Music Director Jaime Martín leads the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, which will receive a $150,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant. (photo courtesy of Michelle Shiers Photography)

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will receive a $150,000 American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of an effort to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic.

LACO will use the grant to help ensure continued programming, community engagement and creative opportunities. In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $57.5 million to 567 arts organizations that may be used to preserve jobs, fund operations and facilities, provide health and safety supplies, and fund marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation.

“Our nation’s arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the NEA. “The National Endowment for the Arts’ American Rescue Plan funding will help arts organizations such as Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra rebuild and reopen. The arts are crucial in helping America’s communities heal, unite and inspire, as well as essential to our nation’s economic recovery.”

“LACO is incredibly grateful and honored to receive this significant and meaningful grant from the NEA,” LACO Executive Director Ben Cadwallader said. “As the orchestra continues to reemerge from the pandemic, the grant will enhance LACO’s resilience and inspire our growing service to the community with diverse and impactful programming.”

LACO is a preeminent interpreter of historical masterworks and champion of contemporary composers. For information, visit laco.org.