Culver City Arts Foundation celebrates fruitful year

The Culver City Arts Foundation (CCAF) celebrated another plentiful year of work at its 2024 Holiday Party Wednesday, held at the Helms Design Center from 6 to 9 p.m.

Speakers not only reflected on the advancement of the arts in Culver City over the past year but also recognized Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin, whom the Foundation honored with the 2024 Spotlight Award and named Patron of the Arts at Wednesday's party.  

The Spotlight Award is named for the unique piece used for the award, and was started by the CCAF in 2022 to recognize an individual who contributed to advancing the arts over the past year.

Stehlin recently termed out of her role on the Culver City Cultural Affairs Commission, where she helped bring over $1 million in performing arts grants to local organizations. She also co-created the Culver City Artist Laureate Program.

She ran for City Council this election season on a platform focused on advancing the well-being of the arts and artists in Culver City, losing to new Culver City councilmember Bubba Fish by a narrow margin.

However, CCAF Chair Jim Clarke pointed to her recent achievements and her "lifelong [contribution] to the city of Culver City" as the reason for her nomination for the award. Stehlin was instrumental in formulating the CCAF, originally known as the Cultural Affairs Foundation.

Stehlin reflected on that time and more as she accepted the award.

She retold the story of how she and Clarke, then working as a city council member, collaborated to help the Cultural Affairs Foundation break off from the city to become the stand-alone 501(c)3 non-profit it is today.

"I was very lucky to be involved, helping bring ideas to the board about what this new organization could be," Stehlin said.

She expressed gratitude for the organization's flourishing into the established name it is today.

"We had no idea how far this organization could go," Stehlin said, "and how much it could do to support artists and the artist community in Culver City."

Former Culver City Artist Laureate Alexey Steele discussed his "Spotlight" painting on the plaque's main display, pointing out that it was just one of 10 unique prints of that particular piece.

"When you see this on somebody's wall or on your own wall," Steele said, "you know that you are a part of a very rare, very unique community of very special neighbors that give art back to the city."

While Stehlin's award was a central feature of Wednesday night, the party was also meant to celebrate the accomplishments of the Culver City Arts Foundation.

Culver City High School's Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) Executive Director Tony Spano, who currently serves as the CCAF's Treasurer, was among several speakers who praised what CCAF provides, with Spano particularly concentrating on students in Culver City. The AVPA Jazz Combo provided the live music heard throughout the three-hour party.

"I really also appreciate that [CCAF] is focused on the future," Spano said, "and these students and all students in Culver City Unified School District get support from [CCAF]."

CCAF Board Vice Chair Alicia Ide also briefly summarized the Foundation's many accomplishments in 2024.

"It is not possible to tell you everything that we did," Ide told the crowd, "but we did want to mention a few highlights."

Those highlights include restarting the Foundation's annual book festival, offering multiple scholarships while starting a new Color Arts Performance Scholarship, and helping host and judge a Senior Arts Show.

This continued effort to spread art across the city to all residents, regardless of age or origins, lives up to Stehlin's vision of art's purpose.

"Arts connects hearts," Stehlin said. "It builds bridges from person to person, and it makes communities stronger."