Liberty Hill Foundation Celebrates 40th Annual Upton Sinclair Celebration

For Immediate Release
Contact: Courtney Kassel, Chief Communications Officer, ckassel@libertyhill.org
Date: April 24, 2023

(Los Angeles)— Liberty Hill Foundation’s signature Upton Sinclair event, which honors local organizers and community leaders, celebrated a milestone anniversary at its 40th Annual Upton Sinclair Celebration on April 19th, 2023.

The foundation’s signature event celebrated frontline organizers, community leaders, and donor activists who have contributed to the progressive victories that power social change in Los Angeles County. Under this year’s theme, “Uniting Power and Purpose,” the foundation recognized four honorees who have dedicated their lives to the fight for social justice and championed victories that have made Los Angeles more just and equitable for all.

Honorees included philanthropist and LGBTQ+ donor activist, Weston Milliken, recipient of the Founders Award; Emmy-nominated choreographers Chloe Arnold and Maud Arnold of the Chloe and Maud Foundation, recipients of the Creative Vision Award; the Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling – Los Angeles (STAND-L.A.) Coalition, recipients of the Wally Marks Changemaker Award; and keynote speaker, President and CEO of The California Endowment, Dr. Robert K. Ross, recipient of the Upton Sinclair Award.

Hosted at the Skirball Cultural Center, the milestone celebration highlighted 40 years of Upton Sinclair events and honorees as well as the foundation’s visionary co-founders Win McCormack, Larry Janss, Anne Mendel and Sarah Pillsbury. Event guests in attendance included former County of Los Angeles Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, City of Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, City of Los Angeles Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, activist and M*A*S*H actor Mike Farrell, and American labor leader and civil rights activists Dolores Huerta.

The evening’s program included live performances by Emmy-nominated choreographer Chloe Arnold’s tap-dancing supergroup The Syncopated Ladies, along with the premier of the “Uniting Power and Purpose” film highlighting the STAND-L.A. Coalition’s tireless fight to end toxic neighborhood oil drilling in Los Angeles County.

This year’s celebration also coincided with the 100th anniversary of the 1923 Liberty Hill Strike in San Pedro, California, where writer and political activist Upton Sinclair delivered his infamous speech which signaled the rebirth of the labor movement in Southern California.

For more information about Liberty Hill’s 40th Annual Upton Sinclair Celebration, please contact Courtney Kassel, Chief Communications Officer, at ckassel@libertyhill.org.

About Liberty Hill Foundation
Liberty Hill Foundation is a laboratory for social change philanthropy. We leverage the power of community organizers, donor activists, and allies to advance social justice through strategic investment in grants, leadership training, and campaigns. We envision a society in which all people have a powerful voice, including those currently shut out of our democracy, people cut off from opportunities because of their skin color, gender or sexual orientation, where they live, or where they were born. We will not rest until society provides justice and equality for all.