To Our Friends, Grantees, Partners, and Community Members: First and foremost, we hope all of you are healthy and safe. We know these are very challenging times. Please know that the Annenberg Foundation has been working on several fronts to support our community members, grantees, employees, and those who are directly impacted by coronavirus during this uncertain time. This all is thanks to the generosity and compassion of our Foundation Chair Wallis Annenberg and Board of Directors Lauren Bon, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, and Charles Annenberg Weingarten.
GRANTMAKING OPERATIONS While we are taking action to directly address the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foundation’s ongoing grantmaking process continues uninterrupted. We continue to conduct site visits – albeit virtually – and are reviewing and approving grants with a keener eye on COVID-19 and the vexing problems around this pandemic.
CORONAVIRUS MITIGATION ASSISTANCE We want to express our profound gratitude and admiration to the many organizations, hospitals and medical clinics, and nonprofits around Los Angeles who are on the frontlines of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and taking care of our fellow Angelenos. In order to support these efforts, the Annenberg Foundation Trustees have made the following initial grants: - $100,000 to Brilliant Corners, an innovative non-profit that provides supportive housing assistance. Brilliant Corners, in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, is working to prevent and respond to the spread of COVID-19 among individuals experiencing homelessness and/or extreme financial hardship.
- $25,000 to fully supply LA Unified School District’s “Grab and Go” meal centers with medical grade no-touch digital thermometers. The thermometers have been identified as an immediate priority to keep the students and all those at the centers safe and healthy.
- We continue to collaborate with the LA County COVID-19 Response Partners Fund to ascertain the most critical and emerging needs of our region’s vulnerable residents, and will keep you posted about the ways in which the Annenberg Foundation will provide support.
In addition: - GRoW @ Annenberg, a philanthropic initiative led by Trustee Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, has given $50,000 grants each to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital to help support their efforts and purchase needed supplies to fight COVID-19.
- Trustee Lauren Bon and her Metabolic Studio are at work researching funding to LA health clinics in underserved areas that are over capacity and in need of supplies, as well as support to healthcare workers for childcare. Metabolic is also assessing where they can best provide critical funding for food support, health supplies, and health services for uninsured artists, as well as a partnership with FabLabs for the reproduction of critical medical equipment parts.
As many of us are working/schooling from home and practicing social distancing, we know that keeping in touch with each other and finding moments of peace and laughter during this time are absolutely critical. We suggest the following resources: - Explore.org is the world’s largest live-cam nature network, founded by
Annenberg Trustee Charlie Annenberg Weingarten. There are more than 150 live cameras showing animals and nature at their most glorious and awe-inspiring. Not only is it a wonderful way to escape stress and find solace in the natural world, but explore.org also has educational curriculum for those of you learning from home.
- The Annenberg Space for Photography is now offering online the full audio tour of its current exhibit, Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling, along with a slideshow of selected exhibit images. The audio tour is narrated by David Friend, who has been Vanity Fair’s creative development editor since 1998 and is
co-curator of the exhibit. Friend is an author and gifted storyteller, making this audio tour a particularly fascinating look behind-the-scenes of how some of the storied publication’s most memorable images were made. Check back frequently for more online content!
- If you have children at home from school and are looking for high quality, free online educational materials, please visit Annenberg Learner at learner.org, the site where you can search classroom resources by grade levels and subject areas. Some video resources also include coordinated online materials, such as user guides, downloadable textbooks, labs and interactives, and more. Please write to info@learner.org with any questions.
- If you’re looking to adopt a cuddly and comforting animal friend, Wallis Annenberg PetSpace continues to provide meet-and-greets for dog and cat adoptions by appointment only. This is intended to support social distancing and reduce gatherings to less than 10 people.
- Longtime Annenberg Foundation grantees offer classical music and opera online: The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera. The Philadelphia Orchestra performed their BeethovenNOW: Symphonies 5 & 6 concert to an empty Verizon Hall for live broadcast on Thursday, March 12. And the Metropolitan Opera
has an ongoing a series of free opera streams, starting with Carmen.
Finally, please know that our entire Foundation team is here for you as we face this challenge together. We have been teleworking since late last week and are 110 percent active and engaged in continuing the work of the Foundation.
Yet, in the midst of our daily work and multiple video conference calls, we are acutely aware of the importance of taking a few moments to pause, breathe deeply, and take care of our mental health. This week, the Foundation started daily live meditation sessions for all Annenberg team members to provide that much-needed pause and mental reset.
We wish you moments of calm and good health. Please, please stay safe. With all best wishes,
Cinny Kennard
Executive Director
The Annenberg Foundation
We invite you to follow us:
|