With Support from the California Arts Council, Youth ARTS Alive will provide 700 hours of year-round free classes in Theatre, Dance, Music and Visual Arts for 500 youth ages 8-18 from under-served families in the Santa Maria Valley.
Funds will support the coordination of classes and performances in the neighborhoods of Santa Maria impacted by poverty, at sites provided gratis by the City of Santa Maria. Dollars will support the hiring of professional teaching artists who train our students in Guitar, Drumming, Ukulele, Singing, Baile Folklórico, Modern Dance, Theatre, Clowning, Pottery, Screen Printing, Sculpture, Painting and Drawing.
CAC funding will also support Arts Fiestas, where our students’ art is displayed, and our performing arts students do free public performances to celebrate the deep roots of our multi-cultural community.
In 2017, Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN) became the fiscal sponsor for Youth ARTS Alive so we could provide Free Summer Arts Education for the Youth in under-served neighborhoods of Santa Maria.
YEAR ONE: Four weeks of free classes in Theater, Visual Art, Dance, and Music for 17 youth.
YEAR TWO: Five weeks of class at two sites for 60 youth. We produced our first student Performing and Visual Arts Fiesta for an audience of 125.
YEAR THREE: We added third class site – Los Adobes de Maria, providing 225 class hours of class to 96 students in five weeks. First community non-profit to use the Performing Arts Center at Pioneer Valley High School for our Arts Fiesta for 200 people.
YEAR FOUR: Only summer arts education program in Santa Maria to offer in-person classes. At the Maldonado Youth Center, we educated 60 students (outdoors, in masks) for 3 weeks in Dance, Theatre, Guitar, Ukulele, Drumming, Pottery and Visual Arts, ending each class with a family performance. 20 Los Adobes de Maria students received on-line art classes.
YEAR FIVE: Outdoor program expanded to six weeks, educating 119 students, ending with student performances.
YEAR SIX: Six weeks of classes for 250 students at four locations, including year-round music and art classes at the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum, and two Arts Fiestas for 450 people.
YEAR SEVEN: Six weeks of free arts education for 300 students at five locations, adding six weeks of art and music at Mary Buren Elementary School in Guadalupe, plus two Arts Fiestas for 500 people.
YEAR EIGHT: Six weeks of classes for 350 students at our five locations, plus two Arts Fiestas for 500 people.
YEAR NINE: Five weeks of Classes for 400 students ar our five locations, plus One Grand Arts Fiesta for 300 people.