Soft Focus Foundation funds and supports art created by people who have experienced profound, life-altering loss.
We were inspired by our good friend Devan, who was able to overcome the most tragic loss through music.
We have seen first hand how art can heal, and we strive to assist those in need with the process.
Foundation’s Founders
Nick Chakwin
Nick is a screenwriter and film director who got into filmmaking for the people, and for the chance to capture something honest about how we live. He's produced two independent feature films from the ground up, and he's spent time mentoring with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles. What he wants from Soft Focus is simple: a world that treats art as a real tool for healing, and a way for people to move through loss. When he's not working, you'll find him playing with his two favorite four-year-olds, his son and his German shepherd.
Kate Chakwin
Katie spent years as the director of the art gallery at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, California, where she championed artists and built a space that made room for their work. She's a writer of short stories and feature screenplays, and an accomplished producer who knows what it takes to carry a project from a first idea to a finished piece. She's drawn to the moments where art and real life meet, and to the people brave enough to put their stories into the world. That's the heart of what she brings to Soft Focus: a belief that everyone deserves the chance to make something, and the support to see it through.
Devan Mulvaney
Devan is a songwriter who is now finishing a self-funded concept album that moves through the loss of his sister and parents, who died in a car crash. For Devan, the creative process was the single most healing part of his grief — and that's what he wants Soft Focus to offer other people: the financial means to make their art while they move through loss, and the chance to find others who've struggled in the same ways. When he's not in the studio, you'll find him and his wife Becks at their favorite place, the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.