The California Institute for Community, Art & Nature (California I CAN) was launched in 2016 by Malcolm Margolin. Although recently created, we have a solid foundation in Malcolm’s deep friendships and working relationships with writers, artists, and institutional leaders in California as well as individuals from some of the state’s most marginalized communities. We often partner with museums, universities, and governmental institutions, yet our origins the grassroots enables us to undertake imaginative and significant work with a minimum of expense and bureaucracy. Our team is made up of a warm and diverse community of volunteers, interns, and staff; many prominent in the cultural life of California for decades, bringing further networks of friendships and working relationships. Younger staff, volunteers, and interns are carefully mentored. While we take our work seriously, joy, playfulness, generosity, and a belief in the transformative power of beauty permeate everything we do.