California State Board Gives $35 Million to Cultural Groups

SACRAMENTO — An obscure state board awarded six- and seven-figure grants Wednesday to dozens of museums and cultural groups, including several that legislators long have championed.

The California Cultural and Historical Endowment Board gave out more than $35 million for projects that included rebuilding a military fort at an Indian reservation outside Fresno, restoring murals at the Santa Monica Public Library and remodeling a downtown Los Angeles building to house the Latino Theater Company.

The theater company received the single largest grant at $4 million.

“Fantastic,” said Jose Luis Valenzuela of the theater company. “We deserve it. We need it.”

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Other recipients included:

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• The Angel Island immigration station in San Francisco Bay, called the Ellis Island for Asian immigrants. It sought $5 million and received $3 million, the second-largest grant.

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Assembly leaders also pushed for funding of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation, which received $2.5 million to continue building a memorial to the founder of the United Farm Workers in the Kern County town of Keene. And they had championed the Capital Unity Coalition, which received $2.2 million for a multicultural museum near the state Capitol.

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