With support from the California Arts Council, the Ventura County Arts Council will continue our advocacy among government officials, working closely with the newly created Office of Arts & Culture. We will maintain our focus on DEI and assist smaller arts non-profits and community arts organizations in building their capacity. In partnership with the County’s Arts & Culture Manager, we will increase VCAC’s operating capital and its programmatic reach, making sure to prioritize resources to areas of the county in the lowest quartiles on the California Healthy Places Index.
VCAC runs several programs. We re-grant funds to arts organizations and artists when they are available and recently with NEA grant money matched by our county government. Artists in the Classroom is a multi-disciplinary arts education program serving K-8 schools countywide which we took over administering from the county’s Office of Education. Our Arts & Youth Justice program teaches arts to youth in the system, at several locations in the county and at the court school in the Juvenile Justice Center. We administer Poetry Out Loud locally and established a county Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate program. The Atrium Gallery is a public art program and for that we curate three floors in the Government Center in collaboration with the County’s DEI council focusing on exhibitions that highlight artwork by people outside of the mainstream. VCAC prioritizes partnering with arts organizations and artists serving marginalized and underrepresented people and working in the communities where they reside.

