Sanctuary for the Sacred Arts (Sanct) requests $30,000 from the California Arts Council to support foundational general operating needs at a critical stage of organizational development. Funds will be directed toward three areas: establishing sustainable compensation for the Executive Director, whose leadership has driven Sanct’s growth without pay to date; covering essential compliance and governance costs including organizational filings, insurance, and regulatory requirements; and building the administrative infrastructure needed to support Sanct’s California-based arts and cultural stewardship work consistently over time.
The structural groundwork is in place. Sustained indigenous partnerships, documented programmatic capacity, and a governance model centered on cultural stewardship are established. This grant provides the operational stability to move from foundational building into showing up consistently for the communities we serve.
1. Sacred Cultural Infrastructure Through Arts and Science
Sanct designs interactive, somatically grounded programming that bridges indigenous knowledge systems and contemporary science. This includes indigenous peacemaking and systemic constellations, youth engagement through music and storytelling, and nature-based immersive experiences. Sanct is developing artist residencies at ecologically significant sites and cultivating gallery partnerships in California as extensions of this work into public cultural space.
2. Land Stewardship
Sanct learns directly from indigenous land stewards, including through an active relationship with the Ohlone people of California, and applies those relational principles to the protection of sacred lands locally and worldwide. Stewardship is understood as a living practice transmitted through relationship, not a conservation category.
3. Community Governance
Sanct maintains cultural stewards as active members of its advisory board, ensuring indigenous authority shapes organizational decision-making. Supporting their work and building governance structures that distribute rather than concentrate power is how Sanct protects the integrity of its mission over time.