Grantee Database
OUR LA
Grant Year
2023-24
Grant Program
General Operating Support
Award Amount
$38,499.00
Project Description
With support from the California Arts Council, OUR LA will hire underserved creatives (youth, women, LGBTQIA+, POC, AAPI, differently abled) to prepare its massive audiovisual collection on the history of Los Angeles and life and legacy of five-term LA Mayor Tom Bradley to be donated to an LA repository for free public use, research, and reflection.
OUR LA will repurpose its award-winning documentary, BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: TOM BRADLEY AND THE POLITICS OF RACE, to create educational modules (short films) tailored for and designed, in part, by young people for use in high schools. (Mentorship will be provided).
OUR LA will develop a comprehensive community outreach/publicity campaign focusing on the films’ relevant themes (race, police reform, coalitions, social justice). Engagements will promote dialogue and action while LA celebrates and prepares to host the 2028 Olympic Games.
Organization Summary
During Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ administration and in preparation for LA’s 2028 Olympics, we believe there is an urgency now to repurpose our award-winning documentary, BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: TOM BRADLEY AND THE POLITICS OF RACE, and use our massive archival collection to bring the remarkable story of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley-the first African American mayor elected overwhelmingly in a majority white American city-to the forefront.
Because a scholarly biography of Bradley’s life was never published, our team spent seven years researching and rewriting the film script, which ultimately was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Our one-of-a-kind archive documents Bradley’s legacy and LA’s history from the 1920s Great Migration to the 1992 LA Civil Unrest. It includes thousands of never-before-seen historical photographs, oral histories, hundreds of hours of filmed interviews/audiotapes, LAPD public relations reels, ephemera, and city documentation. OUR LA will donate this treasure trove to an LA repository for future, free public access, research, and reflection.
Our current programming is to 1) prepare/organize the collection per the selected institution’s recommendations, 2) repurpose the documentary and use the collection’s unpublished works to develop culturally relevant educational modules tailored to the learning experience of today’s youth. The films will reside on our website and PBS LearningMedia (a free resource for K-12 students and educators) and will be used in high schools, and 3) build a comprehensive community outreach plan to reignite interest in Tom Bradley-the man who fought to bring the triumphant 1984 Olympics to LA.
OUR LA produced TOM BRADLEY’S IMPOSSIBLE DREAM, an educational video and curriculum for high schools; collaborated with 50+ social justice-oriented organizations on events related to the film’s themes (race, police brutality, coalition building); and pioneered two youth programs with Facing History and Ourselves and the City of LA Workforce Development Board.
Organization
OUR LA
Address
2454 LYRIC AVE
LOS ANGELES
90027-4655
County
Los Angeles
Region
South – Los Angeles & Orange
Phone
(310) 901-5939
Congressional District
30th District
State Assembly District
52nd District
State Senate District
24th Senatorial District
