The recent wildfire in Los Angeles has caused amazing losses to the art community, which not only destroys houses and studios, but also destroys irreplaceable cultural relics and artworks. As the artist lost several months of work, the artist Manor and heritage completely disappeared, while the flames consumed art collection, and the scope of losses exceeded material or artistic damage. It reflects the common identity provided by art and culture to the world, with a wider impact of history and sense of connection. When art is lost, it is not just an affected artist or collector. The entire community has lost part of its cultural heritage and collective memory.
In this destruction, the Los Angeles Art Community Fire Foundation is a sign of $ 12 million led by the Los Angeles Museum, which has become a hopes. It shows how the target charitable causes a key role in maintaining art during the crisis. In addition to the direct impact, the fund also opened the door for charity, community toughness and art cross, and why it seemed to only have such efforts in emergency situations.
The Los Angeles Art Community Fire Fund is not only because its scale and intention exceed the immediately created sustainable reconstruction work, but also because it attracts the rapid and breadth of global support. Mellon and Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Qatar Museum, Andy Warhol’s Visual Art Foundation, and Mellody Hobson and George The contributions of charity such as George Lucas have influx. Gallery such as Gagosian and HAUSER & WIRTH, as well as large companies, has also strengthened, clarifying the interconnection of global art ecosystems. After the devastating fire in 2019, I thought of the global support for the Master of Mother of Paris, reminding us how art and cultural heritage stimulate collective actions.
But this also raises a basic question: Why can this collective action only respond to disaster? Are we willing to treat art as consuming, and wait until the disaster attack takes action? The reality is that artists and agencies that support them-rising from the cost of living to the lack of financial security network. Even the outstanding institutions that jointly create the LA relief fund, such as Getty, LACMA, LA MOCA and Hammer Museum-clarify the basic leadership of the museum in the disaster-face one year’s challenges, such as funding restrictions, public participation, and public participation, and public participation, and public participation, and public participation, and public participation, and public participation, and Protective collection. Although they have their own vulnerability, they have stepped up. For example, Getty Center is threatened by the invasion of wildfires, emphasizing the double burden of protecting its collectibles and supporting the community. This duality indicates that active initiative rather than reactivity support.
See: Calculate the influence of 2025 wildfire on Los Angeles artists
In January, the core of the Los Angeles Art Calendar Frez Los Angeles announced that this year’s version will be held at Santa Monica Airport, only a few miles from the area affected by wildfires. Frieze recognized the destructive and assumed additional responsibility. It was the founder of the Los Angeles Art Community Fire Fund and adopted other plans to formulate further recovery plans.
But with the development of fairness, how often does the dialogue change from high -risk transactions and wonders to meaningful action? As a global platform, the art exhibition may promote systematic changes, but the dependence of the art world for emergency driving charity is still a obvious paradox. Some people may argue that some art fairs, galleries, and auctions have combined some kind of effort to feedback, but the interaction between the entire art market and long -term charity is often not enough to achieve systemic challenges with insufficient scale, consistency and deep root and deep root.
When will the art market take the lead in incorporating charity into its core and challenge the industry’s dependence on reactivity rather than active measures? What if some of its profits and programming are systematically targeted at elastic funds? As the art market generates billions of dollars each year, most of its wealth bypasses artists who maintain their strength. If collectors advocate “elastic contribution”, then play a leading role. Support the artist’s emergency funds directly. Intersection This not only positions the art expo, galleries and auction houses outside the market, but also encourages them to standardize the contribution to part of the business model.
The wildfire in Los Angeles reminds people that we must surpass the generous scope of emergency driving and emphasize the need for structural changes. Although the Los Angeles Art Community Fire Fund provides a key lifeline, what we see is the systematic and proactive support of artists and institutions during the stability period.
It’s time to redefine its relationship with charity. Supporting art needs to be the cornerstone of the industry-expectations rather than the exception. We must establish a system that maintains the art community, rather than in the crisis period every day, but waiting for the next disaster to rally support. The problem is not that we can afford it, but that we can’t afford it.
