Los Angeles, CA (January 30, 2026)—When wildfires devastated the Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other Los Angeles-area communities beginning on January 7, 2025, MusiCares, the charitable affiliate of the Recording Academy, quickly launched its disaster relief efforts to support affected music and audio professionals.
“One of the things that we are really proud of at MusiCares is not only the scale of the support that we provided, but the pace at which we did it,” says Theresa Wolters, the organization’s executive director. “We had payments out to people within a week and a half of the fires starting.”
The Recording Academy and MusiCares launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort with an initial pledge of $1 million, using the annual Persons of the Year gala on January 31 and the Grammy Awards telecast a few days later to raise funds from a wider audience.
“We have, to date, spent over $15 million in support,” Wolters reports. “We’ve raised a total of $18 million, and we are anticipating that by next summer, we will probably have spent down most of our fire relief effort.”
In the initial phase, as people fled their homes, anyone employed in the music business for three years in any professional capacity—bus driver, club security, music journalist, recording engineer—was eligible for $1,500 financial assistance and a $500 grocery card after completing a simple application. “We provided that to more than 3,200 music people throughout Los Angeles,” she says.
MusiCares partnered with philanthropic and humanitarian organizations like Direct Relief, California Community Foundation and Pasadena Community Foundation to get financial support into the hands of those who most needed it. “At the end of April, we partnered with several instrument and gear companies. We provided over $700,000 in free equipment and software to music professionals who had lost equipment or had it damaged in the fires. Some items were donated and, in some cases, MusiCares covered the cost.”
• Recovery, Revival and Rebuilding: LA Recording After the Wildfires
In the second major phase, MusiCares addressed the long-term recovery needs of those who had lost homes or studios. The building might be gone, but they likely still have to pay the mortgage, Wolters points out, never mind the day-to-day expenses. “They’re clearing out their retirement funds, going into debt, maxing out their credit cards. MusiCares has really been focused on substantial support for those people who had catastrophic damage.”
They are now in phase three, she says, with MusiCares helping people rebuild their lives by providing community-based health clinics and mental health services, especially for youngsters. “We’re still seeing people, 11 months into this, who are just now saying, ‘Now I realize I need a little help,’ or, ‘I need some mental health support to process this,’” she says.
MusiCares is also working with a consortium of organizations that support the entertainment community to bring in experts to advise fire survivors on how to navigate FEMA, rebuild their homes, file their taxes and handle financial planning. “We want people to know that we are still a resource for them if they’re recovering,” Wolters stresses. “We have engaged an external research firm and we’re conducting a study with them to better understand how the fires impacted the L.A. music community,” she adds. That data will help MusiCares respond to future disasters.
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“I think it’s also important for us to keep talking to a wider audience about disaster response and music, to continue to reiterate how the music community is uniquely impacted by disasters and why music people need a safety net,” she says. To that end, MusiCares continues to welcome donations, not just for fire relief, but also for its overall mission of providing a safety net of critical health and welfare services to the music community.
Those seeking assistance, and those who wish to donate, can find more information on the MusiCares website, www.musicares.org.
