THE ARTS

Green Light for Grants: The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved $420,000 in grants for 146 arts projects designed to help the city recover from the riots that followed the Rodney G. King verdict. Councilman Joel Wachs called the grants, the main thrust of the Cultural Affairs Department’s L.A. Arts Recovery Program, “extraordinary,” “highly imaginative” and “the kind of creative thinking needed in this city to address the social issues” brought to attention by the riots. The council also approved 26 optional arts grants, totaling $70,000, which will be dispersed as additional money for the program is raised from outside partners. In the same vote, the council approved a $1-million recovery-themed “Art in Urban Areas” program to be funded from untapped elements of the Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts.