الفنانون يلعبون دور ‘المستجيبين الثانويين’ في جهود إعادة الإعمار بعد حرائق الغابات

The 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica is inviting Palisadians, as well as the larger Los Angeles community, to the opening of “In the After,” a two-year, multidisciplinary artistic initiative responding to the January 2025 fires. A free public launch event will be held Saturday, July 11, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the center’s campus at 1639 18th Street in Santa Monica.

The project will bring together five artists over the next two and a half years, running through December 2027, to work with wildfire survivors through storytelling, sculpture, film, ceremony and archival mapping. Michael Ano, who helps oversee the initiative at the 18th Street Arts Center, said the project grew out of the idea that artists can serve as “second responders” in the wake of a disaster—a role distinct from paramedics and firefighters—but one focused on a community’s longer-term emotional recovery and sense of belonging.