The Carpinteria Arts Center offers a variety of arts programming for all ages, including gallery exhibits with community art submissions, as well as classes in drawing, painting, jewelry, instrumental and vocal music, film, poetry and photography. We offer free concerts, museum and private collection tours, tours of art in public places, and more. Without a Community Center in Carpinteria, we have rapidly become a gathering place for our community. We believe the arts present a unique opportunity for people to come together and it is our goal to be a unifying force in our community as well as a place for healing. Our gallery is staffed each day by volunteers, and with over 100 active volunteers, much of our work is facilitated by the support of volunteers.

We support our local and regional artists with regular juried exhibitions in our gallery and free public art receptions and artists talks. Our youth programs include after-school programs and an 8-week summer camp which each offer visual arts in the morning and music, theater or S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) in the afternoon. Teens are involved both as volunteer assistants with our youth programs as well as participants in our annual Teen Mural project.

We also have a program called Bellas Artes that takes free arts and cultural workshops to the under resourced members of our community on a weekly basis.

Our small staff of 3 full-time and 3 part-time employees is led by a 13-member volunteer board of directors. 4 of our staff members speak Spanish, which enables us to successfully reach under-served populations in our community.