When Art Heals

When it came time for Elida Ledesma to accept a $500,000 grant from Getty to the Arts for Healing and Justice Network (AHJN), she couldn’t hold back the tears.

“I’m going to try to get through this without crying,” said Ledesma, AHJN’s executive director, addressing a crowd of enthusiastic AHJN members and supporters at the Getty Prize Dinner on Monday night. “Thank you for seeing and believing in our work, and now being part of the AHJN community.”

The exhilarating moment capped off a night dedicated to honoring the power of the arts to change young people’s lives. Two hundred members of the Getty and Los Angeles artistic communities joined Getty President and CEO Katherine E. Fleming to award artist Mark Bradford the Getty Prize, an award that recognizes cultural leaders and creators whose work expands the appreciation of arts and culture.

As his reward for winning, Bradford was invited to choose an arts-related nonprofit that would be awarded a $500,000 grant from Getty. He chose AHJN, a Los Angeles–based organization whose mission is to provide alternatives to incarceration, build resiliency and wellness, eliminate recidivism, and present the arts as a change strategy for young people, communities, and systems.

Before Bradford and AHJN accepted their awards, attendees gathered at the Getty Center Arrival Plaza for a sunset cocktail reception and a lively performance of West African dance, drumming, and singing by the Rhythm Arts Alliance, an active member of AHJN. Guests then headed up the stairs to the Museum Courtyard, where images of Bradford’s art were projected onto a screen and the walls of the Museum.

After a welcome from Getty Board of Trustees Chair Rob Lovelace, attendees enjoyed dinner under the stars. When Fleming took the stage, she spoke about how the Getty Prize has evolved since it was established in 2013—that the honor was originally called the Getty Medal and was awarded to up to three people at a time. But last year Fleming thought, what if the Getty prize became “an engine”? What if the winner of the Getty Prize could designate another winner, raising up and acknowledging their important work? Bradford is the first winner of this newly imagined Getty Prize.

“Plato famously said, ‘A true artist is one who gives birth to a new reality,’” Fleming told the guests. “Now, Plato incidentally thought this was really dangerous; he wasn’t into artists. But given the reality we see all around us, it looks to me like we need new ones more than ever.”

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation president Elizabeth Alexander introduced Bradford, recalling highlights of his career as a visual artist: his “audacious” paintings made of tile, paper, ink, and string that seek to make this world more beautiful and just; experimental films such as Death Drop, which he made at 12 years old; and his work with young people exiting the foster system and with incarcerated women in Venice, Italy. “There is no hiding from his clear-eyed gaze and assessment,” Alexander said. “It is not a scrutiny; rather it is a directness. I see you, I see you, I see you.”

Accepting his award, Bradford admitted that his “inner voice” told him to quietly take the award and walk off before “you start talking and mess it all up.” He didn’t, and instead offered a shout-out to attendee and fellow artist Betye Saar, “the diva.”

“This is a nice room tonight,” Bradford added. “The energy is really good, and it seems like everyone is enjoying themselves, but I also like that it feels like they’re moving something forward, too. And that always makes me feel a little bit excited. This room feels like Los Angeles to me.”

Next it was time to honor AHJN, the organization Bradford chose due to its work transforming young people’s lives through arts education. Leticia Rhi Buckley, chair of the AHJN board and CEO of La Plaza de Cultura y Artes museum and cultural center, thanked not only Getty and Bradford for the honor and generous grant, but also AHJN’s 23 partner members, among them Homeboy Art Academy, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Unusual Suspects Theatre Company, and Artworx LA, which served over 2,000 youths last year with programming at more than 30 sites.

“The work for AHJN can be daunting,” Buckley said. “It requires empathy, compassion, and fortitude. But most of all, it requires hope. A deep, guttural hope that the work we do will ensure that the system our young people are facing today does not exist tomorrow.”

Joining Buckley at the podium, Ledesma took a moment to share the reality of the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles County today: that the cost of incarcerating one young person is extraordinary, and that youths in the system experience violence and re-traumatization. More than 3,000 allegations of abuse have been brought against the probation department, and there have been multiple drug overdoses in detention facilities.

“We know incarceration is not the solution,” Ledesma said. “So our organization asks, how do we give young people the tools to process and heal, to build connections, create and stay in community? This prize means a lot to us. The financial support not only helps us sustain what we do, but it also lets our entire community know that this work, and our young people, matter.”

Fleming closed out the night with an apt toast: to generosity, to artists, and to the creation of new realities. “If the spirit of generosity resonates,” she said, “I hope you’ll pay it forward by giving generously to the things that matter most to you.”