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2025 Grants Challenge

Art as Recovery: A Healing Studio and Mural for Fire-Impacted Communities

Prayer for the Earth is a transformative public art and healing studio initiative that responds to the trauma of the January 2025 wildfires in Altadena. Through a participatory mural embedded with community prayers and a downtown LA studio residency for displaced artists, this project turns loss into visual resilience—uniting art, storytelling, and environmental action to rebuild cultural strength and collective hope.

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What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?

Wildfire relief

In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?

San Gabriel Valley Central LA East LA South LA

In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?

 In January 2025, wildfires devastated the foothills of Altadena, displacing families and destroying homes, studios, and vital cultural spaces. Artists—who often work without insurance or structural support—lost the tools, spaces, and communities essential to their creative survival. When artistic ecosystems collapse, so does a community’s ability to process grief, foster dialogue, and envision recovery. Without creative infrastructure, post-disaster trauma can linger for years, compounding economic hardship and community disconnection.

Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.

Prayer for the Earth is an immersive, community-powered mural and healing studio project that directly addresses post-wildfire trauma in Altadena. The mural, created on a prominent public wall, will collect written intentions from residents—inscribed during guided workshops and sealed beneath hand-applied gold leaf. Augmented Reality and soundscapes will allow future visitors to witness the collective prayer embedded in the wall. A downtown LA studio will then serve as a sanctuary for fire-displaced artists, offering stipends, workspace, and exhibitions. Partnering with Roots & Shoots, LA Climate Week, and the Mural Conservancy of LA, the project reconnects residents to nature, creative expression, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.

Prayer for the Earth will become a landmark symbol of resilience in Altadena and a model for recovery across LA County. We envision Altadena residents engaging in the mural process—writing, witnessing, and healing together. In downtown LA, fire-impacted artists will gain space, visibility, and community. Within 12 months, we will complete the mural, host 18 months of artist residencies. In the long term, the model can be replicated in other wildfire-impacted regions—embedding art, storytelling, and care into recovery frameworks citywide.

Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?

Direct Impact: 2,000

Indirect Impact: 20,000