First, thanks to the generosity of many individuals and local businesses, we made the $20,000 match generously offered by the Fox Family Foundation. In addition to their grant support, the Fox Family, in collaboration with the Greenhouse Project at Film Garden, is also supporting a documentary short about Venice Arts' unique art mentoring program. Download it from our web site later this summer!

BUSINESS ART CIRCLE WIDENS
Venice Arts’ Business Art Circle, BAC, is growing. Started Fall 2003, as a way for local businesses to directly support local youth, it now includes 20 members, such as restaurants, realtors, entertainment companies, retailers, and others.

Welcome to our two newest member, David Knapprath, of David K's T-shirts and Michael Bernier, of Building Capital Mortgage. Michael also intends to contribute $500 to Venice Arts for each escrow closed in the name of the referring realtor.

Click here to check out who else is in the Circle and learn more about the advantages of joining.

Special thanks to members Tiffany Anderson of Boardwalk Realty, Joe Miller, of Joe’s Restaurant, and Robert Feist of Ravenswork for their leadership in the Business Art Circle Campaign

WEB SITE IMPROVEMENTS
Over the last few months we’ve been upgrading our web site to make it easier to navigate and to better feature the art created by youth at Venice Arts. We’ve also added new pages including the Gallery, Photo Opportunities, Resources & Links, Awards and Recognitions, and Business Art Circle. Later this Spring, we expect to have the Store up and running with books, tee-shirts, posters and other special items. Check it out!