In her memoirs Landau made it clear: “It was not my choice to leave.” In 1960 she lost her central function in the musical activities of the Westside Jewish Community Center. She assumed instead a full-time position as cultural arts director at a new building on Burbank Boulevard of the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center in Van Nuys, in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. In a letter of October 10, 1960, Anneliese attempted to make a start in her new role, rallying support for and interest in her activities in a fresh setting. She reached out first to Dorothy Huttenback, explaining that she oversaw all adult art education: music, fine arts, drama, and dance. But she realized that support of the arts in the valley community was minimal: the center's members preferred socialization—swimming and refreshments—over music. Her challenges in the valley would be greater than they had ever been at the Beverly-Fairfax or Westside Centers. But she had a plan to overcome them, which she outlined in the letter: “To bring vitally needed art-education to starved communities, we need the very best from the very beginning to secure wider and better understanding audiences in the shortest time possible, something, that will undoubtedly reflect on Los Angeles some later time.” Sol Marshall publicized her ambition in a special story about her work. In an article of January 27, 1961, Landau made her devotion to the arts clear, expanding her area of expertise beyond music: “For me, hardly anything exists in the world aside from art and music and literature.”

In the valley she would continue the Musicians in the Making program. The local Valley News proudly announced the start date, October 9, 1960, marking it as “Los Angeles’ oldest solo recital series.” But Landau's music study groups and the Composer's Workshop would end. She was promised a continued, though limited, influence on the activities at the Westside Center—a bridge to the programs and activities she had established before—but Landau believed the promise was empty. She felt the new music committee there had little respect for her early efforts or for her previous accomplishments in Europe. As if in confirmation, the committee rarely included or consulted her.