Artist Laureate Program
Culver City recognizes the importance of the arts and the many creative artists who are committed to developing their art forms, enriching the community with their exhibits, performances, presentations, and service. The Artist Laureate program is a collaboration between the City of Culver City -- the City Council and Cultural Affairs Commission -- and Culver City Arts Foundation. Funding is made possible by the City’s percent for art program and a grant from the Culver City Arts Foundation.
Victoria Marks was appointed Artist Laureate by the City Council from July 2025 – June 2027. 
The City of Culver City is proud to announce Victoria Marks' appointment as the new Culver City Artist Laureate. She will begin her two-year term on July 1, 2025. Marks, a multidisciplinary artist and choreographer/director, was selected following a comprehensive and rigorous two-phase application and review process.
Marks' artistic practice centers on people and their relationships, which she considers her true medium. She creates movement-centered performances with and for groups of people, describing her work as a form of group portraiture. Defining choreography broadly as any set of conscious, intentional actions or movements, Marks' work aims to make visible life's vitality through movement, whether in public spaces like streets and parks, or on film or stage. She sees herself as a bridge builder, focusing on facilitating connection and creating safe and joyful spaces for people to come together.
Katy Krantz, Culver City Artist Laureate 2023 - 2024
Katy Krantz at work in ceramics studio - photo by Rene Mundo Croshere
'Beloved Community' See How Katy Krantz Transformed Former Gun Store
Community Celebrates 'Dear Culver City' Art Installation by Katy Krantz at City Hall
Katy Krantz was appointed by City Council as Culver City’s Artist Laureate from January 2023 through December 2024. The appointment was recommended by the Cultural Affairs Commission and by an independent panel of distinguished professionals with expertise in arts and culture. Krantz served as a cultural ambassador, advocating for the arts across disciplines within the community, including artistic equity, cultural diversity, and access. As Artist Laureate, Krantz initiated socially-engaged community projects, including hands-on arts activities at many locations in Culver City.
Katy Krantz (she/her) is a Culver City resident and a visual artist focusing on ceramics as well as an arts educator. She has a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Painting, as well as bachelor’s degrees in Studio Art and American Studies. Her practice focuses on handmade ceramic tile that involves the direct participation of the communities in which the murals are located. She has completed installations under a public agency’s art program, at schools, and on private property.
Alexey Steele, Self-Portrait, 2014
Alexey Steele was appointed Artist Laureate by the City Council from January 2020 – December 2022.
Steele is an award-winning visual artist with a background in the Russian representational school. Born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1967, he began art training at an early age in the studio of his father Leonid Steele, a renowned artist of the Socialist Realism School of the Soviet Union. Steele is known for his multi-figure large scale compositions, portraits, nudes and plein-air landscapes.
As Artist Laureate, Alexey Steele attended events, engaged with the public directly, supported and collaborated with community artists, and partnered with the school district and the City’s cultural organizations and businesses to develop new programming.His works have been commissioned, exhibited and recognized throughout California, Europe, and Asia. He is also the founder of the music and visual art project “Classical Underground,” and of the award-winning “Love My Neighbor” series. Steele was selected as a member of the California Creative Corps, a new program of the California Arts Council.
Visit Alexey Steele's Website for Full Biography and Activities
Dr. Janet Cameron Hoult, Honorary Artist Laureate for Poetry 2015 - 2019
Portrait of Janet by Alexey Steele, 2020
Dr. Janet Cameron Hoult has lived, studied, and worked all over the world but called Culver City home since she first settled here in 1970. Dr. Hoult was a Fulbright Fellow and received degrees from USC, UCLA, Universite de Grenoble, and University of Washington. She taught for 17 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District, was Director of the Public Schools Program in the USC School of Education, professor at CSULA and has taught poetry at the Culver City Senior Center.
Throughout her residency in Culver City, Janet has been active in Culver City life, sitting on boards and committees, including, among others, the Culver City Sister City Committee, Culver City Disability Advisory Committee, Culver City Landlord-Tenant Mediation Board, Friends of the Library Board, and the Culver City Centennial Celebration Committee. She edited Culver City’s Centennial Poetry Collection, published in 2018. She has even been a member of the local CC Strummers Ukulele Group.
Janet has published numerous volumes of her poetry, which can be found for sale online including: “Body Parts: A Collection of Poems About Aging,” and “Going to the Dogs and Other Critters.” Proceeds from her book sales are donated to various charities. Dr. Hoult was instrumental in establishment of the Artist Laureate Program.
The City will appoint for a two-year term an individual artist from one of three arts discipline categories—fine and visual arts, performing arts, and literary arts—to serve as cultural ambassador and advocate for the arts within Culver City. The award will recognize artistic excellence, support the continuing development of the artist’s work, and spotlight the important role individual artists play in contributing to a vibrant, equitable and healthy community, enriching the city’s creative economy, and positively impacting the quality of life for people of all ages.
Artist Laureate Program Goals:
- Collaborate with City staff, the Cultural Affairs Commission’s Artist Laureate Subcommittee, and project partners
- Inspire diverse residents to foster a greater appreciation of the arts
- Represent the City through engaging and conceptually driven, original works stimulated by and in response to the local communities
- Cultivate critical thinking from and connections to the arts through public displays, in-person workshops and programs, and civic events
- Increase the accessibility of your art form to residents in their everyday lives
- Explore the diversity of the City and get to know the local communities
- Create original art that celebrates the City’s geography, cultures, and/or histories
Visit Artist Laureate Letter of Interest Application Guidelines
Visit the Artist Laureate FAQ Page for More Information
The applicants must meet the following requirements:
- Live or work in Culver City, neighboring cities and/or districts including Mar Vista, Baldwin Hills, Palms, Crenshaw, Baldwin Vista, Leimert Park, Hyde Park, Ladera Heights, Del Rey, Marina del Rey, and unincorporated areas bordering Culver City. Interested applicants who live adjacent to Culver City, but do not reside in any of the regions listed above, should email cultural.affairs@culvercity.org to inquire about applying.
- At least 18 years old at the time of application deadline,
- Available to attend and participate in various city events as designated,
- Have publicly exhibited, performed, presented, or published artistic work within the last three years,
- Not be enrolled as an undergraduate student or graduate student in a degree program related to the arts discipline of the application,
- Be authorized to work in the United States.
Culver City is dedicated to achieving cultural equity through its programs. Cultural equity embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based on race/ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion—are represented in the development of arts policy; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.
History of the Artist Laureate Program
On May 11, 2015, the Culver City Council considered the possibility of creating a Poet Laureate position and directed the Cultural Affairs Commission (CAC) to investigate and provide a recommendation. The CAC formed an ad hoc subcommittee which researched and considered public comment on the subject. This subcommittee recommended establishing an Artist Laureate Program that would encompass all arts disciplines and worked with the Culver City Arts Foundation, a co-sponsor for the program, to further develop and implement the program. They also recommended appointing Dr. Janet Cameron Hoult as Honorary Artist Laureate for poetry for a two-year term, with duties including facilitating public awareness of poetic arts and advising the CAC on program guidelines and selection criteria.
The program was formally established by the City Council in March 2018. The City Council appointed Alexey Steele as the first Artist Laureate in January 2019 for a two-year term, which was later extended for a third year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Katy Krantz was appointed in 2023 as Culver City's Artist Laureate for a two-year term which included a comprehensive temporary community art installation entitled Dear Culver City… at Culver City Hall. Krantz also worked with the community and local muralist Brooklynd Wild Flowers and Valentina Trentini (Brushetta Signs) to re-envision the former Retting gun store at 11029 Washington Blvd. following the City’s purchase of the building in 2023. The Culver City Arts Foundation continues to support the program through a funding partnership with the City of Culver City facilitated by a grant established by Dr. Janet Hoult.