The Arts Council for Long Beach announced an exciting addition to its roster of grant-giving for local artists and organizations last October: a $5,000 Risk and Innovation Grant. The grant was created to bring innovation to our communities through experimental, arts-based problem solving.

The Arts Council is pleased to announce that its awardee is Long Beach filmmaker Donovan Vim Crony. The grant will help Vim Crony complete Anarchy Nowadays, a narrative short film about the lives of young punk rockers of color from Long Beach.

“This project would have been incredibly difficult to approach if it were not for the Arts Council’s generosity,” he said. “Young people of color around the world have been stuck in the same narratives of tragedy and pain through media and film for many years now. Our collaborative effort to create something that shows we can grow, experience love, create art and learn from each within the context of a rock and roll film will be such a great experience.”

Arts Council President Marco Schindelmann is excited to fund a project about a Long Beach subculture. “This grant not only offers risk to the grantee but also allows the Arts Council to invest in risk as an alternative mode towards future innovation,” he said. “We are striving to set a precedent in project funding that expands beyond the mainstream and recognizes Long Beach’s rich upstream culture.”

Photo caption: The Arts Council’s Risk and Innovation Grant went to Filmmaker Donovan Vim Crony, whose Anarchy Nowadays depicts young punk rockers of color from Long Beach.