With the support from the California Arts Council, El Teatro Campesino will sustain its core operational infrastructure of administrative and programming staff to ensure the delivery of two years of quality arts & cultural programming through three core areas: Professional Arts, Arts Education, Community Arts. CAC grant funds will be used to cover overhead costs, salaries, contractor fees, and outreach and marketing expenses. As we approach our 60th anniversary in 2025, our staff and artists look forward to deepening the impact of professional artists coming together and creating accessible artistic experiences that are uplifting both in spirit and in culture, that foster deeper appreciation for the arts, and that celebrate families and our vibrant communities.
Founded by Luis Valdez in 1965 as the cultural arm of the UFW movement, El Teatro Campesino (ETC) functions as a multi-generational theatre company. For fifty-nine years now, ETC has been at the forefront of using theatre as an artistic generator of social change and continues to empower artists and communities from its home in San Juan Bautista. The spheres of ETC’s work can be summarized into three core areas: professional arts, arts education and community arts. Within these areas, ETC runs an annual theatre season, a developmental lab to create new work, regional/statewide tours, cultural festivals for Latino holidays, community based art making and arts education programming within schools.

