2021 WeHo artist grant recipient Antonio Rael created “Las Memorias” in 1999. (image courtesy of the city of West Hollywood)

The city of West Hollywood announced three $5,000 grant awards, totaling $15,000, for three resident artists for its 2021 WeHo artist grant program: Tristan Kilmer, Samantha Lavin and Antonio Rael.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reshape the reality of life in West Hollywood and communities around the world, artists and arts organizations are among those severely impacted. The WeHo artist grant program, initiated in 2018, provides direct support for individual artists living in West Hollywood.

Kilmer is a senior industry artist who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts in experimental animation. He has worked as a previsualization artist at Digital Domain, animator at Halon and an animation director at One Roof Entertainment.

Lavin is an award-winning Directors Guild of America director, assistant director and writer who has worked on film and television projects including “Lucifer,” “The Mayor” and “Criminal Minds.”

Rael is a visual artist who has been a resident of West Hollywood for the past 30 years and has donated artwork for causes in the LGBTQ+ community.

The WeHo artist grant aims to nurture and support the long-term development of an artist’s ideas by providing funds that increase the capacity for artists to realize work, advance the conditions of creation and navigate the complexities of both making art and making a career.

In providing the WeHo artist grant awards to individual artists, the city aims to keep artists in West Hollywood, to attract new artists to the city and to contribute to the quality of daily life in the city.

WeHo artist grant funding is approved by the City Council. The city’s Performing Arts and Cultural Affairs subcommittee reviews eligible applications and makes recommendations to the city’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission to approve funding for the awards.

For more information about the grant program, visit weho.org/arts.