LOS ANGELES, CA, March 5, 2026 — The Los Angeles Conservancy announced today that it has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place program—the largest single grant in the Conservancy’s five-decade history. This transformative investment will significantly expand the Conservancy’s Altadena Cultural Asset Mapping (CAM), a community-driven project focused on documenting, preserving, and uplifting the community heritage of Altadena following the devastating Eaton Fire of January 2025.

The Los Angeles Conservancy’s CAM project aims to help residents identify and celebrate both the tangible and intangible heritage that defines their community—from historic architecture and cultural spaces to lived traditions and stories of resilience.

“Altadena’s recovery is about more than rebuilding structures—it’s about honoring the lives, memories, people, and cultural heritage that make this community what it is,” said Adrian Scott Fine, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy. “Thanks to the Mellon Foundation, this cultural asset mapping project will ensure that Altadena’s cultural heritage is not only fully acknowledged and understood but interwoven into the community’s path forward as part of rebuilding efforts.”

Over a three-year period extending through December 2028, Mellon Foundation support will fund three core components:

• Cultural Asset Mapping – Expansion of the Altadena Cultural Asset Mapping (CAM) project to identify, document and map cultural assets across the community. The project will engage residents and stakeholders in identifying places, stories, traditions, public art, and cultural practices that define Altadena’s collective identity, ensuring the community’s heritage becomes a cornerstone of long-term recovery and planning efforts. As part of CAM, this grant support also provides funding for implementation of a community-based project.

• Project Management and Capacity Building – Funding for a full-time CAM Project Manager to coordinate partnerships, community engagement, data collection, and evaluation, strengthening the Conservancy’s capacity to sustain this multi-year initiative.

• Community Regranting Program – A total of $550,000 will be redistributed to Altadena-based organizations to deepen community-led placekeeping and storytelling efforts. Of these funds, $300,000 will be regranted to the Altadena Rebuild Coalition (ARC), an initiative of the Southern California Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (SoCal NOMA). ARC will use these funds to document oral histories, develop educational resources, and advocate for equitable recovery planning in collaboration with local partners. An additional $250,000 will support up to five Altadena-serving organizations for complementary projects in oral history, cultural programming, and storytelling.

This Mellon Foundation funding builds upon a $420,000 Getty Foundation grant awarded to the Los Angeles Conservancy in 2025 to initiate the Altadena historic resources survey, Historic Context Statement, and the Altadena Cultural Asset Mapping (CAM). Together, these investments mark a major step forward in integrating historic preservation, equity, and community resilience.

The Mellon Foundation’s support also builds on the Los Angeles Conservancy’s participation in the Artists at Work program, a national initiative presented in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture. The Conservancy is honored to host resident artist Alma Cielo through November 30, 2026, and support her 1000 Voices Altadena Mosaic community art project.

About the Altadena Cultural Asset Mapping (CAM) Project 

The CAM Project seeks to identify, document and map the full range of Altadena’s cultural assets—including people, places, events, traditions, and creative practices—to guide equitable recovery and future planning. Through community-led research, participatory mapping, and storytelling, CAM ensures that Altadena’s rebuilding process honors its diverse history and living traditions.

About the Los Angeles Conservancy 

The Los Angeles Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that celebrates and preserves the historic places that make Los Angeles unique. Founded in 1978, the Conservancy works through advocacy, education, and partnerships to recognize architecture, neighborhoods, and cultural spaces that define Los Angeles’s rich and diverse heritage.

This project is supported by the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place program.

Media Contact: 
Lisett Chavarela
Director of Communications
Los Angeles Conservancy
lchavarela@laconservancy.org

Learn more about our Altadena recovery and rebuilding efforts