August 25, 2023  /

The Picerne Family Foundation is pleased to announce that 18 artists have been selected to participate in the 2023 Artist Outreach Project. Each of the artists listed below were awarded $15,000 plus funding for materials to pursue a year-long arts based therapeutic, mentoring or educational project of their own design for people who would otherwise not have access to these arts experiences.

Raúl Acero, Visual Artist & Art Educator, Redlands, CA

Project: Bi-lingual art classes in drawing, ceramics and sculpture with families and individuals in the City of San Bernardino at Garcia Center for the Arts.

Katrina Alexy, Visual & Mosaic Artist, Los Angeles, CA

Project: Mosaic arts projects with seniors in an underserved Los Angeles neighborhood at the Elysian Valley Arts Collective.

Radha Botofasina-Reyes, Musician & Performing Artist, Canoga Park, CA

Project: Expose individuals with special needs to creative expression through music, movement, American Sign Language (ASL), spoken word/song, and media images at Born to Act Players.

Young Mi Chi, Visual Artist, West Covina, CA.

Project: Art workshops designed to teach women in addiction recovery how to draw, paint, and make mixed media artwork using short and long exercises that go from easy to more challenging.

Raphaele Cohen-Bacry, Visual Artist, Los Angeles, CA

Project: Expose children, teens and young adults with developmental, social/emotional and learning challenges to real art making – helping them connect to nature and understand what it means to be an artist at The Children’s Ranch.

Cathy Engel-Marder, Mixed Media Artist, Retired Clinical Social Worker, Los Angeles, CA

Project: Art workshops for youth and families living in shelters run by Aviva Family and Children’s Services and the Family Crisis Center.

Mayee Futterman, Artist/Arts Educator, Los Angeles, CA

Project: The “Brush Warrior Project” – a hands-on, interactive, step-by-step Chinese Brush Painting program for U.S. military veterans residing at the Veterans Home of California.

Lauretta Coumarbatch, MD, MPH, Visual Artist, Los Angeles, CA

Project: Visual arts workshops with aspects of art as storytelling designed to promote wellness at three housing communities of Heart Forward LA that serve unhoused people facing mental health challenges.

Harold Greene, Woodworker, San Pedro, CA 90731

Project: Woodworking program for formerly unhoused transition age youth now living in permanent supportive housing and at a woodworking job training program for people who face heightened barriers to employment at Would Works in Los Angeles.

Valerie Henderson, Visual Artist, Santa Ana, CA

Project: Art activities and projects to build community and help bring together a diverse group of children, families and adults living at the Santa Ana Arts Collective, an affordable housing entity in that city.

Mary-Linn Hughes, Multi Media Artist, South Pasadena, CA.

Project: Lead a weekly arts-based program for LGBTQ seniors in a variety of art forms, including collage, photography, found object sculpture, artist books, multi-media installations, and poster/banner creation at Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Fabiana Medici, Actor & Writer, Culver City, CA.

Project: Theater, writing and creative play lab for older adults with the option of producing a play at the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center.

Paolina Milana, Writer, Tujunga, CA

Project: A writing workshop for family caregivers that will become part of a collaborative book designed to give them a voice and an opportunity to share what they want to be known about their experience with the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and the Family Caregiver Support Center.

Carol Roullard, Visual Artist, Moorpark, CA

Project: Fluid acrylic abstract painting project with young people at the Boys and Girls Club designed to inspire, develop art skills, learn to think “outside the box” and appreciate how the perception of reality changes with different viewpoints.

Don Tinling, Photographer and Writer Los Angeles, CA

Project: Facilitate a creative writing workshop for the LGBTQIA+ community designed to bridge intergenerational gaps and accommodate differently abled people across the socioeconomic spectrum. at Being Alive.

Herbert Siguenza, Writer & Actor San Diego, CA

Project: Practical real world playwriting featuring three different ways of storytelling and challenge the notion of what a “play” is at Chicano Park Cultural Center and New Village Arts

Wendy Viscarra, Visual Multi-Media Artist, Los Angeles, CA

Project: Small focused workshops with unhoused participants of all ages focusing on mosaic art design and technique with potential for earned income at Piece by Piece.

If you are interested in learning more about the Artist Outreach Project visit picernefoundation.org.