City of Burbank Awards $56K in Community Arts Grants
Burbank, CA (June 9, 2025) – The Burbank Parks and Recreation Department, in collaboration with the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission, is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Community Arts Program Grants. $56,500 in funding has been awarded in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $4,250 to support 17 cultural arts projects presented in the City of Burbank this year, many with free or low-cost ticket options.
Launched in October 2024, the grant program was designed to support local artists and non-profit arts organizations while actively engaging Burbank residents with diverse and outstanding cultural arts projects. The opportunity was open to individual professional artists and non-profit arts organizations located in Los Angeles County with special consideration given to those currently based in Burbank. 9 of the 17 grant recipients are Burbank-based.
Eligible proposals were reviewed by an independent panel of arts professionals with expertise in performing and visual arts and scored according to the review criteria, including artistic merit and community impact. Parks and Recreation staff offered application workshops and assistance to applicants and facilitated the panel review and award recommendations process.
Grants to the following artists and projects were approved by the Parks and Recreation Board on February 13, 2025:
Media City Ballet/Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre (Dance): "Ballet Contemporary!”
Salit Foundation (Music): “Encore Chamber Music Series”
Shenandoah Harris (Dance): “NAMES”
Burbank Community Band (Music): “The Sound of Burbank - 85th Anniversary Concert”
Amy Smith (Multi-Disciplinary): “Earth Day Textile Renewal and Sustainability Community Block Party”
Benita Bike’s DanceArt (Dance): “Explore Dance!”
Bairton Warburton-Brown (Multi-Disciplinary): “Afrofuturist Art Fair”
Christin Hablewitz (Music): “Zetz Klezmer Ensemble Performance & Workshop”
Conundrum Theatre (Theatre): “New Works Festival”
Colony Theatre (Theatre): “Scripts and Sips”
Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival (Theatre): “From the Best of the Fest”
Helix Collective (Music): “Game Music Night”
Burbank International Film Festival (Film): “The 2025 Burbank International Film Festival”
Socks Whitmore (Music): “Inventing/Inviting: Trans Songs of Change”
Austin Lane Walker (Comedy): “Varietyville-O-Ween”
Grand Performances (Music): “Overture of the Pipes”
Brett Long (Animation): “The Animation Station: The 26 Letters of the Alphabet”
The 2025 Community Arts Grant Peer Review Panel included:
• Gavin Cho – Director of Development at the Burbank Arts and Education Foundation
• Richard Adrian Flores – Partnership and Sponsorship Consultant
• Anji Gaspar-Milanovic - Director of Grants and Professional Development for the Los Angeles County Department of Arts Culture
• Leah Harrison – Artistic Project Director for Paramount Global Location Based Entertainment Division; President, Burbank Arts Commission
• Dawn Robinson-Patrick – Director of Artistic Programming, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Further information on the Community Arts Grant Program and funded projects can be found at www.burbankca.gov/communityartsgrant.
Residents and art enthusiasts can find more information about upcoming arts events and sign up for the Burbank Arts Newsletter at https://burbankarts.com/.
