The Pasadena-based chorus serves more than 500 children ages 6-18 from more than 40 Southern California communities through eight choirs and two introductory singing programs. (photo courtesy of Los Angeles Children’s Chorus)

The Los Angeles Children’s Chorus has received a $2.04 million general operating support grant from the Perenchio Foundation, the largest grant in the organization’s 40-year history.

The unrestricted grant will be distributed over three years and will support the chorus’ operations, organizational infrastructure and long-term planning. The award comes as the Pasadena-based chorus celebrates its 40th anniversary.

“Los Angeles Children’s Chorus is deeply grateful to receive this extraordinary support from the Perenchio Foundation,” LACC executive director Susan Miller Kotses said. “The fact that the foundation expressed its confidence and trust in LACC through a gift of this size is monumental and a well-deserved honor for our LACC community, and especially for our board of directors and staff team. This funding will allow us to build capacity within our organization to help sustain LACC’s continued growth, positively impacting even more youth through our transformative choral music education program.”

The Perenchio Foundation provides unrestricted, multiyear grants to arts organizations throughout Los Angeles County. The funding is intended to help organizations strengthen infrastructure, plan for the future and build financial        stability.

“What we are investing in is not a program or a season. It is the infrastructure behind the work – the staffing, the systems, the reserves that allow an organization to absorb a hard year without losing what took 20 years to build,” Perenchio Foundation CEO Stephania Ramirez said.

The foundation was established by the late A. Jerrold “Jerry” Perenchio and supports arts organizations in Los Angeles County.

Founded in 1986, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus began with 50 young singers recruited for a local performance of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem.” The organization now serves more than 500 children ages 6-18 from more than 40 Southern California communities through eight choirs and two introductory singing programs. More than 30% of chorus members receive financial aid.

For information, visit lachildrenschorus.org.