L.A., May 17, 2025 — In the current brutal Los Angeles entertainment environment, where costs are high and Hollywood productions are moving out of the city at record speeds, a new and future creative cooperative has made L.A. its home for creatives and artists.
Due to President Donald Trump proposing foreign films with 100 percent tariffs, productions in L.A. have declined 22 percent, and TV writing jobs have also fallen 42 percent in the past year. Los Angeles may seem like it’s imploding from the inside out. However, a new, soon-to-be creative art coop March April in L.A., wants to build a space for artists in one of the most imaginative places in the nation, at a time when it may seem bleak for creatives.
A cooperative is a member-owned and member-controlled business that operates for the mutual benefit of its members. Instead of profit for shareholders, coops are driven by the needs and values of the people who use or contribute to the business, whether they’re workers, consumers, producers, or a mix. Creative coops would fall under a mixture of all three.
Cooperatives are rare in Los Angeles, especially in creative fields like art. One might expect a place like L.A., the heart of La La Land, to be full of creatively owned collectives like March April or Zeal, a black-owned creative coop that empowers black artists and offers artist development, cultural production support, and leadership training. In reality, they’re few and far between.
According to L.A. Coop Lab–a guide of all types of coops in L.A.–there are just eight confirmed worker-owned cooperatives in Los Angeles County. Recent California legislation may be encouraging more: The California Employee Owner Act [2022] supports the transition to employee ownership, while AB 816 [2023] clarifies that existing co-op laws apply to all types of worker cooperatives.
While March April is not a fully established worker coop yet, they plan to file their business documents in June and get their names listed on L.A. Coop Lab’s site, even amid L.A.’s current internal creative struggle.
A creative alternative to corporate LA
“I’m not worried. I think there are enough people to sustain the creative community,” said Somi Jun, the Director of March April Studios, who goes by they/them pronouns.
“I think L.A.’s biggest natural resource is all the creative people who are here and who are willing to work here, even if productions go to a different city or if there’s hardship, I’m sure a lot of people who have stayed here for decades will continue to stay in California.”
March April offers access options for creatives, including a US$ 25 day pass, an US$ 80 one-week pass, and a US$ 75 monthly subscription. The coop also offers a limited number of higher-tier memberships, such as a US$ 275 Studio Membership and a US$ 425 Keyholder Membership, which provides expanded access to equipment, facilities, and community events. However, with any of these options, you’re free to use any of their equipment, like the weave machine, their computer with Adobe Creative Suite and Cricut Design Space, or their soon-to-be dark room.
The dark room and creative equipment represent their core mission: providing expensive, hard-to-access creative equipment to artists at an affordable rate.
“We want to offer creatives and artists an alternative to the expensive big corporation side of LA,” Jun said.
“Creatives are the backbone of L.A.’s economy, and we support them through workshops, film screenings, and a space built for the creative community.”
However, there are critiques of the coop model, specifically creative coops, like instability funding, inconsistent grants and memberships, or burnout and uneven labor. With smaller coops, a few core members often bear most of the work.
Success isn’t guaranteed, however. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than one in five businesses fail within their first year, and nearly half close within five years. Cooperatives face additional hurdles: they often struggle to access funding and technical assistance programs designed for traditional startups, according to the National Cooperative Business Association[ UCLA], and lending institutions can be reluctant to provide credit to collectively owned entities.
“March April provides a creative space for anyone at any level of artistic experience and education to either engage in a new craft or continue building and refining their practice,” said Maj, one of the co-owners of March April.
“Artists can meet in an accessible community space to learn from each other.”
While Jun seems optimistic about the future, others are concerned about the Hollywood workforce. Wildfires have also been a factor in the future of Southern California. According to UCLA, the total property and capital losses could range between US$ 73 and 131 billion, with a total wage loss of US$ 297 million for local businesses and employees in the affected areas this past January.
Production companies have been relocating to other states and overseas, chasing tax breaks and cheaper labor. If that wasn’t enough, on May 4, 2025, President Trump announced a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made films, and since then, demanded that movies be “ filmed in America”—a move that’s been sending tremors and stress throughout the creative workforce.
“Cooperatives allow creatives to maintain control, not only of the work product and revenue, but also the intellectual property and creative process,” said Ricardo Samir Nuñez, the Director of Economic Democracy and a Staff Attorney at the Sustainable Economies Law Center.
Government and industry scramble to respond
California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass are doubling down on efforts to make “Hollywood Work Again.” Last October, Newsom backed legislation to increase the Golden State’s film and TV tax incentives to US$ 750 million annually, while Bass launched a Film and TV Task Force last August to keep productions rooted in Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, May 14th, Gustavo Herrera, CEO of Art 4 LA, a nonprofit that promotes equitable access to art education and advocates for public investment in the arts in LA, delivered a public comment at the State Capitol hearing held by the Joint Committee on the Arts and the Assembly Committee on Entertainment, Sports and Tourism. He emphasised how state and federal budget cuts have severely impacted arts funding.
“In Los Angeles City, we’re looking at approximately a US$ 2.2 million cut to the budgets for the city. Additionally, at the county level, US$ 600,000 in proposed budget cuts,” said Herrera.
“Thirty-one LA-based nonprofit arts organisations have reported terminations, collectively losing over US$ 2 million in active federal grants, with four organisations having terminated grants, which will jeopardize their sustainability.”
Meanwhile, President Trump has expressed interest in a federal incentive package co-developed by Jon Voight, President Trump’s Special Ambassador of Hollywood. A coalition of major industry groups, including the Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Producers Guild of America, and the Motion Picture Association, has also joined a letter to the White House in support of Trump’s effort to combat the exodus of film and television production.
While major guilds lobby for federal intervention, advocates like Nuñez believe the future of creative work lies in worker ownership and collective action.
“There are lots of different ways to increase state support for worker co-ops, such as direct funding, contracting, line items in city budgets, tax incentives, and preferential procurement by the city or state,” said Nuñez.
“If a coop fails, the most common reasons would be the same reasons why any typical business fails: the inability to compete with other capitalist institutions, a failure of leadership, or not having conflict resolution tools and skills.”
“One of the biggest mistakes coops make when starting is not looking for support and resources.” That task became more complex with the 2024 Corporate Transparency Act, which requires disclosure of “beneficial owners”—though the Trump administration announced it won’t enforce the law.
In the meantime, with all these factors combined, this instability trickles down quickly, affecting everyone from set designers, muralists, artists, and anyone in the creative workspace.
As a Los Angeles native, Jun wants to create an economic structure that stabilises these artists in the city. Their broader vision is to popularise the creative worker cooperative model in LA and demonstrate an alternative economic approach that prioritizes collective ownership and
connecting the community with an independent creative space that won’t rely on predatory practices.
As L.A.’s creative workforce adapts to economic uncertainty, Jun is doing the same, working towards a teaching credential at Cal State with plans to teach high school English and programming, while building a co-op that offers others a more stable, creative path.
“Whatever you want to make, we hope you can make it here. Have a cup of coffee, network, and make new friends,” said Jun.
March April’s success or failure may serve as a test case for whether cooperative models can provide real alternatives when traditional creative industries falter. Jun hopes to file incorporation papers by June—then the real work begins.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Public Press
https://thecooperator.news/u-s-electric-coop-gets-funding-to-protect-eagles-from-electrocution/
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