The Cost of Large-Scale Community Events

An Ethnographic Study of Self Help Graphics & Art in East LA

This brief looks at how an organization balances the demand of funders and its commitment to community.

September 2026

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Table of Contents

Overview

Ideas In Practice

Publisher(s)
The Wallace Foundation

Page Count 2 pages

DOI Link
https://doi.org/10.59656/A-AO5139.001

Summary

How we did this

The researcher conducted participant observation and attended weekly staff meetings, public programs, and interviewed staff, board members, and longtime stakeholders connected to the organization.

Self Help Graphics & Art is home to one of Los Angeles’s oldest collaborative print studios and longest running annual public celebrations of Day of the Dead. It also hosts extensive educational programs for small- and large-groups and exhibitions across LA County. Researcher J.V. Decemvirale, Ph.D., notes that when the staff shifts from small scale, artist-focused work to larger-scale events for the community, internal tensions and staff burnout can arise.

The study outlines a dynamic prevalent among many community-focused arts organizations: pressure to show value and impact of an organization's work to funders, which often means scale, and the unrealistic demands it places on staff to run larger events without adequate funds. It also points to opportunities for funders to consider other indicators they might use to gauge an organization's impact.

This brief is based on a case study written by J.V. Decemvirale, Ph. D., California State University, San Bernardino

Funders could place greater emphasis on indicators based on qualitative data…to promote programming that better protects staff capacity and ensures long-term sustainability for the organization.