Grantee Database Results

With support from the California Arts Council, Institute of Inquiry will sustain and grow our community-rooted arts education programs in the Morongo Basin. CAC funds will support areas of need within our core operations staffing, teaching artist compensation, program materials, and essential administrative help—to ensure the continuity of our responsive education programming. Our offerings include Creative Fields, a 28-week arts apprenticeship for transitional-aged youth; early childhood education rooted in artistic exploration and nature-based learning; and creative workforce development opportunities for artists. In a region with limited access to creative pathways and educational services, our work affirms that art is not only a means of expression—but a route to healing, skill-building, and belonging. With this support, we will deepen our impact, grow sustainable arts programming, and invest in the creative potential of our rural desert communities.

The Institute of Inquiry is a community-rooted nonprofit in the high deserts of the Morongo Basin, serving youth and families through dynamic, arts and nature-based education since 2017. We are committed to the long-term health of our vibrant but underserved region, and center youth voice, curiosity, and stewardship of our desert ecosystem across all programming. Our work cultivates a lifelong love of learning in children and families who have been historically excluded from culturally responsive, high-quality educational opportunities. Since 2020, we have expanded our mission to include accessible career pathways in the Arts and Early Childhood Education—two sectors with deep potential for community transformation and wellbeing.

Our programs include:

1. Early Childhood Education Program
Our child-led, arts- and nature-based early childhood program serves children ages 3–7 and their families. Rooted in artistic exploration, play, and forest school models, the curriculum focuses on foundational skill building in social-emotional growth, emergent literacy, and environmental stewardship. With small class sizes and deep family engagement, we deliver responsive, inclusive education that is developmentally-appropriate and honors children’s voices.

2. Creative Fields Program (begins Oct 2025)
This 28-week arts education and workforce mentorship program for transitional-aged youth (ages 14–18). Youth work directly with a cohort of Teaching Artists in disciplines such as weaving, ceramics, fiber arts, woodworking, performance, and visual arts. The program offers over 100 hours of hands-on instruction and mentorship, culminating in a youth-driven final exhibition. Central program goals are to provide accessible learning environments, expand access to progressive arts education and career paths, while providing sustainable, values-based employment development for creative professionals.

3. Workforce Development in Arts & Education
We build sustainable career pipelines through teaching and mentorship opportunities that include:
· Teaching Artist Residencies
· Student-teaching opportunities for community college students
· Highly-supported early childhood educator positions

With support from the California Arts Council, Au Co will continue to serve the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian communities of San Francisco through its:

Annual arts and cultural programming serving intergenerational and multicultural audiences – Mid-Autumn Harvest Festival, Multicultural Spring Festival co-produced with the Southeast Asian Arts Coalition along with Tet Celebration, Thi Ca Su Viet, and Cultural Heritage Day which cater to the Vietnamese community.
Year-round arts and cultural engagement program for youth engaging participants ages 4-7, 8-10, and 11+ with rotating workshop series taught by local Vietnamese artists in folk music, dance, visual arts, and foodways rooted in Vietnamese traditions and culture

Funds will:

Sustain our core administrative staff for the above
Maintain our current space lease at Martin Luther King Jr. School where we conduct our educational and other public programs

Au Co realizes its mission and purpose through a multifaceted suite of programs and services that foster intercultural bonds, cultural preservation, and artistic innovation to uplift the community. Our core programs and services include:

– The Vietnamese Language Program offering classes for students, ranging from young children to young adults, to learn the Vietnamese language while engaging with culture and the arts
– The Youth Leadership Development Program cultivating leadership skills in young adults through participation in community activities, both in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco and the wider Vietnamese community
– The Senior Program providing activities to help seniors maintain good health and promote cultural togetherness between the older and younger generations
– Public events that integrate culture and unite traditional and contemporary artistic practices of the Vietnamese diaspora. Our annual flagship events are Tet – Vietnamese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Thi Ca Su Viet; all of which bring live performance to the community and expand the space of what it means to be Vietnamese
– Educational Programs and Workshops in partnership with other Asian communities through our involvement in the Southeast Asian Art and Culture Coalition (SEAACC), which includes an annual summit

Ben Free Project respectfully requests General Operating Support funding to strengthen our core infrastructure, sustain the growth of our programming, and empower system-impacted individuals through education, storytelling, and the arts. CAC funds will support key personnel—including administrative assistants, art providers, and the executive director—as well as essential operational tools such as QuickBooks, cloud storage, and insurance. This grant will allow us to continue offering initiatives such as the Comic Creation program inside Lancaster State Prison, the Barz Behind Bars poetry contest, distance learning mentorship and writing contests through the Ben Free Project at UCLA, and our collaboration with UCLA, Harvard, Yale, and others to elevate the voices of incarcerated writers. The requested funds will ensure our programming remains consistent, professional, and accessible as we scale to meet growing demand across California’s carceral and academic landscapes.

The Ben Free Project is a justice-centered arts and education nonprofit committed to transforming lives through creative expression, literacy, and personal development. Our core programming engages incarcerated and system-impacted individuals with high-quality, culturally relevant, and trauma-informed curricula designed to promote rehabilitation, reentry success, and community reintegration.

At the heart of our work is art as intervention—programming that leverages storytelling, writing, visual arts, and media production to foster self-awareness, emotional growth, and social connection. Our flagship offerings include Comic Creation, Graphic Memoir Writing, Carceral Journalism Workshops, and Rites of Passage programs adapted for adult correctional settings. These courses are not only educational but therapeutic, equipping participants with tools to understand their own narratives and reclaim authorship over their futures.

In 2024, the California Arts Council awarded us a program grant to deliver Comic Creation at Lancaster State Prison, a first-of-its-kind course co-facilitated by a formerly incarcerated author and a Hollywood screenwriter. This partnership exemplifies our model: pairing lived experience with professional expertise to create access, credibility, and impact.

Our services also include reentry support through creative entrepreneurship training, public-facing art exhibits, and policy advocacy that centers the voices of currently and formerly incarcerated artists. We work in collaboration with correctional institutions, community colleges, and academic partners to ensure alignment with both rehabilitative goals and industry standards.

Every program we offer is guided by the belief that redemption is a creative act. Whether inside or outside prison walls, we empower participants to imagine new possibilities—and build them, one story at a time.

With support from the California Arts Council, ADVOCATES FOR INDIGENOUS CALIFORNIA LANGUAGE SURVIVAL will invest in our general operations and our team. It will allow us to continue our purpose of supporting language and cultures throughout the State and facilitate intergenerational transmission of invaluable cultural knowledge to sustain these traditions for future generations. Our vision of success for communities is their languages are spoken in all community spaces. This funding will support our goals to help communities create new speakers of their Indigenous languages.

The Advocates provide several programs. 1) The Master Apprentice Language Learning Program pairs a fluent speaker with an apprentice who is committed to learning the language and cultural teachings; they work together for 300 hours a year for up to three years. 2) Language is Life Gathering: we host this gathering in odd years to bring together 200-300 California Indians for a weekend of sharing successes, challenges and new strategies. The next one is in October 22019. 3) In even years, we host the Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous California Languages, pairing linguists with California Indian community researchers whose languages have no fluent speakers, for a week-long workshop at UC Berkeley to explore the language archives and develop a project. In between Institutes, we host extended services for Breath of Life former attendees to support them in their language reclamation efforts. 4) Seeds of Language mini-grant provides up to $500 in support for resources such as equipment and workshops. 5) The Family Language Program focuses on families working in their heritage language with Advocates’ mentorship and funding. 6) Young Leadership Development Conference, a program started in 2021 to support the empowerment of the next generation of young language leaders.

Oakland Theater Project (OTP) is the only year-round programming theater in Oakland, California. Founded in 2012, we are inspired by our city, its rich cultural heritage and its unique perspective. In a survey on “belonging” conducted by the City of Oakland, 91% of residents responded that arts activities were essential or very important to their life. Our growth as an organization is a direct result of our attempt to meet this uniquely high demand for artistic programming.

We create exquisite theatrical experiences to inspire compassion across socio-economic and racial barriers. We tell underrepresented stories that matter and create theatrical performances and trainings that intentionally bring disparate communities together and dismantle unconscious bias.

We seek support from the California Arts Council to continue our work with artists, audiences and marginalized communities in our beloved city.

The Oakland Theater Project was founded in 2012 by Michael Socrates Moran, William Hodgson, and Colin Mandlin in Oakland, CA. Formerly named Ubuntu Theater Project, we were founded on the value of Ubuntu, which means “I am because we are” and therein “my humanity is tied to yours.” We seek to explore the ways in which theater can act as a vehicle to reveal and invigorate the latent interconnectedness in humanity and society. To achieve this, our organization roots itself in radical inclusivity by empowering diverse artists and staff and offering every professional production at pay-what-you-can pricing.

Oakland Theater Project began with 3 annual summer theater festivals featuring 14 plays in site-specific locations across the Bay Area. In 2016, Oakland Theater Project launched its first full mainstage season and has produced over 75 unique productions and is the only year-round professional theater company in Oakland, CA.

On top of our bold theatrical productions, we produce workshops and readings, an independent artist series, and offer educational programs serving both adults and youth. Our workshops and readings provide opportunities to develop new plays and help to give vital advancement to new and emerging playwrights of color who have additional barriers to producing work. Lastly, when we offer training and development to low-income artists of color we also build professional pipeline opportunities by partnering with external organizations like Laney College and Oakland School for the Arts.

With support from the California Arts Council, Women In Film will produce pipeline, advocacy, and public programs to advance the careers of women working in screen industries across all levels of experience.

In 1973, Tichi Wilkerson Kassel of the Hollywood Reporter founded Women In Film in Los Angeles to create a powerful, creative community for women, forging a path where none had existed before. Today, when women make up only 22% of roles in production, WIF serves over 5,000 individuals annually through its fellowship programs, public arts and culture initiatives, and membership network. The WIF community are women artists across race, ability, financial status, and other socio-economic factors. Through its work, WIF supports artists, the creation of art, and contributes to a thriving diverse creative landscape in Los Angeles.

WIF believes achieving equal cultural representation within our media narratives requires a representative number of skilled storytellers. To that end, WIF programming aims to address the gender disparity by amplifying the voices of talented underrepresented artists, while highlighting the obstacles they face in the field – ultimately, developing the emerging and mid-career creative workforce. Public and membership programming is an anchor to WIF’s mission, and centers around the brilliant work of legacy WIF collaborators, as well as its career programs alum and current fellows, through curated screening series, panel discussions, and craft developing workshops.

The WIF Fellowships, the organization’s anchor career program, supports all creative and below-the-line positions in entertainment, providing specialized year-round mentorship for a new class of 54 fellows in eight different cohorts of artistic discipline annually. Program staff members program 8-12 bespoke events on artistic process and the business of art with over 15 professional mentors.

With hundreds of fellowship program alumni securing positions in writers’ rooms or creating award-winning films, WIF has yielded a deep network of creativity that drives its mission forward.

The Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles requests funding to sustain our mission of transforming young lives through music education. As the largest majority Black orchestra in the country, ICYOLA serves 150 inner-city youth through orchestra and education programs. CAC grant funds will support operational expenses including instructor salaries, instrument maintenance, venue rental, transportation, and administrative support. Founded in 2009, ICYOLA teaches orchestral literature while developing critical life skills including problem-solving, self-discipline, and academic excellence. Our programs prepare predominantly Black and Latino youth for advanced study and professional auditions, addressing diversity gaps in classical music.This funding enables ICYOLA to maintain programming, retain faculty, and provide barrier-free access to music education. Students perform in prestigious Los Angeles venues while developing skills and confidence for higher education and music careers, cultivating musical expression as personal development.

ICYOLA offers five programs: the ICYOLA Orchestra Program; the ICYOLA Academy; the South Los Angeles Music Project; the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship; and the ICYOLA Drum Corps. Through the ICYOLA Orchestra Program, we present an annual Concert Season that features both the standard orchestral repertoire and contemporary music that resounds within the community that ICYOLA serves. Through the South Los Angeles Music Project, we offer introductory and diversionary music programs to young people who are at risk of entry into the juvenile justice system. Through the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship, we train emerging professionals to take and win auditions with American orchestras. The ICYOLA Drum Corps trains young musicians how to play drums and march in step. All ICYOLA programs instill the ancillary values of music into their members. Those values include self-respect, respect for others and property, chain of command, and the pursuit of excellence in all things.

With CAC General Operating Support, Art in the Park Community Cultural Programs will invest in the labor of artists and teachers working directly with the public. We are focused on growing our capacity to provide accessible, equitable, and thoughtful arts programming that uplifts our community. By sustaining artist-led initiatives, increasing our hourly wages for community teachers, and raising artists’ project stipends, we will build a more sustainable practice that both deepens meaningful artistic engagement, and better serves the diverse populations we serve in North East Los Angeles. This investment in artists and community engagement is essential to maintaining a vibrant, resilient, and culturally rich environment where all individuals can access and participate in the arts.

For more than 20 years, our artist-run, multi-generational community space has provided access to the arts in Northeast LA, serving as an incubator for diverse, grassroots public programming. Some of our core programs include Community Arts—an ongoing series of artist-led projects; our Artist-in-Residency program; Community Band; and Community Arts—a weekly all-ages band and arts workshop that happens on Saturdays outside in the park. We have ongoing music, art, and movement classes during the week and ongoing art exhibitions. We build opportunities alongside the people we serve, fostering the development of the artists, musicians, dancers, and cultural workers who drive our programs.

With support from the California Arts Council, Berkeley Art Center will continue its three core programs:
Exhibitions supporting Bay Area Artists and intergenerational communities, Community Partnerships
highlighting activism and advocacy across marginalized communities, and Leadership and Professional
Development investing in equity and inclusion in the arts and culture sector as a pipeline for BIPOC curators and arts administrators.

Berkeley Art Center is a hub for contemporary art and community building. By virtue of its location in an urban park, BAC emphasizes an approach to art and artists that values their work as an important part of daily life and a vital contribution to the good of the community. Its serene setting invites visitors to approach the gallery as a space of reflection and contemplation, while also forging a more intimate connection between artist and viewer.

BAC is committed to making contemporary art by local artists approachable and accessible. It produces visual art exhibitions, artist talks, art-making workshops, performance and social practice projects, film and video screenings, symposia and other social gatherings throughout the year. Educational programs for teens connect art with activism, while professional development workshops for artists provide opportunities to build skills and networks to sustain their careers.

With support from the California Arts Council, MOXIE Theatre will present a Season of three fully staged productions and a New Works Festival, all featuring work written by women+ playwrights, at least 50% of which being people of color, that tell stories that defy stereotypes and amplify the voices of historically under-represented communities.

MOXIE will also launch a new Heritage Month Series of one-day engagement events celebrating different cultural heritages through a variety of formats; and offer educational workshops in playwriting and devised theatre to middle and high-school students, with priority given to schools who serve marginalized populations, such as immigrant and justice-impacted youth.

MOXIE Theatre presents to San Diego audiences a season of mainstage productions every year. Each show runs for 5 weeks in their 99-seat theatre space located in the College Area of the city. All works produced by MOXIE are written by women+ identifying playwrights and directed by women+ directors. At least 50% of playwrights produced every year are people of color, as well as 50% of the artists hired each season on stage and behind the scenes. For every show, experts on the themes of the plays and community partners representative of the populations seen on stage are invited for pre or post-show conversations with the audience to offer additional insight. Student matinees are also organized for local high schools, particularly schools serving a low income student population.

With support from CAC, the San Francisco Mime Troupe (SFMT) will strengthen its organizational capacity to continue delivering bold, justice-driven theater and community engagement. Funds will support core staffing, collective artist stipends, and the delivery of our 2025–2026 programming, including our free summer touring shows, the winter production Red Carol, and the Youth Theater Project (YTP), a paid, after-school program for BIPOC youth in San Francisco public schools.

Founded in 1959, SFMT is a democratically run collective that creates accessible, high-impact performances exploring working-class struggles and systemic injustice. CAC funding will help sustain our equity-focused operations, deepen community partnerships, and expand outreach to underserved audiences across the Bay Area. This support ensures we continue to reach thousands annually through free, inclusive, and transformative arts experiences rooted in cultural relevance and social change.

Our core programs and services include our legendary live musical production, presented annually in Northern California public parks from Independence Day to Labor Day; the eight-week intensive Youth Theater Program, challenging hundreds of young people with playwriting and performance workshops; the Young California Writers Project, our partnership with Balboa High School that support writing and presentation skills. We also work in our community on projects like the restoration of Juana Alicia’s powerful mural Para Las Rosas.

With support from the California Arts Council, Unscripted Learning will use improvisational theatre to teach teamwork, creative expression, leadership, and problem-solving, while also bringing the theory and practice of improv to underserved communities. Our programs foster creativity and connection across generations and abilities, including seniors and youth on the autism spectrum. At a time when funding for the arts is being cut at local, state, and national levels, support from the CAC is more critical than ever. Without it, Unscripted Learning will be forced to reduce or end low-cost classes, cutting off access to a proven resource for youth with ASD and other underserved communities that thrive through creativity, connection, and the power of improv.

Developed in conjunction with the National Comedy Theatre in 2017, Unscripted Learning uses improvisational theatre to teach the concepts of teamwork, leadership, and creative problem solving as well as teaching improv skills and theory. Programs include:

Connections: An improvisational theatre program for teenagers and young adults on the autism spectrum.
Kids and Teens Programs: Unscripted Learning uses improv comedy to teach teamwork, sportsmanship and leadership in addition to performance skills, while providing a forum for students to have fun in a wholesome, supportive environment.
Active Minds: An educational program, designed exclusively for seniors, that teaches improvisational acting techniques and skills to improve cognitive ability, foster brain health, broaden creative expression and help increase social interaction.

With support from the California Arts Council, Nava Dance Theatre will create and present new works exploring identity, labor, and healing in South Asian and diasporic communities—ensuring all participating artists are fairly compensated.
Projects include:
– Tea with Demons (working title), an evening-length work about the demon archetypes we internalize
– Body of Work, honoring the strength of our bodies over decades of labor
– Free and subsidized public classes for all levels in SF, Fremont, and Berkeley
– Unrehearsed, virtual artist residency and performance series highlighting gender, race, and caste inequities (in person sharings)
– Varnam Salon, platform supporting emerging Bharatanatyam artists through mentorship/performance
– Dance Brunch, community dance workshops centering global-majority practices
– Elementary School programs: SFUSD (for example, ER Taylor Elementary 65% Asian, 84% low-income) and similar East Bay locations tbd.

Nava Dance Theatre (NDT), led by Artistic Director Nadhi Thekkek, is a Bharatanatyam company using South Indian dance as a medium for reflection and discovery. We focus on two main programs: original dance works and our Unrehearsed: Artist Residency and Commissioning program. We also offer subsidized workshops, co-produce the Varnam Salon, and organize classes as part of our community engagement.

Highlights include residencies at CounterPulse and A.C.T., two commissions from Oakland Ballet, and support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project. Our work has also been funded by the MAP Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, and more. Since 2013, we’ve performed nationally at venues such as La Mama (NYC), National Steinbeck Center, SF Ethnic Dance Festival, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, UC Davis Mondavi Center, and UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center.

NDT creates immersive, community-centered performances rooted in South Asian storytelling through Bharatanatyam and experimental movement. Our blend of dance, music, and narrative reflects the lived experiences of Indian and South Asian communities. Drawing from oral histories and interviews, we explore themes like migration, identity, and justice. Through responsible, culturally responsive storytelling, we center underrepresented voices and invite audiences to reflect, connect, and take pride in our shared histories.

With support from the California Arts Council, GEORGIA LASTER ASSOCIATION OF MUSICIANS INC will enhance its core programs to promote, preserve, and support African American music and musicians in Southern California. Grant funds will expand our marketing program to raise money for our scholarship program, financial aid to youth for music education, including lessons and instruments. Performance opportunities through recitals, showcasing emerging and established artists while fostering cultural appreciation will increase. Additionally, funds will support community engagement by strengthening membership initiatives. These efforts will ensure access to high-quality music instruction and platforms for artistic expression, empowering young musicians and preserving African American musical heritage. G.L.A.M., Inc. will continue its 61-year legacy of impactful music education and cultural preservation.

The Georgia Laster Association of Musicians, Inc. (G.L.A.M., Inc.), founded in 1961 in Los Angeles, California, is a chapter of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. (NANM). Its core mission is to promote, preserve, and support African American music and musicians while fostering music education and performance opportunities, particularly for youth in Southern California.

Core Programs and Services:

Music Education and Scholarships: G.L.A.M., Inc. provides financial support and scholarships to thousands of students, enabling access to high-quality music instruction. These initiatives target young musicians, emphasizing the importance of music education to nurture talent and cultural appreciation.

Performance Opportunities: The organization offers platforms for both emerging and established musicians to showcase their talents. Through concerts, recitals, and community events, G.L.A.M., Inc. creates spaces for members to perform, fostering artistic growth and public engagement with African American musical traditions.

Community Engagement and Membership: G.L.A.M., Inc. welcomes musicians and music enthusiasts as members, offering voting rights at local, regional, and national levels within NANM. This inclusive membership model supports a community dedicated to music advocacy and cultural preservation.

Cultural Preservation: Rooted in its affiliation with NANM, founded in 1919, G.L.A.M., Inc. upholds the legacy of African American music through events and programs that celebrate its historical and contemporary significance.

With support from the California Arts Council, Viet Voices will continue to strengthen our ongoing art program by curating and showcasing the work of Southeast Asian artists through quarterly exhibitions. CAC grant funds will be used to provide stipends to participating artists, cover exhibition costs (including venue rental, installation, and marketing), and support community engagement efforts. The program will offer a platform for artists to explore and express cultural narratives, amplify underrepresented voices, and foster meaningful dialogue between artists and the community. Funds will also be allocated for accessible programming, including language services and accommodations, ensuring that the exhibitions are inclusive to all community members. This support will allow Viet Voices to maintain and expand this vital program, further enriching the cultural landscape of our community.

We center our work on arts and culture as a way to bring attention to multiple issues in our community. We provide public education to the community on various issues such as affordable housing access, tenant protections, economic stability and support for small businesses, education on environmental alternatives, food justice, LGBTQ+ issues, and health equity. We center our work on arts and culture as a way to bring attention to multiple issues in our community.

With the support of the California Arts Council, Architecture + Advocacy will offer hands-on arts and design programming that empowers youth (aged 14-24) and their families in South LA to shape their neighborhoods through creative expression and civic action. By going beyond traditional in-class STEAM models, our work bridges the gap between art, architecture, and civic engagement, using the built environment as a canvas for cultural storytelling and community visioning. 200+ youth (ages 14-24) in South LA and their families will co-create in architecture workshops and community-led design-builds, held after school and on the weekends.

Architecture Workshops: Hands-on educational workshops that equip residents (aged 8-19 in our youth workshops, and 20+ in our adult workshops) with fundamental architectural skills
Design-Builds: Collaborative workshops where we co-design and construct small-scale community-serving resources, such as outdoor seating, creative storage, and community gardens.
Community Organizing + Events: Public events, such as walking tours and block parties, that celebrate the untold stories of marginalized communities, empower residents to speak out, and facilitate feedback on proposed developments.
Advocacy Campaigns: Media campaigns that raise awareness of spatial injustice among the general public and seek to change policies that govern land development to better serve residents of low-opportunity neighborhoods.
Leadership Development: Throughout all of the above programs, we train college students and emerging professionals to facilitate meetings, engage with communities, speak out on issues, and participate in grassroots justice movements.

With support from the California Arts Council, Medical Clown Project will hire specially-trained performers
– to continue bringing therapeutic joy, theatrical play, and engaging human connection to assisted living communities, memory care units, and pediatric hospitals; reducing isolation and emotional strain among seniors and patients often overwhelmed by the demands of the healthcare system.
– to promote the well-being of the whole person: patients, family members, and staff alike, by offering moments of comfort, laughter, and dignity within high-stress, overburdened healthcare environments.
– to transform clinical settings through the performing arts, alleviating tension and anxiety, and replacing fear with levity and connection.
– to sustain and support the San Francisco Bay Area’s professional performing artists by providing ongoing performance opportunities, consistent compensation, and a vibrant, mission-driven network of peers.

We bring our artists to several facilities on multiple days weekly. Each clown service is between 1-4 hours. Over 80% of the populations we serve are elder and memory care units, and/or communities. Other populations include patients and staff from pediatrics, ICU’s, emergency departments, and disaster relief zones. The Medical Clown Project’s annual impact is built from 12,000 direct interactions and interventions reaching patients, residents, family members, medical staff, and disaster victims.

Fua Dia Kongo seeks General Operating Support to sustain year-round programming dedicated to the preservation and transmission of traditional Kongo dance, music, and song. CAC funds will support core operational costs, including artist compensation, cultural arts education for youth and families, community workshops, and the continuation of multigenerational programming that centers Black communities in Oakland and beyond. Funding will also help strengthen the organization’s capacity to host international artist residencies and cultural exchange initiatives that deepen ties between the Bay Area, the state of California and the Republic of Congo.

MalongaFest, Community Dance & Drum Classes at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, Embrace Kongo, Ballet Kizingu Youth Ensemble

With support from the California Arts Council, SNS Choirs will present a free choral concert series in 2025, serving audiences across the Antelope Valley. The series will include three unique performances, each curated to highlight a range of choral repertoire. All concerts will be performed by SNS Choirs’ intergenerational ensembles: The Sunday Night Singers and SNS Chorale, which include trained vocalists, high school students, and adult community members. CAC funds will support administrative costs, venue rentals, sheet music, newly commissioned choral work, marketing, and production expenses to ensure the events remain free and accessible. Concerts will be held in local venues, with outreach to schools, senior centers, and families. The series is expected to reach over 1,000 attendees, most from low to moderate-income households, increasing access to high-quality choral performance in an underserved region.

Our flagship program is an ensemble, The Sunday Night Singers (SNS), which features 28-32 trained singers performing a wide range of music, from classical to contemporary. The Sunday Night Singers a smaller group, focuses on more intricate pieces, providing a high-quality musical experience. They also nationally and abroad.

Our second ensemble is SNS Chorale, with 70 singers of all ages and musical backgrounds, from high school students to senior citizens. This diverse intergeneration ensemble reflects LA County’s vibrant musical community, bonded by a shared love for music and a commitment to inclusivity.

Our educational programs include the High School Choral Scholars, which integrates high school students into SNS Chorale, allowing them to sing alongside experienced musicians. This program promotes skill development, community building, and musical understanding.

The SNS Educator Network brings together public school choral and band directors, as well as music college professors, to share resources and ideas. They connect through two annual networking events.

Our newest program, SNS Desert Youth Voices (DYV), addresses the shortage of choir opportunities in local middle schools. DYV offers free after-school choir sessions, integrating community-building activities and social-emotional learning. These sessions culminate in performances that showcase the students’ progress called The Music Exchange.

Each year of the grant period, Art With Elders will:
– Engage 500+ unduplicated older adults participants in 46+ weekly classes
– Provide 1.5-2 hours of programming with participants on a weekly basis
– Coordinate and complete at least 10 exhibitions and public events featuring the work or works of individuals
– Coordinate and complete 1 major annual celebration of our students

History: Fighting elder isolation since 1991, AWE has brought community to 12,500 older adults in 84 senior centers across every Bay Area county through free/low-cost fine arts classes. A dozen exhibits a year, seen by as many as 100,000 people, engage elder artists and audiences through the power of creativity, deepening connection between cultures and generations. AWE programs provide older adults from all walks of life with a vehicle for self-expression, social connection, and a presence in the community.

Our Programs
Generative Classes – Currently, each week, Art With Elders reaches 450 older adults in 39 long-term care facilities and day programs across 7 Bay Area counties via 47 in-person and online classes. Each fine arts class gathers 10 to 12 seniors and is led by a paid professional artist. AWE conducts classes in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Russian to accommodate our large immigrant, ESL community.

For trained, experienced artists, AWE workshops provide access to free work space and materials, and mentorship. For those with little visual art experience, classes provide a life-long learning opportunity and assist artistic development. Those with severe disabilities receive physical and cognitive benefits as well as the opportunity to create in adaptive ways, and every student gains a key opportunity for social interaction and connection.

For in-person classes, Artist Instructors bring all materials to class, replenishing the stock as needed. For Zoom, AWE staff sends materials via mail and via home drop offs.

Exhibitions – Each year, AWE produces a dozen exhibitions featuring 400-1000 elder artworks for up to 100,000+ viewers. Exhibitions are hosted by major Bay Area venues such as the De Young Museum, San Francisco City Hall, the San Francisco War Memorial, the UC San Francisco, and San Francisco International Airport.

With support from the California Arts Council, Highways Performance Space will present innovative performance and visual artists, promote interaction among people of diverse cultural backgrounds, and engage artists and the communities they serve in cross-cultural dialogues about social, cultural and artistic issues. Highways presents compelling performing, media and visual arts programs that explore social justice, broaden public understanding of equity and diversity, and engage artists in critical dialogues with underrepresented communities of color and the LGBTQIA+ community. Funding will be used for salaries and health insurance for full-time staff positions including Executive Director, Artistic Director and Technical Director to ensure continuity of programs.

Highways presents over 100 annual performances by culturally diverse dramatic soloists, small theater groups, dance companies and spoken word artists. We also curate an average of 10 annual contemporary exhibitions exploring the boundaries between the performing and visual arts and sponsor residencies that provide emerging artists access to professionally directed training in the performing arts. Our presentations and promotional campaigns financially support hundreds of culturally diverse and cutting-edge artists and nurture their artistic development. To date, Highways has presented over 1000 original works, and has produced over 2400 different arts programs that have attracted over 285,000 people.

With support from the California Arts Council, Napa Valley Youth Symphony will use general operating support to retain key administrative and artistic staff and expand program services for youth across Napa County. Grant funds will enable NVYS to strengthen its capacity to deliver high-quality music education, orchestral training, and performance experiences for students from diverse backgrounds. By investing in staff and core infrastructure, NVYS can enhance the consistency, impact, and reach of its programs, including its student coaching, mentorship, and community engagement initiatives. This support will also help sustain recent programmatic growth, such as the addition of the NOTES beginner program and expanded artistic leadership. CAC funding will play a critical role in helping NVYS fulfill its mission of empowering young musicians and building a more inclusive, connected, and culturally enriched community through music.

The Napa Valley Youth Symphony (NVYS) offers a comprehensive music education program that supports student musicians from beginning to collegiate level. Serving over 100+ students ages 8–18 from 23 schools across the Napa Valley and nearby communities, NVYS provides a structured pathway through ensemble participation, professional coaching, and enrichment activities designed to foster musical and personal growth.

Our programming begins with NOTES, an introductory group coaching program for beginner strings, brass, and woodwind players, focusing on basic technique and ensemble readiness. Students then progress to our Preparatory Strings & Woodwinds Ensembles, which support the development of musical literacy and group performance skills in a nurturing environment. Sinfonia, our entry-level full orchestra, offers an engaging opportunity for advanced beginners and intermediate players to refine their technical and ensemble skills through age-appropriate repertoire and guided collaboration.

The Bridge ensemble helps intermediate students transition to the demands of advanced orchestral performance through focused coaching and challenging repertoire. At the highest level, the Youth Symphony performs collegiate-level works that cultivate advanced musicianship, leadership, and artistic expression. Advanced students also have the opportunity to participate in Chamber Ensembles for strings, brass, and woodwinds, where they explore intricate repertoire in small groups with individualized chamber coaching.

From August through May, ensembles meet weekly for 2–3 hours of rehearsal, supplemented by twice-weekly group coaching sessions. Students benefit from sectional instruction with professional Bay Area musicians, a fall retreat at Camp Cazadero, and specialized summer chamber music camps.

NVYS is committed to access and equity through robust tuition and private lesson scholarships, as well as mentorship programs that foster peer support. These programs work together to create a vibrant, inclusive community that empowers young musicians—regardless of background—to reach their full potential through music.

With support from the California Arts Council, Art of Elan will strengthen its organizational capacity to deliver inclusive, high-impact programming that builds community through music. Funding will support year-round operations, including staff compensation, program development, artist fees, and strategic partnerships that expand access to classical music across San Diego County. Art of Elan presents adventurous concerts in traditional and non-traditional spaces, commissions new works by diverse composers, and provides transformative education residencies, such as Young Artists in Harmony, for underrepresented youth. General operating funds will ensure the sustainability of these efforts, enabling Art of Elan to deepen relationships, amplify the voices of marginalized individuals, and model a more equitable and community-rooted vision of the arts. CAC support is essential to growing the organization’s reach and resilience in a rapidly changing cultural and funding landscape.

Known for its collaborative spirit, Art of Elan has been pioneering unique events and bringing exciting classical music to diverse audiences for over 17 years through innovative partnerships and bi-national initiatives that have cultivated curious audiences on both sides of the border. Its consistent track record of sold-out performances stems from its commitment to commissioning new work, collaborating with world-class artists and composers, programming engaging and thought-provoking concerts, and expanding its impact in the region through thoughtful community engagement programs. By drawing inspiration from the word élan, which represents momentum, style, and spirit, Art of Elan continues to engage and energize audiences in new ways.

With support from the California Arts Council, T3 TRIPLE THREAT YOUTH MENTORS will expand access to free and low-cost performing arts programs for youth from historically marginalized communities across San Diego. Founded by a Black LGBTQ artist who grew up in poverty and foster care, T3 creates inclusive, trauma-informed spaces where young people can express themselves through voice, dance, and acting—regardless of income, identity, or ability. CAC funding will help T3 strengthen its teaching artist pipeline, deepen community partnerships, and build capacity around social-emotional learning, accessibility, and equity evaluation. Programs will be delivered in trusted public venues, including North Park Recreation Center, ALBA Community Day School, and local Title I schools. Through culturally relevant instruction, mentorship, and performance, T3 transforms the stage into a platform for healing, growth, and future opportunity.

Our core programs and services include:

Summer Camp:
In partnership with the City of San Diego Parks & Recreation Department, T3
provides a premium theatre-based training and development program. This 8-week theatre camp is a time of exploration, laughter,
and artistic discovery. The summer 2025 camp will immerse up to 25 students, allowing for more if demand is greater, in a production of Musical Theatre International’s (MTI) Broadway Junior Revue RAISE YOUR VOICE.

Year-round Camps:
Camps are offered in November (one week during Thanksgiving break), in December (two weeks, during the holiday break), and in April (one week, during spring break). Camps run from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM each day for kids ages 6-12. These camps will serve up to 50 kids each and include a field trip to the San Diego Zoo, a local museum, or other cultural institution.

Adult Classes:
Classes are offered multiple days each week in the following disciplines: Commercial Dance, Tap Dance, Musical Theatre Dance, Adult Barre Fitness, and Adult Singing Lessons.

Youth and Adult Cooking Classes:
Students of all ages will discover the joys of culinary art—lessons for all ages. Classes cover knife skills, flavor pairings, and more with hands-on activities. Learn essential techniques and connect with fellow food enthusiasts.

Our camps and classes contribute to building healthy, vital neighborhoods by removing barriers to accessing the arts, education, and mentoring opportunities. Enabling every child to participate regardless of ability to pay serves to benefit historically oppressed communities and the entire community as a whole. We use creative and performing arts to empower young people through performance. This has an ongoing and often transformative positive impact by aiding students in developing a valuable skill set that enables them to become successful community members. This then serves to uplift and empower their families and communities over time.

California Karen Youth Connection respectfully seeks support from the California Arts Council to sustain general operations—including staff salaries, rent, and program materials—for our statewide Arts and Cultural Program. This program offers free, community-based instruction in Karen language, traditional dance, music, storytelling, and crafts. All offerings are bilingual (Karen and English), intergenerational, and led by community instructors and youth leaders. Funding from the California Arts Council will directly support salaries for staff and instructors, purchase of program materials, venue rentals, and community outreach. This investment will expand access to high-quality, culturally relevant arts experiences; strengthen intergenerational ties; and promote cultural equity and visibility for the Karen community within California’s vibrant arts ecosystem. It will also support healing, empowerment, and cultural preservation through youth-driven creative expression.

The CKYC is dedicated to empowering both Karen and non-Karen youth and communities statewide through culturally informed leadership education, the arts, advocacy, and human services. With a 12-year track record of leadership and community service, CKYC has supported the Karen American refugee and asylum population, as well as other vulnerable and underrepresented communities. We serve over 400 individuals annually across the Bay Area, Sacramento, Manteca, Kern County, and Southern California. Additionally, we collaborate with more than 10 partners to amplify our impact. We deliver four core programs: Arts and Cultural Program, Leadership Development Program, College and Career Mentorship Program, and Civic Engagement Program. These programs and services are critical to the success of our youth and a thriving community. By engaging in cultural practices, youth and the broader community gain not only a sense of pride in their Karen identity but also a deeper connection to their heritage and each other. The preservation of Karen traditions helps break the cycle of trauma and displacement, offering individuals a space to heal, connect, and thrive, furthermore, by passing down knowledge from one generation to the next. The CKYC ensures that these traditions evolve into sources of strength, collaboration, and opportunity for future generations. As youth develop leadership skills, they become ambassadors of their culture, promoting diversity and inclusion both within the Karen community and in society at large.

The American Indian Cultural Center of San Francisco (AICC) respectfully requests general operational support to fund staffing and programming that serve the Native American community in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. AICC is dedicated to preserving and promoting Native American heritage through cultural arts programming, educational workshops, and community events. Support will ensure the continuation of vital services, including youth mentorship, traditional arts instruction, and intergenerational cultural exchange. Funding will directly sustain staff positions essential to program delivery and community engagement. AICC serves as a cultural anchor for urban Native peoples, fostering a sense of identity, belonging, and resilience. Operational support will strengthen AICC’s ability to meet growing community needs and to honor Indigenous cultures and traditions within a vibrant urban setting.

The AICCSF strives to maintain, preserve and restore a permanent and prominent presence for the Bay Area American Indian inter-tribal community that continues to exist. Our vision is to create and provide a dynamic place of learning, culture and community to the citizens of the Bay Area to learn about American Indian heritage and culture and to enhance a sense of understanding about American Indians in the urban environment.

AICCSF will demonstrate community health and wellness through kinship and spirituality by nurturing our connection to our knowledge keepers, oral traditions, tribal languages, and cultures, while encouraging fearless expression through theater arts, music, ceremonial events, media, writing, and film that will increase the visibility of American Indians in the greater Bay

With support from the California Arts Council, Girls Rock SB (now known as Amplify Arts Project) will sustain and enrich its organizational operations in service of its mission: to empower girls through music education, the creative arts, community, and positive mentorship. Across all programs, Amplify Arts Project focuses on building safe spaces for participants to be seen and feel connected, as well as serving as an entry point for those who wish to contribute to the arts ecosystem. Amplify Arts Project will continue to prioritize providing our services to historically under-resourced communities who have otherwise not received opportunities to exercise an authentic voice or realize their full potential as artists and community leaders.

Amplify’s current programs and services include:

Amplify Summer Camp: Offering both day camp and sleep-away options, our award-winning immersive summer program provides instruction in music, creative arts, and cultural expression. Through a lens of mentorship, empowerment, and leadership development, this program allows campers to enroll in immersives that include Rock Band Intensive, Bass, Drums, Guitar, Keys, Vocals, Musical Theater, Music Production, Music Video Making, Hip Hop Dance, and Photography. In Summer 2024 we hosted 256 campers.

Syryn Records: Amplify’s hybrid virtual/in-person youth-run record label and internship program offers young women a safe and empowering entryway into the music industry. Collectively, each cohort of interns focuses on female teenagers/young adult artists signed to their label. Interns shepherd signed musicians through managing the release and promotion of artists’ work, overseen by program mentors who are music business professionals and educators. Our 2024 program included 54 interns and 9 signed artists.

Rural Teaching Artists Residencies: Amplify is committed to bringing diverse artist educators into communities most devoid of arts opportunities. In 2024, we provided a three-week artist residency in New Cuyama, a rural community where 80% of students identify as a minority and 58% are economically disadvantaged.

Amplify Weekend: Our annual youth mental health creative arts retreats take place in Ojai, CA for 6th–12th graders. This phone/device-free weekend engages participants in a range of activities themed around mental health through a music and creative arts lens. In 2024, we hosted 84 youth.

Instrument Lending Library: The only instrument lending library of its kind on the Central Coast, this free program in partnership with the Santa Barbara Public Library allows any resident to check out musical instruments, including guitars, ukuleles, drums, amps, and more. Launched in 2019, this initiative has resulted in check-outs of 280+ instruments.

With support from the California Arts Council, TeAda Productions will utilize these funds to support the retention of current staff which has grown over the last two years thanks to an increase in funding over the pandemic. As a result TeAda has successfully increased engagement and participation of artists, women, immigrants, refugees, indigenous, asylees, and queer communities.

TeAda needs to provide competitive salaries while the cost of living continues to rise. As of June 2025, TeAda has already been forced to downsize from a 5 person staff to the current 4 person staff due to the national shift in funding priorities both in government and foundations.

Currently TeAda’s staff is comprised of immigrants, women, queer folks, and individuals from a working class background spanning three decades which reflects the community that we serve in California.

LOCAL PROGRAMS
Theater for Asylum Seekers is a Los Angeles workshop and performance series offered to asylum seekers in collaboration with the Program for Torture Victims. Theater for Asylum Seekers uses storytelling and performance art to aid in the emotional healing of people traumatized by persecution in their homeland and the decision to flee. Numbers served: Participants #10-15 – Audience #100-500 depending on size of venue.
CreAtive Healing Lab, combines arts, healing, and collective liberation practices. In a series of 7 workshops (extra sessions added as needed), facilitated by members of the arts and healing communities, based in Los Angeles, TeAda will host 10 to 25 participants at each event for a total of 70 to 175 people served in our inaugural program.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL TOURING PROGRAMS
Nothing Micro About Micronesia, (NMAM), tells a coming of age story about three Micronesian youth who meet in an unlikely place, and through magic, are transported to island adventures in Micronesia. During the journey, these friends navigate between Hawaiʻi and the traditions of their homelands while facing the rising tides of their uncertain futures. The story centers on the complex issues faced by youth in Hawaiʻi from migration and assimilation, to cultural reclamation and familial responsibility; connecting to intergenerational Micronesian experiences in Hawaiʻi, across the atolls and islands of Micronesia, and beyond. NMAM opened in Honolulu in March 2024 at Honolulu Theatre for Youth with a run of 24 school shows and 3 public performances followed by an inter-island tour of Big Island and Maui performing an additional 5 public shows. Total attendance for all shows exceeded 8,000.

With support from the California Arts Council, Better Youth will enhance our human resources infrastructure and provide equitable staff benefits, including a new HR platform, 401 (k) implementation, and trauma-informed leadership training. These investments directly support our mission of building life-affirming career pathways in the arts for foster and system-impacted youth by modeling best practices within our own organization. By strengthening our internal capacity, we will improve delivery of our arts and cultural programs—AIM-N-Inspire, Real to Reel Global film platform, and our Registered Apprenticeship Program—which serve youth from historically and systemically underserved communities in South Los Angeles. This support furthers California’s cultural vitality by enabling us to sustain a diverse arts workforce and infrastructure while providing transformative creative expression opportunities that cultivate a better California for all.

Better Youth serves vulnerable youth,, particularly foster and system-impacted youth, such as foster or former foster youth, and unhoused individuals from underserved and historically marginalized communities. Many of these youth do not have regular access to technology, with up to 84% of households not owning a computer. We bridge the digital disparity gap and provide equitable access to professional creative disciplines and careers. The youth we serve are all interested in the creative industry in some way, such as Film & TV, animation, and digital editing. We provide industry knowledge, training, mentorship, supportive resources, and career connections to aid their development through earn and learn state registered pre-aapprenticeship and state and federally registered apprenticeship programs.

With support from the California Arts Council, DIVERSIONARY THEATRE PRODUCTIONS, INC. will continue its mission to provide an inspiring, inclusive, and empowering space for community to celebrate and explore complex, provocative, and diverse LGBTQIA+ stories which contribute to the larger cultural discussion. We will do this in FY26, during our 40th Anniversary Season, through our Performing Arts Programs, including our mainstage season of LGBTQIA+ plays and musicals, as well as through our robust roster of vital, free Arts Education and Community Engagement Programs for at-risk LGBTQIA+ youth and seniors across San Diego County.

Diversionary Theatre produces plays and musicals and develops new works that explore the issues, characters, and stories of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) community in all its complexity and diversity. By exploring stories of what sets our culture and history apart, as well as stories that focus on LGBTQIA+ people’s humanity rather than their sexuality, we are in a unique position in which we can help bridge the gaps of cultural understanding.

Diversionary specializes in uncovering new work by emerging LGBTQIA+ writers, developing their work, and producing World, West Coast, and San Diego Premiere productions on our Mainstage that are subsequently produced on stages across the country and around the world.

Additionally, Diversionary offers a total of nine Arts Education programs serving the entire range of San Diego’s population from Elementary School students to Senior Citizens. All of our Arts Education programs are offered 100% free of charge for our community. Activities are integrated throughout Diversionary’s mainstage productions, providing stand-alone programming in our historic site in University Heights, and in classrooms at participating schools, serving thousands of young people and senior citizens across San Diego County.

Diversionary is proud of the reputation that we have established by producing quality Mainstage productions and hundreds of other arts events in our Clark Cabaret throughout the year, nurturing new works of LGBTQIA+ theatre, providing a home to some of San Diego’s most talented established and up-and-coming artists, regularly collaborating with local arts and LGBTQIA+ organizations, providing contextualization to and fostering conversations sparked by our productions, and involving the wider community in our mission.

The Bay Area Book Festival (BABF) will use California Arts Council funds to support general operating needs that ensure organizational sustainability and deepen our impact as a year-round cultural institution. This includes hiring permanent staff, securing a physical office headquarters in Berkeley (that we can do smaller and more regular programming out of), and expanding programs beyond the spring festival. Support will help BABF strengthen free and accessible literary programming that centers historically marginalized voices—including BIPOC, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and multiracial communities—through new and existing initiatives. These include our annual festival, two semester-long youth writing projects, the Merritt Dialogue Speaker Series, and three new Affinity Lit Collectives that foster identity-based literary community and dialogue. Funding will also bolster accessibility services, fair artist compensation, and culturally responsive outreach across the Bay Area.

We create relevant, thoughtful programming presented at our annual, inclusive weekend literary festival and through year-round events. The Festival features dozens of keynotes, interviews, panels, and performances by hundreds of notable writers across genres and backgrounds, plus a robust, free outdoor fair with hundreds of literary exhibitors and free children’s activities. We prioritize international, diverse, and emerging voices—presenting them alongside high-profile names to amplify their work. Our offerings also include Family Day and Writers’ Day, two cornerstone Festival programs that serve children, families, and aspiring writers of all ages. Year-round, we host community-driven events through our new Affinity Lit Collectives (LGBTQIA+, Mixed Race, and Women Lit) and the Merritt Dialogue Series, a civic conversation series addressing justice and democracy. We also run two free, semester-long creative writing workshops for youth: one for Native youth in partnership with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, and one for Black girls ages 12–18 in collaboration with Cinnamongirl Inc. Both feature paid, BIPOC guest authors as mentors and culminate in published anthologies and youth performances on our Young Readers Stage. All outdoor events and youth workshops are 100% free, and most adult literary events are also free or affordably priced to maximize accessibility.

With support from the California Arts Council, Maraya Performing Arts Collective will strengthen its organizational infrastructure by building staff and board capacity in resource development and fundraising. As a small but growing arts organization serving historically under-resourced communities in South Bay San Diego, we currently rely on short-term consultants and volunteers to manage critical administrative and development functions. CAC funding will allow us to hire part-time staff to support donor cultivation, grant tracking, and outreach. Additionally, we will invest in board recruitment and development to expand and strengthen our Board of Directors, prioritizing individuals with expertise in fundraising, finance, and community engagement. These investments are essential to sustaining our culturally responsive programming and expanding access to the arts youth, families, and intergenerational participants of all ages and abilites.

Maraya Performing Arts (MARAYA) is a socially-engaged performing arts center in Chula Vista, California designed around core principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. Maraya Performing Arts Center is a creative safe-haven, educational and artistic hub for dancers, actors, musicians and creators; students and teachers; and multigenerational audiences in South Bay San Diego and beyond. OUR SERVICES INCLUDE: Triple Threat Training in Singing, Dancing, and Acting for Youth and Adults, Youth Theatre Musical Productions, Adaptive Classes and Shows for Youth with Special Needs, Original Dance Theatre Community Based Shows/Productions, and Professional Development and Career Coaching for Emerging Artists and Nonprofit Arts Leaders.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Carpinteria Arts Center (Arts Center) will continue to provide inclusive comprehensive arts programming on site and in the community, as well as outreach to and involve our local community to create a vibrant community through the arts. Grant funds will be used to support general operating expenses such as salaries and benefits, utilities, supplies, and insurance. These funds are critical to maintain our free, accessible, intergenerational, culturally relevant, and diverse programming aimed at providing arts education, unique and tailored arts activities and groups for children and youth, seniors, persons with physical and cognitive disabilities, and engaging community members of all ages, and socio-economic and cultural backgrounds to connect them to the arts.

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.

With support from the California Arts Council, 51OAKLAND will strengthen the operational infrastructure needed to sustain and grow our artist-led, culturally informed music and arts programming for East Bay youth aged 4–19—particularly those attending Title I public schools and living in neighborhoods ranked in the lowest quartile of the California Healthy Places Index. This grant will support core administrative functions, staffing, and internal systems essential to delivering high-impact programming and managing partnerships across multiple school sites. As demand continues to grow, this investment will help us build capacity, improve evaluation practices, and ensure long-term sustainability. In addition to maintaining foundational classroom residencies, CAC support will enable us to deepen our impact, improve program delivery, and advance our mission of equitable, consistent, and transformative arts learning for the youth who need it most.

Founded in 2011 by a group of acclaimed artists–including legendary percussionist Sheila E. and Yoshi’s Jazz Club founder Yoshie Akiba–and creative professionals with a shared vision of providing inspiration and mentorship to Oakland’s youth, we operate with the goal of bolstering students’ engagement in school while fostering creative self-expression and improving all-around student mental health. We believe in the transformative power that opportunities in music and the arts can have on developing youth, especially those living low-income or high-trauma communities and contexts. Across our programs, our primary focus is not on creating professional musicians, but instead on utilizing music and the arts as a conduit to get students excited about learning and invested in their education. Elevate Oakland supports students by using this excitement to get kids to school, engage them in learning, and support the development of skills that will help them succeed both within and outside of the classroom.

Our foundational Artists in Residence (AiR) program embeds renowned artists from within the Bay Area community into Oakland public school classrooms, providing mentorship and learning opportunities for students and teachers alike throughout the school year. This program is built on a long-term (typically semester or year-long) partnership between school educators and one or more teaching artists who help develop and support the school’s music or arts curriculum throughout the school year. Our AiR programs typically culminate in a variety of performance opportunities for students throughout the year at different public venues, including Yoshi’s Jazz Club, the Oakland Museum of California and a variety of community-led festivals and events.

In addition to our Artists in Residence program, we also host immersive workshops, masterclasses, demos and speaker series that are offered to student groups in partnership with artists, arts professionals and community educators.

Blue Line Arts seeks General Operating Support from the California Arts Council to sustain its core operations and expand its mission-driven work of providing accessible visual arts exhibitions, youth education programs, and public art initiatives throughout South Placer County. CAC funds will support personnel costs, utilities, and essential administrative infrastructure required to maintain year-round exhibition programming, including our “Tour Talk Create” field trips, artist residencies, and public art projects that reflect the region’s cultural diversity. As we approach our 60th anniversary, this funding will help stabilize our organization, invest in our arts workforce, and deepen our commitment to equity, accessibility, and community engagement through the arts.

Blue Line Arts is a gallery and arts center that offers a range of educational and community programs within the visual arts.

Exhibitions:
The gallery serves as a fine arts hub for the community, bringing contemporary art exhibitions admission-free to the public. We provide a platform for artists of all skill levels within the community, hosting artist lectures, and providing accessible live arts events.

Adult education and workforce development:
-Annually, the gallery hosts the SCG Artist Residency and Teaching program twice a year, and offers a variety of professional development workshops for working artists.
-The Art at Work program expands available exhibition opportunities to local artists through partnerships with local businesses.
-The Internship program provides college students and recent graduates with hands-on experience to prepare them for a successful transition into an arts or nonprofit career field.

Youth Education:
-Tour Talk & Create serves over 1,900 students annually, with free school group tours and hands-on arts learning for under-resourced schools.
-Year-round youth arts classes are offered at the lowest cost possible or free of charge, and include after school enrichment courses, seasonal camps, sessions for educational pods and homeschool groups, and special camps serving at-risk youth.

Public Art:
Through the Roseville Mural project and associated events, as well as smaller projects, the organization facilitates public art projects in the local area. By hosting events and walking tours, Blue Line Arts helps to connect residents and visitors to revitalized spaces in our downtown district, and to the greater conversation of public art.

Rossi MissionSF, a non-profit project fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media, requests $30,000 in General Operating Support from the California Arts Council. These critical funds will bolster our operational capacity, covering essential administrative expenses and providing direct wages for artists and employees vital to our daily functions.

This investment will strengthen our three pillars of expansion: Community-Driven Events, Holistic Art Workshops, and Charitable Artist Residencies. By directly supporting our administrative and artist/employee/consultants wages, this grant enables Rossi MissionSF to continue offering safe, inclusive creative spaces. We empower marginalized Bay Area artists experiencing homelessness, disability, substance abuse, and low-income struggles, addressing their urgent needs for living wages and accessible platforms. This grant will ensure our sustained ability to cultivate community, creativity, and care, aligning with CAC’s mission to strengthen arts and culture for a better California.

Rossi Project offers a dynamic ecosystem of core programs and services centered around three pillars of expansion: Community-Driven Events, Holistic Art Workshops, and Charitable Artist Residencies.

Community-Driven Events: Rossi creates vibrant, inclusive gatherings designed to foster connection and collaboration, where art thrives without barriers. These events range from intimate poetry readings to live performances by local DJs, rappers, and musicians. A key aspect is accessibility, with no tickets or cover charges, emphasizing a shared commitment to culture and belonging.

Holistic Art Workshops: Redefining art education, these workshops blend artistic technique with lived experience. Led by Bay Area artists, sessions explore not only “how to create” but also “why,” integrating storytelling, networking strategies, and tech-driven innovation. Participants gain tools to navigate the creative industry while discovering their unique voice.

Charitable Artist Residencies: Rossi Project invests in artists facing systemic barriers by offering crucial support. This includes studio access and materials for experimentation across mediums, life stabilization support such as housing stipends, healthcare navigation, and food assistance. Residencies also provide mentorship from established creatives, partnerships with social workers, and documentation of artists’ journeys to amplify stories of resilience and inspire systemic change.

With support from the California Arts Council, Yeah, Art! will fund general operating expenses to continue bringing free, tech-forward arts programming to underfunded schools. Founded and led by Black artists, we prioritize students of color by hiring Teaching Artists of Color to teach in their own communities.

Thanks to past CAC support, this year we’ve expanded from 2 to 8 school sites, launched partnerships with Oakland Symphony and BACR, and hired an Education Director. Our programs now run during and after school and cover disciplines like Music Production, Animation, and 3D Design.

This funding will support our staff, Teaching Artists, and continued growth—ensuring students in underserved communities have access to high-quality, culturally relevant arts education that builds confidence, skills, and paves lucrative creative career pathways for historically disadvantaged youth, ultimately creating a more equitable future.

Arts Education for a New Generation™. Yeah, Art! seeks to empower Bay Area youth with premium arts education that emphasizes technology, creativity and equitable access.

The problem: With school budget cuts, arts programs are often the first thing to get dropped, leading the most vulnerable students to miss out on essential creative skills.

The solution: Yeah, Art! provides accessible, innovative arts programs to underserved communities, equipping students with skills in Music Production, Animation, 3D Modeling and more.

Yeah, Art! offers technology-driven arts education programs tailored for underserved schools, with a focus on students of color in low-income Bay Area districts. Services are delivered by professional, local artists of color who bring their expertise directly to classrooms, creating an engaging and culturally relevant learning environment. Yeah, Art! equips students with in-demand creative skills, fostering both artistic growth and future career opportunities in the arts.

With support from the California Arts Council New Museum Los Gatos will develop and produce an exhibition Revitalization: Culture, Heritage and Traditions of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe (working title) and supporting educational toolkit. This exhibition builds upon the museum’s long standing relationship with the local indigenous community, The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of San Francisco and the San Jose State University Anthropology department.

NUMU serves the larger Bay Area from the Monterey Bay Peninsula to San Francisco and the South Bay Area. NUMU offers interactive, rotating exhibitions combined with forward thinking programs and education programs for all ages. Contemporary art exhibitions featuring both group shows and individual artists provide a platform for diverse, creative perspectives. We display traditional media like painting and printmaking, as well as unexpected artforms from experimental photography to digital media to fabric sculptures. Our Los Gatos History Project is a platform to research, exhibit, and facilitate important conversations about systemic inequities in local history. We aim to educate our community about how inequities of the past persist today in Los Gatos and beyond. 2024 marked the 13th year of “ArtNow,” our annual high school juried exhibition that enriches the high school arts curriculum throughout Santa Clara County with a platform for young artists. ArtNow provides teen artists with professional development workshops, scholarships, and artistic exposure. The 2024 theme for ArtNow is “In Transition,” prompting high school students to reflect on this significant chapter in their lives–a stage of metamorphosis from childhood into adulthood. We host a variety of art educators in our Art Studio and Makerspace, where they teach art classes with pricing that maximizes artist compensation. Our Museum Explorer field trip program has served K-12 audiences for ten years, and accessible virtual and low- or no-cost in-person workshops and programs for all ages feature creative change makers, local artists, artist studios visits, and local history.

With support from the California Arts Council, California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA) will continue to provide legal, educational and dispute resolution programs and services for artists and arts organizations throughout California, while expanding access to job training, mentorship and career counseling through creative workforce development programs for under-resourced youth and formerly incarcerated persons.

Our core services include legal consultations with attorneys who specialize in arts and entertainment fields; alternative dispute resolution services, including negotiations counselling, conciliation, mediation, arbitration, and facilitation; and education programs that are designed to help artists and arts organization leaders understand legal rights, relationships and responsibilities so that they can become more sustainable. Since the organization’s inception in 1974, we have also been engaged in advocacy to support artists’ rights, freedom of expression, and public funding for the arts. Cross sector initiatives have included community development, arts and environment, and arts in corrections.

With support from the California Arts Council, RIVERSIDE ARTS ACADEMY will continue its ongoing operations, which includes offering free to low-cost, community-based music education programs and employing local California artists to teach our programs. CAC funds will support local teaching artists and staff salaries, allowing RAA to continue achieving our mission of providing high quality music education for all young people to enrich their lives and communities.

RAA’s core programs serve over 500 students in the city of Riverside through a flagship after school and Saturday music program at the historic Cesar Chavez Community Center and after school programs at fourteen public schools across the Inland Empire. RAA co-designs its programs with its partners including Riverside Unified, Alvord Unified, Jurupa Unified, the City of Riverside, and faculty from local postsecondary institutions. RAA programs serve students from the ages of 7 to 18 and center on music education through socio-emotional learning and culturally-responsive pedagogy. Course offerings include multiple levels of Mariachi, orchestra, band, choir, musicianship, and more. Students are enrolled an average of 3 hours per week, with some students pursuing as many as 10 hours of music education each week. RAA further supports the music education landscape in the IE through it’s signature workforce development program that helps emerging educators with professional development, classroom experience, and job placements.

With support from the California Arts Council, KOHO SF will further its goal to produce cultural immersive experiences that amplifies the resilience, history and long standing traditions of Japantown while giving voice and narrative to the next generation of creatives.

BonPOP: A reimagined Obon Odori Japantown event that welcomes a local, city-wide, and regional audience to immerse themselves in the long-standing Japanese tradition of honoring ancestors through dance, song, and rituals accessible to all regardless of religion, faith, ethnicity, or cultural beliefs.

Benign Neglect: An exhibition featuring photographs of sixty bonsai, cultivated by Issei (first generation) and Kihei (born in the U.S., educated in Japan, then later returned to the U.S.) Japanese Americans. These bonsai were started after the Japanese Americans returned from WWII American concentration camps. Some of the plants were likely started from seeds.

Yum Yams Festival: KOHO partnered with Kultivate Labs for their fourth festival themed Ube Meets Matcha, A Festival of Flavors in San Francisco’s historic SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District. KOHO programmed a rare, live demonstration of matcha preparation used by traditional tea-ceremony schools in Japan, Japanese-American DJ’s spinning songs from Japan, and a taiko drum performance from the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts World Music Program.

Film Festivals: KOHO participated in an AAPI Collaborative City-wide Film Festival produced by Kultivate Labs in partnership with SF Urban Film Festival and FACINE (Filipino Arts and Cinema International), as part of the Lavender Cinema Lounge series at Kapwa Gardens. KOHO’s first Japantown Film Festival in 2024 featured three films focused on the Japanese-American experience today; the influences of historical trauma, resilience and strength of generations, and the search for cultural identity.

KOHO Arts & Culture Co-Creative Hub: San Francisco Japantown’s only intergenerational, multi-use, multi-ethnic, hub for the seishin (mind, essence, and spirit) of Japanese art and culture, serving and educating multi-generations of native Japanese and Japanese-Americans, visitors from various AANHPI communities and the general public. It is a sanctuary that honors tradition while embracing the future—a place where art transcends boundaries and celebrates human expression.

With support from the California Arts Council, The Rosin Box Project (TRBP) will continue to redefine how dance is created, experienced, and shared—placing accessibility, innovation, and community engagement at its core. General operating support will fund staff and teaching artist salaries, equitable artist compensation, choreographic commissions, and essential production and programmatic expenses. This investment will sustain TRBP’s bold programming, including three mainstage performance series featuring six new contemporary ballet works annually, immersive and site-specific experiences, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Funding will also expand TRBP’s education and outreach programs in underserved San Diego communities, and support inclusive studio classes, workshops, and intensives open to all. CAC support will be instrumental in advancing TRBP’s mission to create a more inclusive, forward-thinking, and impactful future for dance.

TRBP’s core pillars are artistic work in the field of contemporary ballet and arts education. In artistic, the company’s nine professional ballet dancers present works by local and international choreographers several times a year to audiences throughout San Diego and the greater US. In arts education, the company’s in-school outreach workshop, The Ballet Machine, reaches upwards of 30 classrooms a year with its arts integrated learning module. TRBP’s afterschool program, Dance Out Loud!, reaches hundreds of students in 10 week choreography workshops. TRBP’s open adult dance class program, The Rosin Box Studio, connects with roughly 500 adults training in dance across San Diego County in its homebase of Liberty Station.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles (PACLA) will invest in operational development and new strategic initiatives, allowing the organization to:

Meet the goals of our 2022 Strategic Plan
Strengthen and leverage our fundamental assets
Reach, serve, and impact a more diverse range of audiences in Los Angeles
Build a framework for the future

With previous support from the CAC, other donors and our dedicated leadership team, PACLA has made substantial progress on our goals since 2022. We plan to build from here, using grant funds to:

Attract, recruit and hire a new Executive Director
Retain our outstanding communications staff and project contractors
Produce more ambitious public programs
Expand our marketing reach
Undertake a complete organizational assessment in 2026, resulting in a new strategic plan for 2027 and beyond.

PAC LA produces a robust calendar of expertly curated public and member events throughout the city, along with online talks and guided travel, on our own and in partnership with other notable arts organizations. These include visits with artists in their studios, conversations with gallerists, panel presentations by educators, printmakers, and museum directors, and access to photographic collections in libraries, private homes, and universities. We also produce a free in-depth digital newsletter every month. In 2023 and 2024, we hosted 75 different events, attended by over 5,000 people. 69 of those events took place in person in Los Angeles, and nine of those events were public online talks with attendees from all over the world.

PAC LA exists to build, educate, and engage our community, and that means we do this for all audiences, including our 180+ supporting members, 3,500 Zoom event attendees, 20,000 viewers on our YouTube channel, 2,200 followers on Instagram, 1,200 newsletter subscribers, and the growing numbers of guests (3,200 and counting) at our free in-person public events.

The Balboa Art Conservation Center (BACC), California’s only publicly accessible nonprofit art conservation organization, submits this proposal in support of its mission to advance the study and preservation of cultural heritage for all communities. Funding will support BACC’s capacity building initiatives designed to increase collections care knowledge in California and develop a network of collections caretakers across the state. Such programs include the California Inclusive Preservation Program (CIPP), a key, cost-free initiative for BACC that reflects our commitment to inclusive, accessible, and sustainable conservation efforts. The outreach of BACC’s programs and content focuses on those tasked with collections that lack resources and access to services and training, particularly those serving underrepresented communities, including but not limited to BIPOC, rural, and veteran communities.

The Balboa Art Conservation Center works closely with museums, libraries, cultural centers, and historical societies to provide collections surveys, conservation treatment, and educational programs. While there are more than 36,000 museums and historic houses in the nation, only 1% have a conservator on site. The rest of these institutions must rely on outside sources, like BACC, for their conservation. We offer programs for museums and culture centers focused on collections care including Emergency Preparedness Workshops, Art and Cultural Heritage Object Clinics, and lectures on conservation and preservation at community colleges, universities, and museums. We also provide education and outreach programs about conservation to the community.
For more than 45 years, BACC has been fulfilling its mission as a nonprofit art conservation and cultural preservation organization to provide conservation and preservation services for works of art, cultural objects, and historic artifacts. Its highly trained conservators offer a rigorous and scientific approach to the preservation, examination, and treatment of cultural heritage objects. As a nonprofit organization, BACC is committed to benefiting the public good by supporting training and education opportunities and partnering with stewards of community cultural collections. Programs include Collections Care Support; Capacity Building; Education & Creative Workforce Development; Artists Technical Assistance & Professional Development; and community led conservation projects. BACC is expanding access to the field of conservation to historically underrepresented communities by growing the existing knowledge base to include culturally conscious and responsive methods of conservation and preservation.

With support from the California Arts Council, TEATRO VISIÓN will serve the Latinx and other diverse communities of the Santa Clara Valley and the greater San Francisco Bay Area by producing culturally-based bilingual theater rooted in Chicanx and Latinx experiences, creating new work drawing from the lived experiences of our local community, and offering teatro classes that teach performance as a tool for social change. In FY25-26, we will present three mainstage productions, integrating ongoing financial and linguistic accessibility initiatives, accompanied by community engagement activities that expand their impact. We will also continue to nurture the next generation of Latinx theater-makers through youth programs and professional opportunities for artists.

Teatro Visión was founded in 1984 by members of Women in Teatro, a statewide network of Chicano theaters.

Today, Teatro Visión continues to raise a unique, bilingual voice in Bay Area theater.

Our core programs include:

Our annual Día de Muertos production is a high caliber professional theater performance, a performance opportunity for community actors of all ages, and the anchor for a series of events that bring our community together around the themes of the play.

Our annual youth production offers a cast and crew of young people aged 10 to 18 the opportunity to build skills, confidence, and community connections by participating in a professional theater production.

Our smaller productions and events, including La Hora del Mitote and events produced in collaboration with partner organizations, build community while highlighting Latinx artists and artists from other underrepresented groups.

Our community-based new work development programs draw on the diverse voices in our community to create unique, relevant works of theater that position Teatro Visión as an innovator in community engagement and theater creation.

Our teatro classes teach performance as a tool for social change, strengthening the critical thinking, self-confidence, communication, and problem-solving skills that students need to make positive changes in our community.

With support from the California Arts Council, ARTogether will be able to sustain and enhance its existing initiatives, ensuring that we can continue providing vital support and opportunities for historically excluded artists, cultural practitioners, and communities of first- and second-generation refugees and immigrants. Funds awarded from CAC support operational expenses such as staff salaries, rent, and utilities – enabling us to maintain the infrastructure, staffing, space, and resources necessary to deliver high-quality programming, reach a wider audience, and create a lasting impact in our community.

ARTogether serves as a resource center for refugees and immigrants throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Our services center around three primary areas: (1) Bringing refugees, immigrants and the wider community together through art workshops and art-centered social gatherings, to foster wellness and community connection. (2) Supporting refugee artists by employing refugee art educators, and by connecting refugee artists to local art galleries and social venues that help them to find new markets for their art. (3) Bringing the arts to Bay Area schools, launching engaging arts programs that promote positive images of refugees and immigrants, while raising public awareness of refugee issues through educational campaigns.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir (OIGC) will support its core artistic and administrative staff and operate its eight adult and youth choir programs. Programming will include a year-round schedule of rehearsals for each choir, music education classes in Oakland’s public middle schools, a gospel music apprenticeship program and a season of free Community Engagement performances and self produced concerts that celebrate, bring together, promote and increase the region’s broad community of singers and lovers of folk music rooted in the American historical practice of gospel music traditions.

OIGC’s programs include the namesake 73-member adult choir, which headlines the organization’s self-produced annual Holiday Concert and Annual Free Spring Concert; performs across the region in a variety of venues and settings; and via its artistic projects and collaborations, preserves and advances the artistic heritage of Oakland’s large African American population. The 110-member Oakland Interfaith Community Choir is a limited-commitment ensemble founded in 2013, open to adults at all skill levels. Oakland Interfaith Kids Choir is open to children between the ages of 5 – 8, while Oakland Interfaith Youth Choir serves those between 9 – 18. The 2022 merger with Oakland Youth Chorus introduced an additional three youth ensemble choruses that have an additional classroom and formal music education component for those who would like to learn to read and write music as well as sing. A Community Engagement Program offers year-round, free, accessible performances to a diverse audience that includes people in shelters, prisons, jails, nursing homes and other institutions; provides no-fee or low-fee performances for social service agencies, faith-based and educational institutions; and performs for large audiences at admission-free civic festivals and other celebrations.

Crescent Moon Theater Productions seeks general operating support to advance our mission of creating healing-centered, community-driven performances. CAC funding sustains essential operations—artist and staff compensation, rehearsal and performance spaces, and accessibility infrastructure—empowering us to collaborate with underserved communities, including refugees and veterans, across California. This support enables us to develop original, participatory works that amplify underrepresented voices and deliver transformative experiences rooted in cultural expression, resilience, and collective healing.

Crescent Moon Theater Productions creates original, community-based work that weaves together theater, dance, music, and circus arts. Prior to the pandemic, CMTP also produced Blessed Unrest—an annual arts and social justice festival in San Francisco that convened over thirty artists exploring the intersection of creative expression and social change.

With support from the California Arts Council, Sacred Music Fellowship will rent a space in Berkeley, expand staffing, and grow outreach—enabling us to offer more music programs for all ages, cultures, and backgrounds.

Weekly offerings will include SingJam for children and families, Kenny’s Jam, our rock and folk jam, and Sacred Music Sessions featuring global cultural traditions. With added community support, we’ll also offer workshops in diverse musical styles. Several times a year, we’ll host large interfaith celebrations that bring people together in joyous song and dance.

Grant funds will support expanded programming, guest facilitators, and marketing that helps us reach more people. These funds will deepen our impact, broaden our reach, and make SMF a year-round hub for inclusive, intercultural music-making.

Sacred Music Fellowship (SMF) offers a variety of artistic programs in the Bay Area designed to foster community through music, emphasizing inclusivity and connection. Our core offerings include two weekly free jam sessions, music workshops, interdenominational and interfaith holiday music events, and music programming for children and their caregivers. Our programs are open to people of all backgrounds and skill levels, making music a relaxed and shared experience that transcends religious and cultural boundaries.

Our two weekly free music jams provide opportunities for participants to come together in fun, informal and meaningful musical collaboration to sing and play. They serve as welcoming spaces where people can explore new genres and improve their musicianship.

Our larger interdenominational and interfaith concert jams celebrate religious and cultural holidays through music. They build dialogue across communities and deepen the spiritual connections of participants through sharing diverse musical traditions.

Our workshops are intended to help music makers improve their music skills to further uplift our communal music capabilities.

Our SingJam program provides joyful, child-friendly communal music-making experiences. SingJam creates an environment for children and families to explore music in a social, collaborative setting, and is an important part of SMF’s overall mission to promote communal music making for all ages.

Activities Summary:

Kenny’s Jam, free weekly rock/folk jam
Sacred Music Sessions, a free weekly sacred music jam
Interdenominational and interfaith holiday music events, approximately 3-5x/year
Music classes and workshops, planning for 3+ workshops in 2025
SingJam, for children and their caregivers, will be 2x/weekly starting in fall 2025

With support from the California Arts Council, Cheza Nami Foundation will sustain and expand our year-round, culturally responsive programs for children and families across the Bay Area. Funding will strengthen staffing, outreach, and accessibility efforts, allowing us to deepen impact in historically underserved communities and preserve African diasporic cultural traditions.

We offer activities to community organizations, schools and corporations while addressing educational and social needs that help foster community building, global citizenship and personal enrichment through our core programs:

Cultural Arts and Learning (CAL) school assemblies for K-12, Drumming & Dancing Workshops – in-school and in-community workshops, Community engagement Drum Circles, Summer Camps for k-12 youth, Community arts programs for hand on engagement in center of learning on public community spaces, Taste of Africa Festival – Cheza Nami’s signature annual extravaganza and community celebration of African art, food music and dance, Essence Production: Cheza Nami’s music and dance production that celebrates the oneness of humankind through music and dance that brings together local master artists to collaborate on fresh works for public presentation annually.

With support from the California Arts Council, RESOUNDING JOY INC will deliver free and reduced-cost music therapy and wellness programs to over 10,000 people across San Diego County. We use the power of music to reduce stress, support healing, and strengthen communities. Our four core programs—Sounds of Healing (children with disabilities and complex medical needs), Sounds of Service (Veterans and military families), Sounds of Legacy (older adults with dementia and hospice patients), and Sounds of Community (people in under-resourced communities)—offer group sessions, one-on-one therapy, and community music events.

Through these programs, we bring hope, connection, and joy to people often left out of traditional care. We envision a more inclusive world where everyone has equal access to the healing benefits of music therapy.

Our four core programs offer a continuum of music engagement from clinic to community, with Board-Certified Music Therapists providing services at clinical facilities, client homes, our Music Wellness Center, community partner sites, and virtually.

1. Sounds of Healing enhances the psychological, social-emotional, and physical well-being of medically resilient children managing long-term medical conditions and supporting families through hospice care.

2. Sounds of Service improves the emotional well-being of our Veterans, service members, and first responders. This music program supports their transition to civilian life; the management of PTSD, stress, and pain; and deeper connections to peers through participation in our community band.

3. Sounds of Legacy empowers and engages older adults affected by dementia, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s through sessions that enrich their minds and overall quality of life. Music therapy improves speech and communication, lowers stress and anxiety, boosts immunity, and elevates mood.

4. Sounds of Community amplifies community welfare and resilience by partnering with local agencies to share music therapy and recreational music opportunities. Current and past partners include San Diego Rescue Mission, Father Joe’s Villages, South Bay Community Services, Imperial Beach Library, CalSAFE Escondido, and Alcott Elementary.

With support from the California Arts Council, Bach Collegium San Diego (BCSD) will be able to hire top-tier Baroque specialists for its 2025–2026 concert season. This investment will create approximately 175 paid opportunities for freelance musicians, many of whom are California-based artists. By enabling the engagement of these performers, the Council’s funding will ensure high-quality, diverse, culturally significant programming while directly supporting the state’s creative workforce. These musicians will also contribute to our education initiatives, supporting the music education of over 200 students. Our programming and outreach intentionally prioritize engagement with historically and systemically underserved communities located in San Diego’s “Promise Zone”, ensuring broad access to artistic excellence and cultural enrichment. This initiative fosters creative expressions at all levels of music-making and strengthens California’s arts ecosystem by enhancing access to world-class music across the region.

BACH COLLEGIUM SAN DIEGO was founded by Artistic Director Ruben Valenzuela in 2003 to bring dynamic programming and performances with historical considerations to performance practice. Over the last 20 seasons, BCSD has garnered national and international recognition through its exemplary talent, making it one of the most distinguished early music ensembles in the country today. In 2021, the ensemble gained national attention through its El Mesías: Messiah for a New World project, which commissioned an original Spanish libretto of Handel’s oratorio. BCSD made its European debut at Bachfest in Leipzig, Germany in June 2024, and also performed at other Bach sites in the German state of Thuringia.

With support from the California arts council the Arts Education Alliance (AEA) will connect and catalyze arts education communities for a more just and creative Bay Area through the following programs and offerings:
– Local and Regional Advocacy for individual teaching artists and community based arts organizations.
– Ongoing coalition meetings throughout the Bay Area including Alameda, San Francisco, and West Contra Costa County cohorts.
– Ongoing professional development, practice sharing, professional support and community building opportunities for educators and teaching artists.
– Providing accessible tools and resources to share arts education news, resources and opportunities with over 2,100 teachers, artists, and arts professionals via our monthly newsletter, listservs, social media, and website.
– Centering equity and access at all levels of our work and programming to ensure all young people have equitable access to culturally responsive, creative practices.

The Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area CONNECTS and CATALYZES local arts education coalitions for a more just and creative San Francisco Bay Area.

We serve as a regional hub and unifying voice for local coalitions of teaching artists, school districts, student and their families, community arts organizations, cultural institutions, city and county agencies, funders, business leaders, and arts education advocates throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Our regional work aligns with Create CA’s state arts education efforts as well as the national efforts of the National Guild for Community Art Education and Arts Education Partnership. The Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area supports our members to cultivate responsive leadership and advocate for arts education through ongoing convening events, professional learning workshops, monthly newsletters, and advocacy resources.

With support from the California Arts Council, San Diego Made will fund the salary of our Program Director, Sarah Anderson, whose leadership is essential to the success and impact of our work. Located in San Diego’s Promise Zone, we serve historically under-resourced communities with affordable art spaces and culturally relevant creative programming. A local resident, disabled working mother, and practicing artist, Sarah brings lived experience and strong community ties to this vital role. She manages daily operations for 40+ creative tenants, mentors resident artists, and leads partnerships with community organizations. With this grant, we can continue delivering our impactful programming while reinvesting in the infrastructure that sustains our affordable space model and keeps our work viable. Supporting her role maintains our leadership team as one that is rooted in inclusion, equity, and community representation.

San Diego Made is an artist-led creative hub that drives social, cultural, and economic opportunities for artists, small businesses, and organizations throughout the region.

We’re building a creative ecosystem that equips community members with the resources, support, and connections they need in order to build thriving futures. At our headquarters at the Factory in Logan Heights, our community has access to 12,000 sq. ft. of inspiring studio spaces, event facilities, and exhibition areas where people can hone their craft and showcase their work in a bold, welcoming environment.

Through our public programming, artist residencies, and signature maker’s markets, we create immersive experiences that bring creatives and community together—fostering dialogue, sparking collaboration, and promoting meaningful engagement with the arts.

With support from the California Arts Council, ABADA-Capoeira San Francisco (ACSF) will support the salaries of artistic staff, essential for sustaining and expanding artistic leadership and programs. This grant will foster new artistic expression and promote leadership that reflects California’s rich cultural heritage. Additionally, it will enhance ACSF’s capacity to conduct and expand programs, meet strategic goals, and address bandwidth challenges to meet community demand.

These foundational expenses are vital for the continuation of programs and the overall stability of the organization.

ACSF brings high-quality, culturally authentic, and awe-inspiring Afro-Brazilian arts to the streets, schools, and stages of the Bay Area.

Programs center around Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian art created by enslaved Africans in Brazil in response to oppression and used to fight for freedom. Capoeira combines self-defense, dance, ritual, acrobatics, and music in a rhythmic dialogue of body, mind, and spirit. It’s internationally practiced and protected under UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Rooted in resilience, Capoeira’s history of uniting diverse populations in their quest for freedom and justice shapes ACSF’s mission and programs.

ACSF provides year-round arts education; cultural festivals and performances; artist exchange and residency opportunities; apprenticeships and artist employment; and classes for children, teens and adults in Capoeira, dance, music, and fitness—providing people opportunities to learn about, experience, and participate in art rooted in tradition.

Programs develop artistic and physical skills; cultivate and support cultural practitioners and next-generation artists; inspire cultural awareness, creative conflict resolution, and civic engagement; and foster health and cultural connectedness.

ACSF’s Capoeira Arts Center enlivens the Mission District, housing the performance company, hosting internationally attended cultural festivals, and providing daily instructional programs and affordable rental space to artists and organizations.

To remove barriers and encourage participation, ACSF provides:
— free and scaled fees;
— an inclusive, equitable, and safe place;
— culturally and socially relevant activities;
— skill and leadership development;
— improved wellness and consistent activity;
— social connection;
— civic and intergenerational engagement;
— opportunities to challenge limiting beliefs;
— multifaceted offerings for all levels/ages;
— outreach/activities in under-resourced communities;
— connection to world-renowned artists;
— leadership representing the communities served; and
— creative work spotlighting underrepresented artists and amplifying gender equity worldwide.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Junior Center of Art and Science (JCAS) will expand equitable, arts-integrated learning experiences for youth in under-resourced communities across Oakland and the East Bay. Funding will support general operations, allowing us to sustain and grow free and low-cost programs that foster creativity, critical thinking, and belonging through the arts.
Founded in 1954, JCAS delivers culturally responsive programming in classrooms, after-school settings, and public spaces. Each year, we engage over 6,000 youth and 325 families a year—primarily students of color from Title I schools—through hands-on residencies, summer camps, and community events rooted in the belief that all young people deserve access to meaningful, identity-affirming arts education. General operating funds will support sliding-scale tuition, scholarships, artist training, curriculum development, and community engagement.

The Center provides high quality programs in the arts and sciences. Our center hosts visitors in our five interactive learning spaces including our art studio, maker space, and animal room. Programs are provided both on-site and throughout the Oakland and East Bay Area through school and community partners. Offerings occur during the day, after school and on Saturdays. Classes are taught by professionals in their fields. We are happy to partner with over 40 school and community sites throughout the East Bay Area.
In summer, we provide hands-on arts and science camps for students ages 6 – 17 years old.
Our on-site programs are offered on sliding scale with a policy of no one turned away for lack of funds. All of our programs are low or no-cost with additional scholarships available to those in need.

With support from the California Arts Council, Mr Hollands Opus Foundation Inc will provide vital support services to K-12 public school districts and musical instruments to underfunded public school music programs across California, giving under-represented youth access to music education, regardless of their economic circumstance.

MHOF’s core programs and services are:

MEDSS® (Music [and Arts] Education District Support Services): MEDSS is an innovative districtwide assessment and consulting service that utilizes data and teacher feedback to identify and address the challenges and barriers both at individual school sites as well as systemically throughout the district that are creating inequities for student access and participation in quality, sequential, and sustainable music and arts programming at every school. MEDSS focuses on why these challenges and barriers exist in order to then implement customized solutions that directly impact teachers and students at scale throughout the system. MEDSS informs and empowers district administrators, principals, teachers, communities, funders, and other stakeholders as to the current state of music and arts, plus the types and amounts of resources and supports needed to serve every student, within every classroom, and at every school throughout the entire district.

Musical Instruments Program: MHOF provides musical instruments and related equipment/accessories free-of-charge to K-12 public schools, with a focus on low-income communities. Our quality vetting and granting process is unique by working with each school to customize specific needs that address student enrollment, instrument sharing, replacing aged/broken instruments, and teachers borrowing from other schools.

Music Rising: MHOF administers this program focused on rebuilding school music programs in the aftermath of natural disasters, restoring vital music programs and helping communities recover through the power of music. Music Rising was originally co-founded by U2’s The Edge and legendary music producer Bob Ezrin.

Holland’s Heroes: This nationwide network of school district arts leaders is dedicated to transforming arts education. By fostering collaboration, sharing best practices, and using data to drive equitable solutions, the group works to expand student access to inclusive, high-quality arts learning and experiences across the country.

With support from the California Arts Council, Versa Style Street Dance Company (VSDC) will subsidize livable wages for three members of our seven-person core administrative staff. Staff members are critical to the organization’s sustainability and capacity as an anchor of Hip Hop and Street Dance culture and education across Southern California. VSDC staff occupy vital roles within the organization, including teaching artist, performer, mentor and cultural practitioner and represent an internal career development pipeline crucial to the organization’s ethos as a cultural institution with county-wide impact. California Arts Council funding will support VSDC’s ability to care for its artists and provide equitable pay.

Versa Style Next Generation (VSNG): Since 2009, VSNG has provided Hip Hop and Street Dance education and mentorship for LAC youth ages 15-22. Through VSNG, our teaching artists – all of whom are artists of color and alumni of the program – provide personalized instruction in Street Dance technique, history and creative industry knowledge. VSNG also builds a sense of community and cultural affirmation, as well as enhanced socioemotional learning and life skills, such as self-efficacy and resilience.

Youth Education and Outreach: We program in LAC communities with high concentrations of low-income students of color. Programming includes providing dance education on-site at the campuses of our K-12 school partners both during and after school. We also partner with the Arts for Healing and Justice Network (AHJN) to produce residencies at juvenile detention facilities throughout LAC. During the 2024-25 school year, our dance education residency programs were provided across eight K-12 schools and two juvenile detention facilities.

Dance Companies: We operate two professional dance ensembles: the original Versa-Style Street Dance Company (VSDC) and our newly-formed secondary company, Versa-Style Legacy, composed of recent VSNG graduates. VSDC performs and tours evening-length Hip Hop and Street Dance productions nationally, while VS Legacy performs locally, showcasing Origins of Hip Hop, an educational presentation on the history of Street Dance in America, at schools, community centers and festivals.

Community Programs: Our weekly Friday Night Dance Classes have been held regularly since the inception of VSDC and are co-taught by VSDC co-founders, providing access to high quality learning for our students and ensuring our organization’s leadership remains fully immersed in the community we serve. Additionally, we facilitate block party-style Let the Music Move You events 4-5 times a year across LAC, offering rich and diverse entertainment and community building opportunities that also help promote awareness of our programming.

With support from the California Arts Council, Altadena Music Theatre will produce and present professional musical theatre productions and educational programs. Funding will support artist fees, production costs, marketing/public relations, accessibility, and administrative staff.

Altadena Music Theatre’s core programs and services are its professional season of live musical theatre productions and its children’s musical theatre education programs and camps.

Free 2 Be Me Dance will use CAC General Operating Support funds to sustain and grow our
inclusive dance programs for individuals with disabilities across Los Angeles County. Now in our
17th year, we offer year-round classes that break barriers, celebrate artistic expression, and build
belonging. Support will cover essential program staffing costs, studio space, materials, and
scholarships ensuring dancers of all abilities continue to shine with confidence, creativity, and
connection.

Free 2 Be Me Dance offers adaptive dance classes in hip hop and ballet to encourage the confidence, strength and creativity within each dancer. Through specialized instruction and evidence-based techniques such as BrainDance, dancers develop physical, social and emotional skills that support meaningful connections and better quality of life. Such outcomes include the development of self-confidence, empathy, communal spirit, active listening, coordination, focus and creativity. Our approach is rooted in meaningful connections, meeting each dancer where they are at, and ensuring they feel genuinely loved, supported and celebrated from the moment they walk in the door.

We also offer scholarships to any family who needs one. On average 70% of our families receive a full or partial scholarship. We never turn anyone away for lack of finances. Our program prioritizes accessibility and inclusivity in order to bring dance to those who are otherwise excluded from the dance community and ultimately, to create a space where each dancer knows they are loved, validated and deserving of the best life. Furthermore, whilst Free 2 Be Me Dance primarily serves those in the Los Angeles area, the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed us to offer our program to dancers world-wide through live Zoom classes. The Zoom platform has opened doors in many ways for our dancers by making classes more accessible to those who need the flexibility of online learning.

With support from the California Arts Council, TaikoMix will expand its programming by reinforcing core infrastructure and deepening community engagement. Funding will support the development of staff positions, enabling the organization to devote more time to program design, outreach, and Board expansion. With enhanced administrative capacity, TaikoMix will expand its footprint in the underserved communities of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties through new partnerships with the Riverside Arts Academy and the Redlands Japanese Cultural Center. We plan to increase the number of taiko classes, workshops, and cultural offerings—maintaining our commitment to keeping programs low-cost or free. Expanding access remains a top priority; we will continue working with consultants to strengthen inclusive practices and improve digital accessibility, including updates to our website and online resources, ensuring our programs remain open and welcoming to all.

TaikoMix was formed in 2005 by graduating members of the collegiate taiko ensemble UC Riverside Senryu Taiko in response to a specific need for Asian and Asian American community representation of traditional and cultural arts in the Inland Empire region. TaikoMix operates a community performing ensemble, TaikoMix, that is based in Riverside and open to all who wish to study taiko. The community performing ensemble has been practicing together weekly for over fifteen years.

In 2015, under the TaikoMix organization, the professional performing ensemble The Wagaku Collective was formed. The Wagaku Collective is an ensemble of musicians who are classically trained on traditional Japanese musical instruments: Okinawan sanshin, shakuhachi, shinobue, Tsugaru shamisen, and taiko. The Wagaku Collective’s purpose is to share Japanese tradition and culture through public performances and educational activities centered on Japanese minyo (folk) music.

With support from the California Arts Council, Arenas Dance Company will continue our mission to preserve and promote Afro-Cuban art and culture via dance and drum classes and original dance and music works. Funds will be used to: pay a monthly stipend to our Artistic Director/choreographer and our core staff, including our access manager; compensate our dancers and drummers at “market rate” for both rehearsals and performances; and rent studio space for rehearsals.

Arenas Dance Company (ADC) produces, presents, and creates dance performances celebrating the complexity and beauty of Cuban culture. We work to present the Cuban culture in its fullness and depth. ADC teaches weekly Cuban folkloric and popular dance classes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and is frequently invited to guest teach – leading workshops and giving lectures – at schools (Elementary through University), libraries, and camps on Cuban dance, music and traditions. ADC also takes students on annual cultural exchange and study trips to Cuba.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Art Theatre of Long Beach will sustain its mission to celebrate and preserve the art of cinema while creating an inclusive and engaging cultural space for our community. We will do this through the continuation and expansion of our Film and Speakers Series, programming bi-monthly screenings of relevant films, followed by panel discussion with directors, actors, or subject/community experts. We will present films of artistic, cultural, and historical significance by multiple communities, including African-American, Asian-American, Latino-American, and LGBTQ. Topics embrace environment, history, social justice, LGBTQ issues, food and nutrition, as well as music or art. Emphasizing diversity and representation and offering audiences an enriched viewing experience and educational opportunities, these one-of-a-kind events will take place in our 101-year-old historic single-screen movie theater, remodeled and accessible to everyone.

Our main programming objectives at the Art Theatre of Long Beach focus on celebrating and preserving the art of cinema while creating an inclusive and engaging cultural space for our community. As a historic single-screen movie theater, we present films of artistic, cultural, and historical significance, emphasizing diversity and representation through our selection process. Our anchor art programs include annual community film festivals such as the Cambodia Town Film Festival and the Queer Film Festival, alongside curated film series that feature panel discussions and guest speakers, offering audiences an enriched viewing experience and educational opportunities.
The Art Theatre shows special screenings through film series such as “A Century of Cinema”, an ongoing celebration of the history of the movies, “The Art After Dark”, a late-night member series, screening single-showing specially curated films, and the “Art 11 Film Series”. Presenting the best recently acclaimed documentary and international cinema to our historic screen, the “Art 11 Series” is held on select Saturdays and Sundays at 11:00 am.
In addition to our daily programming and film festivals, the Art Theatre offers a Film and Speakers Series twice a month, showing relevant documentaries combined with Q&A with filmmakers that allow an opportunity for community discussion, engagement, and learning. We also work with local schools and community organizations to host free special screenings for students and local events with nonprofits that support our community. Our goal is to engage as many people as possible in thought and discussion.

With support from the California Arts Council, Oakland Ballet Company will present a 2025–2026 season centered on equity, access, and representation in the arts. The season includes four powerful productions – 60th Anniversary Program, The Nutcracker, Rainbow Dances celebrating LGBTQ+ artists, and a remounting of the Angel Island Project, which honors the experiences of AAPI immigrants detained at the Angel Island Immigration Station. CAC funds will support these public performances as well as Discover Dance arts education program activities for schools with limited access to arts education. All programming is designed to reflect the lived experiences of Oakland’s diverse communities and ensure that students and audiences see themselves represented on stage. Through this work, OBC will continue its commitment to breaking down barriers to the arts and fostering a more inclusive and equitable cultural landscape.

OBC is committed to artistic excellence, serving as a leader in the local arts community, and providing access to the art of dance for 15,000+ community members from Oakland and the greater East Bay each year. OBC’s programs include a diverse mix of professional performances, a robust arts education program, and a youth dance training program.

Performances:
– “Luna Mexicana”: our annual celebration of Dia de los Muertos and Latinx arts and culture.
– Graham Lustig’s “The Nutcracker”: A Bay Area holiday tradition showcasing OBC’s more classical side.
– “Dancing Moons Festival”: a program highlighting AAPI choreographers and artists.
– Spring Repertory Programs: a mixed, more contemporary program featuring new works commissioned by local choreographers, and/or collaborations with other artists and arts groups. E.G.: in spring of 2023 OBC presented “Rainbow Dances” – a program featuring new works by LGBTQIA+ identifying choreographers.

Arts Education:
OBC’s “Discover Dance” program provides educational arts programming for local schools & students through the following programs:
– On-site educational assemblies
– In-theater student performances
– In classroom dance residencies
– Educational guides and lesson plans
– Ticket Donations

Dance Training:
Training the next generation of artists through summer dance workshops.

Since 2018, Imperial Beach Arts Bureau has been the primary catalyst bringing public art to Imperial Beach, a majority-Hispanic, low-to-moderate-income city in San Diego. In 2024, IBAB hired its first employee: a part-time executive director to expand outreach, increase art installations and events, improve operational systems, & direct fundraising.
In 2025, IBAB created its first strategic plan, identifying a focus on growth & capacity building, beginning with a renaming to IB Arts. Funds will be used for:
• Launching a bilingual Public Art & Cultural Development Assessment to be used for future programming & advocacy
• Development of rebranding strategy, new logo, brand toolkit, website & social media/marketing plan
• Engage with 500 individuals
• Foster a minimum of 10 stimulating, culturally expressive experiences
• Systematize & improve internal operational systems & administrative practices.
• Increase funding from private donors, agencies, & foundations.

IB Arts is committed to supporting local artists and fostering a vibrant cultural landscape in Imperial Beach. A key initiative includes **twice-yearly gallery exhibitions at the public library**, providing a dynamic platform for both emerging and established artists to showcase their work and connect with the community.

As part of its core programming, IB Arts **commissions artists to create public installations**, many of which reflect Imperial Beach’s coastal identity and natural surroundings. These works celebrate the city’s proximity to the ocean and estuaries, fostering deeper appreciation for environmental themes through artistic expression.

Beyond installations, IB Arts actively **engages the community in the artmaking process**, ensuring that creativity is accessible to residents and visitors alike. This includes regular participation in **monthly Farmer’s Markets** and **citywide events** such as **Día de Los Niños** and **Art in the Park**, where hands-on art activities encourage public involvement.

To further connect people with local art, IB Arts has curated a **bilingual self-guided Mural Bike Tour**, offering an immersive experience that highlights **over 30 murals** and **34 decorated utility boxes** along a carefully designed route. By integrating public art with active transportation, this initiative allows participants to explore and appreciate the city’s creative landscape in an engaging and interactive way.

With these programs, IB Arts continues to enrich Imperial Beach’s cultural identity, making the arts accessible, participatory, and deeply connected to the local environment and community.

Women’s Voices Now (WVN) addresses the exclusion of women from film by combining access, education, amplification, and community engagement. We request $30,000 from the California Arts Council to support staff, stipends, and supplies for our programs: the WVN Film Festival, which uplifts women filmmakers through cash prizes, visibility, and global distribution; Girls’ Voices Now (GVN), an intensive filmmaking and youth development program for girls from underrepresented Los Angeles communities; and the Voices for Change Film Collection, a free digital collection of over 340 socially impactful films. Each program incorporates in-person screenings in LA, bringing local and global issues to California audiences. These initiatives build lasting skills, promote authentic storytelling, and spark public dialogue. WVN fosters a more inclusive media landscape by creating college and career pathways in film and using storytelling for social change.

We empower filmmakers, produce social-change films, and engage audience members to advance girls’ and women’s rights through our three core programs:

1. WVN Online Film Festival
An annual film festival supporting emerging documentary filmmakers by providing cash prizes, visibility, and connections to film industry professionals. Since 2011, we have received 1,382 film submissions from 97 countries, and we have awarded $156,500 in cash prizes.

2. Girls’ Voices Now – Youth Development through Arts Education and Empowerment
Our youth development program empowers the next generation of youth from under-resourced communities to find, develop, and use their voice for social change through filmmaking. Since 2018, we have served 104 girls from under-resourced LA communities and produced 28 youth-made short films seen by 4.3M+ online viewers. Films produced in this program have gone on to win awards, including festivals and two Emmy nominations (1 win!)

3. Voices For Change: A free film collection advocating for women’s and girls’ rights
Collection of films about women raises awareness of the struggles and triumphs of women and girls around the globe, inviting audience members to contribute to social change supportive of their human rights. Features 340+ films in 50 different languages about women’s and girls’ stories and rights globally. We partner with local organizations to co-facilitate 145+ in-person and virtual screening events and conversations in 15+ countries with 50+ field partners, including universities, nonprofit organizations and international organizations. We also promote these films for individuals to stream for free online through thorough online marketing campaigns (reaching 8.2M+ online viewers globally in 2024 alone!)

With support from the California Arts Council, CounterPulse will underwrite costs of the staff who produce our core programming in service to artists, audiences, and residents of historically underserved communities from our home venue in downtown San Francisco. Investing in these cultural workers is vital to CounterPulse’s mission of serving dance, performance, and multimedia artist and audience communities, who tend to be younger, lower-income, and diverse in sexual-orientation, gender-representation, and ethnic backgrounds. CAC support will also facilitate our deep community listening, internal and programmatic equity work, and ongoing commitments to accessibility.

Since 1991, CounterPulse has been a platform where remarkably multidimensional narratives are synthesized to create, support, and launch art-making activities that speak to critical concerns and reflect the vitality of grassroots communities. In 2005, CounterPulse launched our flagship Artist Residency and Commissioning (ARC) program that includes three residency tracks, spanning contemporary dance, experimental culturally-specific performance, and technologically engaged choreography. Since 2010, under the current Artistic & Executive Director, CounterPulse has maintained a consistent track record of launching programs of national and international profile, cementing CounterPulse’s leadership in the dance and performance ecosystem; such initiatives include the CounterPulse Festival, ongoing since 2018; large-scale public art projects in 2017 and 2023, and international curatorial initiatives annually.

As an outgrowth of this impact, CounterPulse was selected in 2014 to partner with Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) to acquire and renovate a building in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, moving into the 10,000 sq. ft., fully accessible facility in 2016. Over the ensuing years CounterPulse has deepened our commitment to accessibility as an axis of community building by partnering with local service organizations to facilitate community development through arts in our neighborhood. In 2023, CounterPulse completed a $7 million capital campaign to purchase the building from CAST and is now a permanent and thriving cultural anchor in downtown San Francisco.

CounterPulse produces world-class, critically acclaimed programs that directly support working artists. Residency, commissioning, presentation, co-production, fiscal sponsorship, and rental exchange programs work in concert to springboard artists into the next level of their careers and provide access to income, marketing and production support, and below-market rental rates. All of our programs share a commitment to access and affordability aimed at building resilience and risk-taking in communities of artists by giving them a home for making and presenting works.

With support from the California Arts Council, Richmond Art Center will partner with local visual artists and community organizations to continue developing ARTS EDUCATION and EXHIBITION programs. These programs respond to Richmond’s need for safe, creative spaces; places where people can heal, connect, explore their potential, and build self-confidence and creative problem solving skills. Richmond is a vibrant, racially diverse city with a large working-class and immigrant population (54.8% of residents speak a language other than English at home). Through accessible art classes and hands-on learning programs, Richmond Art Center will foster personal growth and well-being, while exhibitions and public events will amplify the voices of our city and region, engaging directly with local audiences.

Arts Education: Our arts education program offers art classes to adults, youth, kids and families; on-site in our six studios, and off-site in local schools and community spaces. This includes providing free in-school and after-school arts tuition to K-12 students at local West Contra Costa Unified School District schools. Other arts education initiatives include a paid professional development series for educators, free family day celebrations, youth art tours of exhibitions, Summer Art Camp for Kids, and youth intensive classes.

Exhibitions and Events: Exhibitions and public programs feature work by established, early career and aspiring artists. The goal of our exhibition program is to introduce new artists, artwork and perspectives on art; engage Richmond audiences; enhance the visibility of underrepresented groups/artists; and serve as a catalyst for community interaction. Long term community exhibition partnerships include The Art of Living Black/Art of the African Diaspora (since 1997), and the WCCUSD Art Show (since 1965).

General operating support from the California Arts Council will support Street Spirit as we broaden the reach of the artwork and stories in our newspaper, promote equity in our community through compassionate storytelling, and realize a strong financial position in our next fiscal year. Street Spirit eliminates barriers between unhoused people and the arts, providing vocational training in the process. Your support will complement matching funds committed by a diverse group of funders who are passionate about our mission. We will evaluate the impact of your support by tracking new artistic contributors and participants in our vocational training program, as well as the involvement of key staff. Street Spirit has helped unhoused residents change the narrative around homelessness for more than 30 years, and your support will strengthen our operational integrity.

Writing and Arts program – We mentor and publish unhoused writers, artists and journalists using a collaborative editorial process.
Newspaper program – We offer a vocational training program to the unhoused people in the East Bay who sell our newspaper.

With support from the California Arts Council, The Strindberg Laboratory (TSL) will activate theater engagement programming that meaningfully and intentionally includes participants and audiences from diverse walks of life to help build bridges between individuals and communities that are normally separated. We do this by creating community-driven workshops, pop-up events, and productions for otherwise underserved participants and audiences, with all of our programming and performances provided free-of-charge.

Through the lens of our mission, TSL’s work is inspired by what we believe is everyone’s right to arts equity—the right for everyone and anyone, regardless of race, cultural background, socio-economic status, life experience, or citizenship status to create their own paths to self-discovery through theater storytelling, and to connect too-often under-heard voices and stories with a diverse audience.

The Strindberg Laboratory (TSL) provides theater workshops, facilitates training, shepherds productions to otherwise marginalized communities. Our core organizational programs have included Break It To Make It, an unprecedented partnership that provides an integrated pipeline of support through theater arts, higher education, and rehabilitative service for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. Another core TSL service is our Community-Based Workshops. In recent years, TSL has worked with homeless, LGBTQ+, and autism spectrum communities, with some of these workshops culminating in public productions. The third core aspect of TSL’s programming is our community-driven productions. In this regard, TSL is developing a new production of “Macbeth,” and also co-created “No Labels, No Walls,” an international arts group working for a more inclusive and equal world. The group launched with its first festival in September 2019, which took place in Helsinki, Finland.

With support from the California Arts Council, Afro Urban Society will support two part-time positions to carry out our mission of a Black-led community-powered arts & cultural organization dedicated to centering creatives and communities of African descent through professional development trainings, arts & cultural workshops, youth programs, festivals, original and curated productions, arts education, and community engagement activities in the SF Bay Area. AUS provides diverse program offerings that sustains the resiliency, interconnection and unique artistic and cultural expressions and contributions of people of African descent in our society.

Incubate: We curate and host various fellowship and training programs enabling our community members to level up on their creative and artistic craft and practice. Our offerings include:
**Lit from the Black!: A design & technical production fellowship and training program for Black womxn and gender non-binary people to create a professional career pathway into the field
**Onye Ozi Artist Fellowship: A multidisciplinary artistic exchange and inquiry on Afro-diasporic relations and identity
**Afro Culture Kids Camp: Pan African Arts & Culture camp for school-age children

Celebrate: We celebrate the work of community of artists and creatives with and through performance, cultural expression, media, and community events such as:
**Bakanal de Afrique: bi-annual multidisciplinary festival that explores and celebrates the odyssey of urban Afro-descended people through art and culture
**Gbedu Town Radio: Afro-pop ensemble of dancers and musicians
**Afro Urban Dance Community Workshops and Events

Elevate:
**Connect our community members with work opportunities beyond Afro Urban Society
**Share about the work of Artists through our various online and in-print publications
**One3snapshot design collective: Original & Unique apparel, merch, publications and art

With support from the California Arts Council, AfroSolo Theatre Company will maintain its core programs, including the AfroSolo Arts Festival, Black Women: Resilient, and STOP! SHOW & CONTROL! The Art of Surviving Police Stops! CAC funding will support artist fees, production costs, and accessibility services, enabling AfroSolo to continue offering free and low-cost, high-impact programming in San Francisco’s Black communities. These programs uplift Black voices through solo performance, visual arts, and music while providing opportunities for healing, storytelling, and cultural affirmation.

This investment will help AfroSolo remain a vital cultural anchor in the Bay Area—supporting emerging and established Black artists, fostering cross-generational engagement, and ensuring that Black stories and experiences are seen, heard, and honored.

AfroSolo Theatre Company’s core programming is anchored by the annual AfroSolo Arts Festival, a year-long, multidisciplinary celebration of Black arts and culture. Each year’s programming is united by a central theme and structured around three primary components:

AfroSolo in the Gardens – A free, outdoor jazz concert held at Yerba Buena Gardens featuring acclaimed Black vocalists and instrumentalists. This accessible event invites intergenerational and multicultural audiences to experience the richness of Black musical traditions in a communal setting.

AfroSolo in the Gallery – A curated visual arts exhibition showcasing up to five Black artists at the African American Center of San Francisco’s Main Public Library. This public-facing exhibit creates opportunities for emerging and mid-career artists to present socially engaged work in a civic space.

Black Voices Performance Series – The centerpiece of the festival, this series features solo theatre, spoken word, and dance performances by African American and Diasporic artists. Presented at culturally significant venues such as the African American Art and Culture Complex, these performances elevate personal narratives that speak to collective histories, resilience, and transformation.

AfroSolo also runs year-round community engagement initiatives. These include:
1) STOP! SHOW! & CONTROL!: The Art Of Surviving Police Stops, a series of theater and community based workshops designed to decrease the number of law enforcement deaths in underserved communities;
2) Resilient Black Women, a writing workshop for Black Women in the Bayview Hunters Point of San Francisco; and
3) A Senior’s writing workshop at Dr. George Davis Senior Center in SF’s Bayview Hunters Point.

Through accessible programming, strategic partnerships, and culturally responsive practice, AfroSolo provides visibility and support for Black artists while fostering healing, dialogue, and joy in the communities it serves.

Girls Make Beats respectfully requests General Operating Support from the California Arts Council to sustain and grow our mission to empower girls and gender-expansive youth, ages 8–17, through music production, DJing, and audio engineering education. CAC funds will support core operational expenses including staff salaries, teaching artist stipends, program coordination, equipment maintenance, and rent/utilities for training spaces. This unrestricted funding will allow us to expand access to culturally relevant, trauma-informed arts education for underserved youth across California, especially in communities of color historically excluded from the music industry. By supporting our general operations, CAC will help ensure the long-term stability and impact of our programs, our workforce, and the cultural ecosystems we help strengthen through creative youth development.

Girls Make Beats offers in-school and after-school courses on industry-leading hardware and software, along with summer camps, industry panels, and networking events. We provide scholarships, internships, live performance opportunities, and portfolio development to empower girls in music production, DJing, and audio engineering.

SambaFunk! preserves, centers, and uplifts African Diaspora cultural and healing arts across the San Francisco Bay Area. Rooted in African, Brazilian samba, and Oakland funk traditions, our mission celebrates resilience, shared heritage, and cultural pride while promoting wellness in underserved communities.

CAC grant funds will support programs aligned with this mission, including Oakland Carnival, a free annual event sponsored by SambaFunk! for the entire city and San Francisco Bay Area. Held at Mosswood Park, it features African, Caribbean, and Afro-Brazilian arts through music, dance, and wellness activities. Additionally, biweekly drum and dance classes, K-12 arts programs, public performances, artist residencies, and international studies provide inclusive spaces for cultural expression.

With a community of over 1,000 participants, SambaFunk! connects people, builds creativity, and sustains traditions essential for healing and future generations.

Since 2010, SambaFunk! has used music and dance to bridge cultural gaps while providing a safe place for authentic, health-focused cultural creativity. Our core programs include dance/drum classes, K-12 arts education, public performances, international study and support for key social issues.

We are proud to say that we regularly host:

• biweekly African Brazilian drum and dance classes (30+ attendance on average, and 100+ attendance in Carnaval season)
• large community festivals (hosted and fiscally sponsored Oakland Carnaval since 2013, participation in SF Carnaval)
• countless performances and free-to-the-public workshops around the Bay Area and California
• K-12 after-school arts programs for youth
• international Artists-in-Residence programs and a Brazilian study abroad program

Western Ballet respectfully requests General Operating Support to advance its mission: making high-quality ballet training and performance accessible to all. Grant funds will sustain essential operating expenses—faculty salaries, facilities, and administration—allowing us to keep tuition affordable and expand our need-based financial aid program. Our year-round Youth Program serves students ages 3–19, guiding them from foundational ballet through a rigorous pre-professional track. Financial assistance and merit-based scholarships help ensure that income is not a barrier to participation. Adult and open classes are also priced accessibly, offering lifelong opportunities for engagement in dance. In a high-cost region where equitable access to the arts is increasingly limited, CAC support will help Western Ballet continue its “Ballet for All” commitment—welcoming students from all backgrounds and preserving classical ballet as a vibrant and inclusive cultural resource.

The curriculum-based Youth Program (ages 3 – 18) provides skill-based training that guides students as they progress from the earliest stages of ballet training to the pre-professional level, ready for any path in life.

The adult sequential ballet program (Open Program) serves a broad range of individuals with or without any experience who take ballet classes for their physical and mental health. Serving 4,000+ students, Western Ballet has emerged as the largest ballet center in the region.

Performance: Western Ballet produces the following performances annually: 2 Gala Performances, the Nutcracker and spring fairytale full-length ballets, Festival of the Animals, Graduation Gala, and Open Program performance workshops for adults. The main productions feature the Western Ballet Youth Company and contracted guest artists.

Western Ballet’s outreach programs include scholarships and financial aid for anyone in need, performances at local libraries, and blocks of free performance tickets to organizations in need.

With support from the California Arts Council, Melodia Mariposa will present 16 free concerts in Altadena, Pasadena, and nearby areas during the 2025–26 season—including 8 outreach performances at senior residences, memory care centers, and cancer support facilities. All programs will be offered at no cost to support a community still healing from the devastating Eaton Fire. The season also includes Peter and the Wolf at the LA County Arboretum, a family concert introducing children to the orchestra. Grant funds will support fair compensation for professional musicians, venue and production expenses. Programming will span a wide range of musical styles, honoring cultural heritage months and bringing together audiences of all ages. This support will allow Melodia Mariposa to offer a full season of inclusive, high-quality performances that foster healing, connection, and access to the arts.

Melodia Mariposa is a nonprofit music organization serving Altadena, Pasadena, and surrounding communities in Los Angeles County, presenting live performances featuring top-tier professional musicians in a wide variety of styles and genres—including classical, ballet, tango, opera, folk, and more. Almost all of our concerts are free and open to the public, making high-quality artistic experiences accessible to everyone in the community.
We bring free performances to senior homes, memory care centers, cancer support organizations, and underserved neighborhoods. These outreach concerts provide meaningful cultural connection and emotional support to those with limited access to the arts.
We offer young musicians the opportunity to perform with us in professional settings, helping them grow artistically and gain valuable experience. Our goal is to give them the space and support to shine.
In times of local crisis, such as following the Eaton fire, we’ve also organized benefit concerts and extended support to musicians who lost their houses.

These core programs reflect our commitment to serve, uplift, and inspire the local community through music and the arts.

With support from the California Arts Council, Golden Valley Community Broadcasters will sustain and strengthen its role as a nonprofit arts and cultural broadcaster serving rural and historically underserved communities in Northern California. CAC funds will support general operating costs—including staff compensation, utilities, program administration, and volunteer training—enabling KZFR to continue offering free, accessible arts programming, inclusive media education, and vital community services such as multilingual public affairs, local music curation, and emergency broadcasting.

KZFR operates with the support of approximately 120 community volunteers who provide a wide variety of music programming as well as local public affairs and information programs. These volunteers also assist a small paid staff with fundraising, outreach and events for the northern Sacramento Valley and beyond. Agreement with the principles and goals of KZFR is the sole criteria for participation.

Grant funds will support Bocón’s general operations and programming, including arts education in schools and community programs in some of San Diego’s most diverse and socially impacted neighborhoods. Bocón produces bilingual, multicultural plays for family audiences that celebrate and reflect the cultures and languages of our communities. San Diego lacks professional theatre that centers family audiences and communities of color—Bocón fills this gap by offering culturally relevant, accessible performances and learning opportunities. Funds will be used to support administrative staff and program infrastructure, ensuring the sustainability of our mission and continued impact in the community.

In-school arts residencies with professional teaching artists.
Theatre for Youth productions and play development.
Youth Ensemble: after-school youth development programming.

With support from the California Arts Council, The Art of Elysium will sustain and expand its transformative, community-based arts programming for individuals facing medical, emotional, and systemic hardship across Los Angeles. CAC funding will support not only our monthly workshops, but also the artists and staff who bring them to life—covering fair compensation, materials, and accessibility resources. From bedside songwriting to youth-led fashion shows, our programs transcend circumstance, fostering belonging, resilience, and joy. Over the past 27 years, we have served more than 445,000 people—patients, elders, unhoused individuals, incarcerated youth, and families in crisis—through trauma-informed, culturally responsive creative experiences. We believe that artists are the solution, and that creativity builds community, heals pain, and lifts the next generation. This grant will help us keep that lifeline strong, sustainable, and open to all.

We offer academic and community programming matching volunteer artists with communities in need. Artists work with The Art of Elysium’s program directors in their field to develop, or plug into existing programs. Volunteer artists are then eligible for artist support services.

We offer community service programs in the following disciplines: Fashion & Design, Film & Theatre, Music & Movement and Visual Arts. Each program is designed to:
-Support individuals in the midst of difficult emotional challenges related to illness, hospitalization, displacement, elder care, hospice, and/or crisis
-Promote opportunities for growth and development
-Encourage socialization
-Provide relief and self-expression through exposure to various artistic skills and disciplines
-Liberate and empower individuals to see beyond their fear and limitations
-Foster integration of emotional, cognitive and sensory processes
-Improve self-awareness and self-observation through creating and viewing ones’ own art
-Inspire artists to use their creativity in service
-Support the growth of emerging artists by providing opportunities to showcase their craft to the community at large

With support from the California Arts Council, Sol Treasures will continue to provide accessible arts education, robust youth theater productions, cultural events, and gallery experiences to underserved rural families in South Monterey County. As the only arts and cultural center serving this rural region, we employ four staff and fund three credentialed teaching artists. Our large-scale theater productions at the historic Stanton Theater reach over 2,500 children per show. We host cultural celebrations like Día de Los Muertos, and partner with CHISPA, the Migrant Center, and rural schools to bring arts directly into underserved communities and foster engagement. This funding will sustain operations, expand outreach, and strengthen our mission to inspire, educate, and transform lives through the arts.

Sol Treasures is a (501 (c) 3 non-profit organization founded in 2008 as an Art and Cultural Center. Sol Treasures provides opportunities for community members of all ages to experience and create art in King City and the other Southern Monterey County communities. Sol Treasures provides art programming where none or very little exists. Underserved, rural-living children and youth have opportunities for creative expression.

Sol Treasures serves 400 to 500 individuals weekly through visual and performing arts programs. Sol Treasures’ annual programs include after-school art enrichment classes; children’s musical theater productions, with each production providing a live theater experience for 2,000 of the region’s students; community choruses for students and adults; SOL-O Youth Strings Orchestra; and summer visual and performing art camps for children. Sol Treasures also has technical theatre classes, teaching all aspects of sound, lighting and visual technologies. The Sol Treasures Art Gallery and Gift Shop offer 7-8 annual art exhibits. Sol Treasures in collaboration with La Cocina organize the Dia de Los Muertos Community Altar, Parade and Festival to include classes on costuming, face painting, sculpting, and poetry.

With support from the California Arts Council, AWOKE will produce cultural arts programs and events across the San Fernando Valley and sustain the UNITE Cultural Center in the underserved community of Canoga Park. The center will serve as a hub for creative transformation, offering inclusive programming for youth and systems-impacted individuals in Greater Los Angeles County. AWOKE will leverage Hip Hop culture as a powerful tool for community engagement and social change, promoting cultural expression and identity. Through trauma-informed practices, the organization will support mental health, healing, and resilience by creating safe spaces for participants to explore movement, music, and visual arts. CAC funds will directly support program delivery, artist stipends, and operational costs, allowing AWOKE to expand access to arts experiences that foster well-being and strengthen cultural belonging for vulnerable communities.

AWOKE is dedicated to creating a supportive social ecosystem for youth, recognizing that such an environment reduces at-risk behaviors and leads to positive health outcomes. In 2019, AWOKE revitalized an abandoned storefront in the underserved community of Canoga Park, transforming it into the UNITE Cultural Center. This hub for creative transformation, civic engagement, and collective healing is strategically located within a mile of several grade schools, a dense residential community, and a large city park, making it an essential resource for local youth and families.

AWOKE offers a variety of arts education and leadership development programs for youth ages 5-26+ at UNITE, in schools, and other public spaces throughout the year. Program specialties include Street Dance, DJing, Arts & Crafts, and Muralism. While activities are available year-round, the core programming occurs during three 12-week seasons. These seasons focus on after-school programs and drop-in activities for all ages, culminating in events that showcase participants’ talents. These inclusive cultural experiences, such as seasonal arts showcases, community arts festivals, and street dance competitions, are open to all ages and encourage community engagement. Beyond these seasons, AWOKE produces workshop series, community gatherings, and mural installations throughout the year. AWOKE’s commitment to community beautification is evident in its numerous mural projects and public art activations, which not only enhance the visual landscape but also instill a sense of pride and ownership among residents.

AWOKE’s flagship initiative, “The GR818ERS Internship Program,” is an annual creative workforce development program. This paid internship for youth ages 17-26 provides training and field experience in creative production and arts administration. During the six-month internship, participants join one of three teams: Media & Marketing, Event Planning & Production, and Youth Development. These intern teams work closely with AWOKE staff and leadership to implement project activities, advocate for systems change, and support the organization’s operations.

Art at Vibe requests $30,000 from the California Arts Council to expand trauma-informed, community-based arts programming in Richmond, CA. Funds will support stipends for 8–10 local teaching artists ($12,000), ensuring fair pay for up to 48 workshops. To increase access, $4,500 will subsidize scholarships for low-income, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disabled participants. An additional $4,500 will fund workshop materials such as sewing kits, journals, and instruments. Operational and administrative coordination will be supported with $4,000. Outreach efforts, including multilingual flyers and community events, will be funded at $2,500. $1,500 will support documentation and evaluation, and $1,000 will remain flexible for accessibility accommodations or unexpected needs. This funding ensures consistent, culturally relevant programming serving up to 960 individuals annually and supports Art at Vibe’s goal of making the arts a vehicle for community healing and equity.

Art at Vibe, our work is twofold: we support artists and instructors while serving community participants through arts experiences that promote wellness, cultural connection, and creative growth.

For artists and instructors, Art at Vibe is committed to ensuring that artists are valued, respected, and resourced. We offer:
1. Fair Pay: Instructors are compensated at $75 per teaching hour, with additional pay for class preparation and planning.
2. Professional Growth: Artists develop through hands-on teaching, community engagement, and collaboration—building confidence, creative leadership, and career momentum.
3. Creative Autonomy: We honor the vision of our instructors. Artists design their own culturally grounded classes with freedom and trust, without restrictive oversight.
4. Resources & Venue: All programs are held at our ADA-accessible venue in downtown Richmond. We provide the space, materials, and tools needed for a seamless creative experience.
5. Administrative & Marketing Support: We handle logistics—registration, class setup, and promotion—so artists can focus on teaching and connection.
6. Pathways for Advancement: Artists have opportunities to curate exhibitions, host pop-ups, develop new programs, and take on leadership roles within the organization.

For community participants, our programs offer inclusive, low-barrier access to the arts as tools for healing, identity, and empowerment:
1. Creative Wellness Workshops: Hands-on classes in movement, herbalism, and fiber arts promote emotional, physical, and mental well-being.
2. Art-Based Workforce Development: Skill-building programs in culinary, scent, and media arts nurture creative entrepreneurship and economic opportunity.
3. Cultural Events & Exhibitions: We showcase music, visual art, film, and storytelling to celebrate intergenerational creativity and amplify underrepresented voices.
4. Wellness Pop-Ups: Community events feature tea bars, drum circles, yoga, and live music—making holistic wellness joyful and accessible.

Disciplines We Offer:
Textile Arts • Scent Arts • Movement Arts• Culinary Arts • Music • Film • Literature • Visual Arts • Garden & Herbal Arts

Futurenomic Resources seeks CAC General Operating Support to amplify our transformative Explore AI and arts-based out-of-school programs, serving over 500 youth annually across seven zip codes. These funds will directly support dedicated staff, innovative curriculum development, and vital community partnerships that provide safe, creative spaces for underserved youth to thrive. By integrating artistic literacy with cutting-edge technology, our programs empower participants to become confident problem-solvers and future innovators. Last year, 92% of youth reported increased engagement in the arts and STEM. With CAC’s investment, we will expand our reach, bridge critical opportunity gaps, and inspire the next generation of diverse artists and leaders who are shaping a more inclusive and imaginative future for our communities.

CVAI offers a diverse array of programs tailored to enhance literacy, artistic expression, and well-being among youth and homeless populations aged 2 and above. Our commitment to inclusivity is underscored by scholarship opportunities, ensuring access to quality arts education in underserved communities.

Our programs encompass:

– Vocal Training: Led by professionals employing the Seth Rigg’s method, participants receive comprehensive instruction in Speech Level Singing.

– Singing Performance: Explore vocal technique, music theory, and stage presence in a supportive environment.

– Dance Training: Experience a unique blend of dance styles tailored for live performances.

-First 5 Movement Dance Class: Fosters literacy, balance, and coordination development.

– Songwriting: Delve into song structure, vocabulary use, and self-expression.

– Acting & Drama: Cultivate creativity and performance skills through immersive training.

– STEM Education: Engage in hands-on classes integrating science, technology, engineering, and math with music and movement exploration, guitar craftsmanship, and music production using industry-standard software.

– Art Therapy: Utilize Media Arts as a healing tool, employing rhythm, mindfulness, and energy-medicine techniques to support trauma recovery.

– Painting: From perspective to composition, participants explore various painting techniques and mediums under expert guidance.

– Social Media Class: Gain insights into utilizing social media platforms effectively and safely.

– Music Production with Logic Class: Learn the intricacies of music and sound editing using Logic Pro, guided by professional engineers.

– Adobe Illustrator Class: Master the basics of graphic design for creative expression.

– Tutoring: Virtual sessions offer a wide range of educational opportunities including photography, videography, music production, website design, and marketing classes.

At CVAI, we’re not just fostering artistic skills; we’re nurturing holistic development, empowering individuals to unleash their potential and contribute positively to their communities.

With support from the California Arts Council, Young Audiences of Northern California will create art experiences that inspire young people, expand learning, and enliven communities; provide gainful employment and career advancement to nearly 100 California creatives; strengthen the field of arts education, and enrich more than 35,000 young lives through direct arts engagement where these youth live, learn, and play.

Young Audiences of Northern California (YANC) partners with our network of teaching artists to deliver arts education to schools and community centers through our Signature Core Programs: assembly performances, artist residencies, artist workshops, and professional development for classroom teachers. We work in four arts disciplines: visual art, music, theater, and dance. We provide maximum impact on student learning by ensuring that all of our programs are arts-focused, child-centered, outcomes-driven, and measurably effective. To achieve these qualities, all programs offer students the opportunity to: experience the art form demonstrated by a professional artist; understand the art form and its history and culture; create the art form; and connect their learning to other areas of study, and to their lives and world.

With support from the California Arts Council, SACRAMENTO COMEDY SPOT will use awarded funds to cover expenses related to rent and utilities for two facilities while our organization continues to work towards attaining pre-pandemic revenue levels and security.

Sacramento Comedy Spot is the first theater in Sacramento to feature improv, stand-up, and sketch comedy shows and classes. The Comedy Spot also produces original videos, films, and comedy events, and is Northern California’s largest comedy school.

We host shows five nights a week, featuring students who have recently completed our school courses, and other local comedians. Performances include amateur nights, graduation shows, developing shows, one-off themed and variety shows, and established favorites. We are the home of Anti-Cooperation League, Sacramento’s longest-running comedy show, and Lady Business, Sacramento’s first all-female comedy troupe.

The Comedy Spot hosts annual events such as local fundraiser Big Day of Giving, the experimental, performance marathon of Weird • Strange • Bizarre, and many recurring shows that have become audience favorites. Guests attending these events add to the local economy with their patronage of nearby establishments.

For students seeking a path in performing arts, our courses help develop a strong foundation in comedy on their way to professional success. Students become eligible to enter the performance arena through existing shows, or by developing their own. Our comedy school also caters to non-performing individuals interested in improving personal skills and/or mental well-being. Improv is well-documented as providing mental health benefits in the workplace, in the classroom, and at home. Diversity scholarship opportunities are available for all of our courses. We look forward to adding to our instructor base and increasing our available courses and workshops.

Our community outreach efforts include connecting talent to fundraising events and programs for area nonprofits. Team-building workshops allow outside organizations to experience improv as a way to nurture group dynamics. We also have a strong internal community of members that provide a lifeline of support to each other, on and off stage, through which we also encourage working together through volunteerism.

With support from the CAC, Avenue 50 Studio will further strengthen our 26-year legacy as an arts organization as we transition into a new location.
We will maintain our robust schedule of monthly art exhibitions and our long-standing La Palabra poetry series in addition to our community-centered events and fiscal sponsorship services. Operational funding will support essential needs including rent, utilities, staffing, and the accessibility of our communication systems. Our ED oversees all programming and services. La Palabra, curated by Pam Concepción, reports directly to the ED. Anthony Cardenas, our assistant, handles marketing for both the visual and literary programs, collaborating closely with Ms. Concepción while reporting to the ED. We believe that the success of this proposal will be reflected in the continued growth and vibrancy of the arts in our underserved community.

Avenue 50 Studio is an arts organization that promotes and presents Latina/o/x and diverse local artists and poets, and is grounded in the community, geography, history, and struggles of the Northeast/East Los Angeles urban region where we are located. We have been presenting exhibitions since 2000, having organized over 300 exhibits and over 180 literary events, celebrating a variety of artistic media and themes and shown almost 1,100 artists, poets and musicians. Through our commitment to bridge the diverse cultures of the LA area and to represent the unique artistic presence of our largely working class, Latina/o/x neighborhood, we provide a platform for local artists, writers, advocates and local audiences to express and address the complex issues we face in our communities. We present work that constructively and creatively address racial, cultural, and world issues. Our mission engages the arts in an active role to bridge cultures, build community, and empower its members.

With support from the California Arts Council, AUTOMATA ARTS will strengthen our ability to uplift and highlight artists who are marginalized by economic, logistical, and language barriers. Through support for our General Operations, a percentage of the rent and utilities for our space and for staff salaries will be covered, allowing us to dedicate more time and resources to supporting the work of diverse artists and fostering a welcoming and accessible space for sharing work, as well as providing greater support for diversely-abled community members. We will also be able to expand the scope of outreach strategies including incorporating other language accessibility (predominantly Spanish/Cantonese).

Automata was founded in 2004 by artists Susan Simpson and Janie Geiser. Since that time, we have been presenting intimate performances of original work, film screenings of contemporary and historical avant-garde film, lectures, workshops, and exhibitions in a variety of spaces in Los Angeles. We have invited playwrights and composers, puppeteers and designers, visual artists, and new media experimenters to collaborate and create new works using performing objects. From 2007-2009 we operated The Manual Archives, a micro performance and exhibition space dedicated to newly invented folklore for the city of Los Angeles. Automata moved into its present Chinatown performance gallery in 2012.

As a first-time California Arts Council grantee, Jacob Jonas The Company (JJTC) requests funding to support general operating costs, including subsidized equitable wages for essential administrative and artistic staff. This support will help sustain swiftly growing operations and strengthen JJTC’s capacity as a nonprofit dedicated to innovative dance performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement. During the grant period, JJTC will premiere three new works for its 2026 season, present non-traditional performances across the region, deliver movement-based arts education and wellness programs, and expand access through digital content. Staff members are critical to the organization’s long-term sustainability and ability to provide meaningful engagement across Los Angeles and beyond. CAC funding will directly advance JJTC’s mission to make dance more accessible, relevant, and healing for diverse communities.

JJTC is a Santa Monica-based nonprofit dance organization dedicated to expanding the presence of dance through live performances, digital storytelling, and community engagement. Founded in 2014, JJTC has become a pioneering force at the intersection of dance, technology, and community, working to make high-quality, innovative dance accessible to a diverse audience.

Since its inception, JJTC has redefined the possibilities of dance by bringing performances to unconventional spaces, such as the Santa Monica Pier and Getty Museum, and by engaging local communities in meaningful collaborations. A core belief in dance as a universal language drives the company to dismantle barriers to arts participation, offering a wide range of programs that bridge cultural and socio-economic divides.
JJTC has celebrated significant accomplishments that reflect its commitment to community-driven art.
– Films.Dance: A global platform showcasing over 300 artists from 25 countries, offering audiences free access to 40 culturally diverse dance films. With 8 million combined views, Films.Dance has removed geographic and financial barriers to dance participation.
– To the Sea: Dance Concerts on the Santa Monica Pier. These were free community events featuring world-class dance on the Pier, supported by the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs for three years and engaged thousands of attendees. Performances by renowned artists and companies such as Pilobolus, 7 Fingers, and DIAVOLO. JJTC was honored as the Artist in the Community/Bruria Finkel Award by Santa Monica Arts Foundation for this program.
– Blank Canvas: A cultural hub at Water Garden in Santa Monica. This program offered local artists free rehearsal space, performance opportunities, and platforms for collaboration. 14 performances, six live works, three premieres, film screenings, movement classes, and community dinners were produced.
– Community wellness programs offering free and discounted movement workshops for youth and underserved communities. These programs promote physical, emotional, and mental well-being.

With support from the California Arts Council, WriteGirl will continue its mission to empower underserved teen girls and gender expansive youth through creative writing workshops, publishing and performance opportunities, one-on-one mentoring by professional writer volunteers, and college entrance guidance. Funding would support the organization as it provides year-round programming at no cost to 600 teens and young adults, ages 13-24, who reside in Southern California. Grant funds will be applied to staff costs, rent, utilities, program development, volunteer recruitment and training, staff development and other operational expenses.

Each year, WriteGirl presents nearly 100 online and in-person events for youth, including writing and educational workshops, one-on-one mentoring, leadership development, publishing/performance opportunities, and college entrance guidance. All programming is provided at no cost to participants, through two main programs:

1) The WriteGirl Core Mentoring Program presents year-round, online and in-person writing workshops that feature engaging activities, self-care segments, special guest presentations, and time for youth to write and share their creative work. More than 100 mentee-mentor pairs also meet for regular, one-hour, online and in-person writing sessions outside of workshops. The “Bold Futures” aspect of this program provides in-depth college entrance guidance to WriteGirl high school juniors and seniors, in addition to career-focused workshops and resources for 75 college-aged WriteGirl alumni and recent college graduates. WriteGirl also offers a monthly leadership training series called “Bold Leaders” to help teens develop skills in public speaking, time management and communication.

2) WriteGirl Partner Programs provide writing workshops for youth throughout Los Angeles County, in collaboration with organizations that include the Arts for Healing and Justice Network. Recent programming has included writing sessions for youth at Dorothy Kirby Center and Los Padrinos; monthly workshops for trans and nonbinary youth in Altadena; summer writing sessions for co-ed youth in the Compton Unified School District, and a series of college and job preparedness workshops for co-ed teens in the Centinela Valley Union High School District.

WriteGirl mentors complete two days of intensive training in WriteGirl’s trauma- and healing-informed strategies and receive ongoing guidance to help them become effective, long-term mentors for youth. WriteGirl also works with dozens of special guest writers, musicians and performers who help maximize the impact of our work. Recent program partners have included the Japanese American National Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Wende Museum and The Autry.

With support from the California Arts Council, World Arts West will conduct artist service and advocacy programs that promote the artistic and economic development for our Northern Californian community of 600+ cultural dance companies with over 20,000 artists. Awarded funds will support World Arts West’s staff and contractors who administer and implement our capacity-building services dedicated to building a sustainable future for California’s cultural artists. Funded programming includes: Artist Service Program; Live Performance Presentations; Special Artist Commissions; Arts Equity Research; The 2026 World Arts West Dance Festival; and Artist Visibility & Advocacy programs.

World Arts West Dance Festival
The first and most successful cultural event of its kind in the country; each annual festival features 10-15 ensembles – with workshops, panels, film showings and other community programming centered on an overarching theme. Last year, we celebrated our 45th Annual Dance Festival at Dance Mission Theater and Presidio Tunnel Tops, showcasing culture, wisdom, and beauty through global dance and music, with the theme of “Dance as Activism” – reflecting the power of cultural dance to challenge societal norms, preserve cultural heritage, and inspire social change.

Arts Equity Research
WAW conducted the first ever comprehensive needs assessment of Northern California’s cultural dance companies. Funded by the Wallace Foundation, A Community of Dance: A Baseline Study of Culturally Specific Dance Organizations in Northern California provides a baseline understanding of the unique characteristics of culturally specific dance organizations in Northern California. Through an in-depth community engagement process with 100+ organizations, the study highlights the unique strengths and challenges of culturally specific dance organizations while identifying emerging, effective strategies to support this subsector of the arts ecosystem.

Artist Service Programs
Workshops, fiscal sponsorship, mentorship, production support, Cultural Artist Archiving Cohort, Career Pathway Roundtable and Comprehensive Equity Resource for cultural artists.

Cultural Artist Visibility & Advocacy
Ensuring cultural artists are represented on important local, regional & national platforms.

Grants Accelerator Program (GAP)
Year-long program mentoring 12 Bay Area cultural artists to access grants funding and increase their capacity to present their work.

Wallace Foundation National Arts Partners Regranting Cohort
Groundbreaking initiative supporting BIPOC arts organizations under 500K; the largest grant in WAW’s history, enabling us to enter grantmaking for the first time, the next step in WAW’s equity journey centering cultural artists.

Special Artist Commissions
Commissioning and producing innovative, new, large scale dance-music projects.

Create Now respectfully requests General Operating Support from the California Arts Council to sustain and strengthen our core programs that empower youth and young adults from underserved communities across California through transformative arts education. Grant funds will be used to support essential operational costs, including staffing, program coordination, and administrative infrastructure. This support will allow Create Now to continue delivering high-impact arts programming in music, visual arts, writing, dance, and multimedia, while expanding our reach into new communities facing economic and social barriers. As a long-standing nonprofit arts organization, this funding is critical to maintaining stability and ensuring the continuity of services that nurture creativity, self-expression, and career development for vulnerable youth statewide.

Our unique partnership model helps Create Now provide access to the arts for youth who are most likely to miss out on impactful extracurricular opportunities and creative education. All of our programs are offered at no cost to youth and their families. Our partnerships with schools and community agencies have been built for nearly 30 years. This unique connection helps us reach youth who are underserved, experiencing homelessness, in foster care, or who have experienced the juvenile justice system.

Like many other arts education organizations, Create Now relies on local schools and community agencies in underserved communities as crucial partners. A variety of our programming occurs on campus at various schools.

New Art City Theatre (NACT), a professional nonprofit based in Ventura County, seeks General Operating Support from the California Arts Council to sustain core operational expenses, including salaries for full-time and part-time staff and stipends for participating artists. Grant funds will support year-round community engagement and ensure ongoing programming that provides equitable access to theatre for low-income and historically excluded local residents. This support will also strengthen NACT’s role as a Southern California arts incubator dedicated to developing new works and increasing access to professional theatre.

NACT serves two distinct groups in two key ways. For the theatre-going public, NACT makes attending professional theatre possible for low-income individuals, enriching the arts experience of the local community. For playwrights, NACT ensures equitable access for all writers and provides resources necessary to advance compelling new theatre from the page to the stage.

The core programming component at NACT is the annual festival of new plays and musicals. Each project selected for the festival is chosen from hundreds of nationwide submissions reviewed by a panel of 50+ NACT volunteers. The annual festival is free and the public plays a pivotal role by providing feedback both in realtime and at the post-show talkback sessions.

With support from the California Arts Council, Media Arts Santa Ana (MASA) will expand our free year-round community media arts programming at our TVGB instruction, presentation and production digital maker space in Santa Ana, and broaden programming at our adjoining visual arts/augmented reality gallery, MASARTE. We will strengthen our diverse, accessible and bilingual programming, including the 16th OC Film Fiesta multicultural film festival, Millennial Producers Academy (MILPA), Curator Incubator Project, SMART Walk (South Main Art Retail & Technology) Resource Fair, Youth Cinema Camp, Café MASA and Grassroots GarageBand class. In our MASARTE gallery, we will produce original exhibits that address community histories, aesthetics, and issues. MASA will deliver a robust schedule of innovative screenings, classes, workshops, networking and performance opportunities for intergenerational artists to produce and present empowering and uplifting experiences combining art, technology and community.

MASA’s core programs include the OC Film Fiesta multicultural film festival, SMART Walk (South Main Art, Retail & Technology) resource fair, the Millennial Producers Academy (MILPA), Cafe MASA, Grassroots Garage Band, MASARTE Gallery exhibits, Curator Incubator Project, the OC Teen Cinema Camp, the Youth Murals and Media Class and Taco Truck Cinema. MASA is also a presenting partner in Arts Orange County’s OC Día del Niño festival. MASA promotes self-expression, community empowerment, civic participation and cultural agility by providing affordable film screenings and discussions, media arts training and interdisciplinary workshops to underserved youth and adults in the primarily Latino immigrant and working class communities in and around Santa Ana. Media Arts Santa Ana operates the TVGB Digital Maker Space and MASARTE Gallery, located in the Santa Ana Arts Collective artist affordable housing building, located at 1666 N Main in Santa Ana.

With support from the California Arts Council, WRITERS GROTTO will produce 1) Rooted & Written, our tuition free annual conference by and for writers of color. 2) Provide Flor Y Canto Fellowships for Black and Latinx writers, providing free membership. 3) Offer mentorship, which extends beyond Rooted & Written. Mentees can find support around a range of topics, from writing query letters and searching for literary agents to addressing racist tropes to aesthetic diversity. 4) Present 265 events, from classes to free literary readings for the SOMA/Tenderloin/Mission neighborhoods. 5) Support genre-based groups open to all members. All instructors read Craft in the Real World and The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop as a baseline. 6) Organize Craft & Career workshops on “The Pride of Craft: LGBTQ BIPOC Writing,” and “LGBTQ Parents,” “How to Build a World.”

A key part of the Writers Grotto community resource is its integration of extensive public programming through the presentation of its members’ created works and works-in-progress at public readings, literary festivals, and cultural events. The Writers Grotto also provides classes year round in all genres of literature, both free (through its Rooted & Written Conference and Fellowship for Writers of Color), and at low cost.

Given the reality of continually rising rents in the Bay Area, and the gradual retraction in jobs and paying markets for writers, aspiring writers without outside income—and many well-published writers as well—are increasingly unable to find opportunities to work together in a professional setting. The Grotto provides an affordable physical community space along with rich, invaluable daily membership conversations and support provided both in person, through virtual gatherings, and through the Grotto daily listserve.

200+ classes and workshops per year are taught by Grotto members on writing fiction, essays, memoir, journalism, poetry, children’s books, screenwriting, social media, professional development and grant-writing, and more. Classes range from one afternoon to 8 weeks, and enrollment ranges from 10-30 participants per class. Classes are held in person at The Grotto, via Zoom, or as hybrid courses. The Grotto also offers low-cost, drop-in writing sessions that encourage participants to write and support each other in a communal setting. Write-ins last for 2.5 hours and are held in person at The Grotto, via Zoom, or as hybrid courses.

The annual Rooted & Written Conference and Fellowship for Writers of Color anticipates featuring internationally renowned keynote speakers/luminaries (all creative artists of color based in literature), and Teaching Faculty who will offer workshops and classes in multiple genres (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, etc.) to 30+ Fellows, all writers of color who receive a full scholarship to the conference.

With support from the California Arts Council, Root Division will sustain and grow its studios, exhibitions, and arts education programs that empower emerging BIPOC artists and engage communities of color through culturally responsive practices. Funding will support 2025–26 programming, staffing, and operations, enabling us to continue our unique studios incubator, offer free visual arts classes to underserved youth, and present exhibitions that center diverse voices and narratives. Root Division remains committed to cultivating leadership and shared knowledge across our ecosystem. Our core focus is on uplifting historically marginalized communities—specifically artists, educators, curators, and youth who identify as BIPOC, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+—and providing meaningful access to creative opportunities that reflect and shape the future of San Francisco’s vibrant cultural landscape.

Root Division’s ecosystem includes 4 interconnected programs: In our unique incubator Studios Program we offer discounted space to artists who each volunteer 8 hours of service per month. Artists spend this time teaching free art classes in the Youth Education Program, instructing courses in the Adult Education Program, and/or supporting the Exhibitions & Events Program. We link various interests & audiences in a mutually beneficial relationship making art, artists & arts education more accessible while cultivating artists who give back.

Since 2002, Root Division has provided 290+ artists with studios; empowered 480 artists to teach; provided 8,000+ hours of free art classes for neighborhood youth; hosted adult art classes for 4,400 students; exhibited 4,700+ artists; been a gathering place for 75,000 visitors to meet artists & see artwork; sold over $1.27M of emerging artwork; & developed partnerships with two-dozen public schools/ community centers & 180 local businesses.

Golden Thread will use CAC funds to support ongoing operations of the Bay Area’s only theatre company dedicated to celebrating the multiplicity of Middle Eastern perspectives and identities. CAC funds will contribute to the production of passionate and provocative plays from or about the Middle East. This will serve Middle Eastern audiences who rarely encounter meaningful reflections of their own culture in the performing arts, while exposing non-Middle Eastern audiences to the authentic voices and alternative perspectives of the region.

We fulfill our mission through rich and diverse programming, artist development, and community engagement. Our programs include the development and production of full-length plays; an annual New Threads Staged Readings series; annual events such as What do the Women Say? a celebration of International Women’s Day; and our two signature programs: the Golden Thread Fairytale Players, offering a cultural exploration of the Middle East designed for children, and the ReOrient Festival, a biennial festival of short plays highlighting the diversity of Middle Eastern perspectives and aesthetics, which also includes a ReOrient Forum, featuring discussions and performances by artists, academics, and activists.

With support from the California Arts Council, Black Women’s Roots Festival will pursue our ongoing programming and operations as a small arts and cultural organization and further our mission to celebrate and promote Black women and girls in the arts through performance and educational programming, centering Black cultural traditions of roots music – jazz, blues, country, gospel, and beyond.

Black Women’s Roots Festival presents an annual festival in the San Francisco Bay Area showcasing an intergenerational lineup of Black women in blues, gospel, jazz, country, R&B, classical, hip-hop, poetry, spoken word, and beyond. The festival includes live performances, a free video livestream, a live radio broadcast in partnership with KPFA Radio, and a mentorship program for youth performers.

We offer free after school youth arts programs, engaging Black youth ages 10-16 with curriculum in vocals, dance, and instrumental music. These programs are taught by renowned Black women artist-educators in our community.

We present 3-4 free youth workshops and performances annually including programs with Black-women led string quartets and Black women country artists and blues artists.

With support from the California Arts Council, Dance Brigade (commonly referred to as Dance Mission Theater) will expand its capacity to produce inclusive, artist-driven programming to further racial and gender equity in the arts. Funds will support the development of new works by women, LGBTQIA+ artists, and artists of color. DMT will enhance accessibility by offering affordable classes, performances, and studio rentals, ensuring economic barriers do not prevent participation. We will continue to foster partnerships with local cultural organizations, support emerging artists through showcases and residencies, and provide free dance and wellness programs for underserved communities. Additionally, funds will be used to sustain our accessibility upgrades and support our Accessibility Coordinator, ensuring all programs and services are accessible to people with disabilities.

– Run a thriving inter/multicultural community arts venue, Dance Mission Theater (DMT);
– Create, produce, and sustain groundbreaking festivals including the Mission Youth Arts Festival, Manifest-ival for Social Change, and D.I.R.T. (Dance In Revolting Times) – all of which explore issues of equity through the assertion of culturally rooted dance forms and/or sociopolitical subject matter;
– Present and foster the work of other companies and festivals – like the Black Choreographers, Deaf Dance, and CubaCaribe Festivals;
– Help incubate and launch the professional careers of artists through programs such our Choreographers Showcase;
– Provide high quality facilities and resources that support over 110 choreographers every year, the majority of whom are women and people of color, via rental subsidies, fiscal sponsorship, grant and publicity mentorship, performance opportunities, and co-productions.
– Serve 1,000 adults/week through a diverse array of classes in dance styles such as Haitian, samba, hip hop, house, and others in our three dance studios, as well as off-site at other community venues.
– Run a comprehensive, affordable dance instruction program for youth ages 3 – 18 serving more than 400 children per semester and providing a number of scholarships to local families;
– Producing the Liberation Academy with citywide workshops and performances focused on African Diasporic arts, centering Black-focused and Black-led storytelling
– Create original productions by DMT’s resident company, Dance Brigade, San Francisco’s groundbreaking, feminist social-change modern dance company.

With support from the California Arts Council, Rx Ballroom Dance will be able to pay for teacher salaries, teacher professional development, student curriculum development (including bilingual curriculum and outreach materials), and evaluative student growth measurement. These funds will enable us to meet our equity and accessibility goals and further develop them; expand our program reach substantially; and continue to provide quality therapeutic ballroom dance instruction, support the senior disabled community, and reach marginalized populations in underserved locations.

Rx Ballroom Dance provides free, adaptive ballroom dance programs designed for individuals living with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and other neurological or age-related conditions. Our core programs blend the artistic beauty of ballroom dance with evidence-based therapeutic strategies to improve quality of life, mobility, and emotional well-being. All programs are culturally inclusive, community-centered, and accessible to people with disabilities.

1. Free Weekly Therapeutic Dance Classes
• Offered in-person at community centers and virtually for homebound or rural participants.
• Led by certified instructors trained in both ballroom dance and working with neurological conditions.
• Classes include standing, seated, and wheelchair-based options to meet all ability levels.
• Focus areas include balance, posture, rotational movement, strength, and confidence.

2. Care Partner Involvement
• Caregivers, spouses, and family members are encouraged to participate in class alongside their loved ones (free of charge).
• Dancing together fosters emotional connection, mutual joy, and shared progress.
• Care partners also become part of a broader support network, building ties to the community.

3. Student Performances & Showcases
• Participants have opportunities to perform at events like the Defying Limits Gala and local showcases.
• Scholarships help cover costume, travel, and coaching costs so students can proudly represent their diagnosis and cultural identity through
dance.

4. Community Engagement & Education
• Outreach at senior expos, support groups, and health fairs.
• Collaborations with organizations like the Parkinson’s Foundation, Alzheimer’s Association, and local care networks.

5. Instructor Training & Evaluation Partnerships
• Ongoing instructor training in adaptive dance practices.
• Program impact is measured through partnerships with Concordia University and UC Irvine, tracking progress in balance, posture, and strength.

Together, these services create a joyful, empowering space for healing and artistic expression.

With funding from the California Arts Council, a general operations grant will provide critical wages for formerly-incarcerated and system-impacted teaching artists who are trained in the Poetic Justice trauma-informed and gender-responsive program that serves 455 people annually incarcerated in women’s and girls jails and prisons throughout California. Unlike many rehabilitative arts programs, Poetic Justice is committed to using its operations funding to pay $100 per class for the expertise, historic resilience, and lived experience of a team that does not necessarily have the privilege to volunteer for 4-6 hours of facilitation and travel time, weekly. The CAC-supported stipend will be a lifeline for working artists who simultaneously balance multiple jobs and/or childcare despite the ongoing and harmful effects of the prison system in their lives. By supporting their work, PJ can better support incarcerated poets.

Poetic Justice offers gender responsive and trauma informed classes in the following California carceral settings:
– CIW: 2 RAC classes/wk
– CIW: Children’s Literature Project, ongoing study, production, and publication of children’s books about incarcerated motherhood
– CCWF: 2 RAC classes/wk (including the high security 503 unit)
– CIW & CCWF:
———- Distance Learning Program
———- Voices on the Inside – ongoing self-portrait poetry and photography program with community exhibitions
———- Reentry Journal Project – ongoing paid stipend for first 12 weeks on parole
– Las Colinas (SD Jail): 3 classes/wk (mainline, high security, and psychiatric units)
– SD Youth Transitional Center: 1 weekly class for girls 12-19 y/o

Other PJ Work in California
– East Mesa Rehabilitation Program: (men’s facility)
– California Model Working Group Leadership Team
– Transitional Programming Works (TPW) Women’s Subcommittee Leadership Team

A typical weekly class provides gender-diverse and sensitive access by incorporating mindful breathing, trauma-responsive programming, community support, creative writing, and therapeutic visual arts.

For example, participants might explore aspects of anxiety, worthlessness, shame, etc. through poetry’s grapho-motor process within a trusted community engaged in evidence-based healing because putting language to the unspeakable supports healing from root causes of trauma and PTSD, and provides pathways forward. Whereas abuse, depression, and addiction damage language centers, poetry reactivates them. In fact research indicates that poetry (rhythm, metaphor, rhyme) activates the right hemisphere. The left brain is responsible for acquisition and expression, but the right brain’s ability to integrate unrelated concepts into comprehensible metaphor with repetition and syncopation can access language pathways damaged by trauma. Research, including JW Pennebaker’s work, shows “writing about upsetting events improves physical and mental health,” but only by creating safe communities for interoception and embodied agency. The traumatized brain doesn’t remember in logical sequences; trauma memory returns in sensory experiences rooted in the limbic system rather than language centers – this is why poetry is consequential for healing.

With support from the California Arts Council, TANNERY WORLD DANCE & CULTURAL CENTER (TWDCC) will continue its mission to facilitate a working home for professional world and contemporary dance artists, while providing dance education that is committed to accessibility, equity, and excellence. As the only Black led organization of its kind in Santa Cruz County, we will continue to serve a large population of Black and BIPOC artists, educators, students, and families. Building on fourteen years of service at the Tannery Arts Center, we will continue to create a stable, central hub for community engagement, after-school dance and cultural programming that centers physical and mental health, and a community center which supports the livelihood of dozens of professional artists and hundreds of dance learners and patrons each year.

Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center (TWDCC) is a cultural hub located at the Tannery Arts Center serving 500 people weekly. TWDCC presents both adult and youth dance programs that are designed to be accessible to everyone and make all students feel seen, heard, and part of something larger than themselves. The only Black led organization of its kind in Santa Cruz County, we serve a large population of Black and BIPOC artists, educators, students, and families. Our fourteen years in service at the Tannery Arts Center has created a stable, central hub for community engagement, healthy after-school dance and cultural programming, and a community support hub that umbrellas the livelihood and platform for over three dozen professional artists each year. TWDCC also provides need based scholarships to 22% of our student body, supporting young artists in their journey as leaders of tomorrow.

Our Diaspora Performance Project gives professional support to 5 selected artists. Launched in 2018, the Diaspora Performance Project seeks to support our thriving community of artists of the African Diaspora, providing opportunities for the development of new work, deep and meaningful connection to our community, as well as teaching and performance opportunities. It’s a priority in our mission to sustain a dance and cultural space supporting Santa Cruz artists of the African Diaspora, and artists who have left their country of origin who are now navigating a professional career as immigrants. Our program provides direct services to securing grants, leveraging opportunities for job placement, and commissioning work for the continuation of their professional career in a new country.

We produce and curate many cultural community events each year, including the World Arts Festival, the Deep Roots Dance Fest, the Winter Dance Fest, as well as host multiple African drum and dance conferences in our studios.

With support from the California Arts Council, The Great Star Theater will continue to serve San Francisco Bay Area residents as the oldest Chinese American theater in the North America, just as it has for over a century. In 2026—the theater’s 101st year—we will present a diverse season of year-round performances including circus arts, comedy shows, magic shows, burlesque, Cantonese opera, and guzheng concerts that offer awe-inspiring cultural experiences. Additionally, CAC grant funds will enable us to distribute 700 free tickets to low-income families, seniors, and Bay Area veterans, expanding access to the arts and deepening our commitment to community engagement.

1. Cinema Showings:
Cultural Film Series: Regular screenings of films from Asian and Asian American filmmakers, including classics, contemporary hits, and independent features that celebrate and explore Asian heritage and stories.
Community Movie Nights: Free or low-cost screenings open to the community, focusing on family-friendly content and films that resonate with local interests and values.
2. Live Performances:
Theater Productions: Staging of traditional and modern plays that reflect the cultural dynamics of the Chinatown community, including collaborations with local theater groups and schools.
Music and Dance: Concerts and performances showcasing traditional Asian music and contemporary genres, as well as dance performances ranging from classical styles to modern interpretations.
3. Educational Workshops:
Arts Education: Workshops and classes in various aspects of the performing arts, such as acting, dance, and filmmaking, tailored to different age groups and skill levels.
Cultural Workshops: Sessions that explore the rich cultural heritage of Asia through art, music, storytelling, and more, often led by respected members of the community or guest artists.
4. Festivals and Special Events:
Cultural Festivals: Annual or bi-annual festivals that celebrate significant cultural events or holidays with live performances, food, and craft stalls, such as Lunar New Year or Mid-Autumn Festival.
Film Festivals: Hosting or co-hosting film festivals that highlight Asian cinema, offering a platform for filmmakers and attracting a broader audience to the theater.

Through these core programs and services, the Great Star Theater aims to be a cornerstone of cultural, educational, and social life in Chinatown, making the arts accessible and engaging for a community of diverse backgrounds and ages.

With support from the California Arts Council, Give4Kidz will expand capacity to reach more underserved youth and families through free, culturally relevant art workshops, community art events, and art supply distributions across the Inland Empire and downtown Los Angeles. Grant funds will support increased staffing and the development of inclusive programming, including new sensory-friendly workshops like slime sculpting—designed to support neurodiverse children.

Give4Kidz partners with libraries, museums, shelters, and schools to connect with families who might not otherwise access arts education. Workshops are beginner-friendly, process-focused, and available in English and Spanish. Parents are now invited to create alongside their children, fostering deeper connection through shared creative experiences. This funding will allow Give4Kidz to serve more communities, train staff in inclusive facilitation, and continue uplifting the creative voices of all children—especially those experiencing barriers to access.

Give 4 Kidz is dedicated to empowering young creatives through two main programs: ‘Art & Me’ and ‘Story Corner’. The ‘Art & Me’ program aims to nurture and support youth by offering them free art materials, workshops, events, and exhibitions. We are proud to collaborate with local artists and organizations that share our vision.

The second program, ‘Story Corner’, caters to young individuals with a passion for creative writing. We provide a supportive environment where they can explore their creativity, acquire new skills, and connect with like-minded peers. Through this program, we offer access to writing supplies, events, and workshops led by experienced writers. Our aim is to inspire and foster a love for writing among youth. In this endeavor, we are delighted to partner with local bookstores, authors, and libraries.

At Give 4 Kidz, our mission extends beyond traditional boundaries. We strive to reach all children who possess a love for the arts, regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. To achieve this, we extend our services to family homeless shelters and underserved communities in California. Additionally, we have created remote participation opportunities to ensure inclusivity for all kids. Our goal is to overcome socio-economic challenges and provide equal access to our programs.

By embracing diversity and focusing on the potential within each child, Give 4 Kidz is committed to nurturing the creative spirit and enabling young individuals to thrive in the arts.

With support from the California Arts Council, LA PENA CULTURAL CENTER INC will fund operations and programs directed to and by Latinx, Indigenous, and Caribbean communities. La Peña is a cultural home for communities living in diaspora, an incubator for artistic talent, and a collaborative partner with groups that promote social justice and liberation. La Peña is also an internationally known performance center with programs spanning music, dance, theater and spoken-word performances; art exhibits; book talks; and public dialogues. Focusing primarily on the arts and progressive movements of the Americas, La Peña supports hundreds of working artists each year.

La Peña Presents Program (LP curated events)
Community-led jams and free gatherings
Roots Arts & Music/Dance Classes
Historical Archives
Professional Training

With support from the California Arts Council, WRITE OUT LOUD will offer literature-based programs FREE to San Diego residents and visitors.
READ IMAGINE CREATE (RIC), provides middle/high school students with a copy of a specific book and offers writing and art workshops, inspiring their personal expression of the book. Their creations are then shared with the community.
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD (LYVBH), K-12 poetry writing initiative, includes workshops, poetry readings, student poetry displayed in businesses/libraries.
RIPPLES FROM WALDEN POND, a one-man play about Thoreau, presents his views on civil liberties.
STORIES FOR SENIORS, stories & poetry readings are presented at senior residences and assisted living facilities.
SENIOR READERS THEATRE, provides opportunities for seniors to serve as readers.
KAMISHIBAI, a Japanese storytelling form, includes international folktales (children) & Japanese Incarceration stories (adults).

Write Out Loud offers nine core programs throughout San Diego County: 1)Story Concerts – actors read literature aloud in a variety of venues; 2) Stories for Seniors – short story presentations in independent and assisted living facilities and senior centers; 3) Kamishibai – introduces elementary students to a Japanese teaching tradition that combines storytelling with pictures and written words; 4) Read Imagine Create – challenges students in grades 6-12 to read a particular book, respond to the book’s themes, and create a personal expression (e.g. story, poem, visual art, film); 5) Poetry Out Loud – Regional coordinator for national poetry recitation competition for High School students; 6) Let Your Voice Be Heard – K-12 poetry initiative providing poetry writing workshops and public displays of student poems; 7)Ripples From Walden Pond – a one-man play about Henry David Thoreau; 8) PoeFest – a series of performances of literature of the macabre; 9) World Kamishibai Forum – Monthly on-line workshops for educators and Kamishibai (Japanese storytelling form) artists from across the globe.

Visions Museum of Textile Art (VMOTA) engages diverse communities through culturally responsive exhibitions, educational programs, and partnerships that celebrate heritage, identity, and innovation in textile art. Our curatorial team presents simultaneous exhibitions featuring 100+ local, national, and international artists annually, exploring themes such as immigration, sustainability, and social issues that impact underrepresented communities. Programs are shaped in collaboration with cultural organizations to reflect the lived experiences of those we serve. VMOTA provides hands-on textile art experiences for students from Title I schools (700 students to date), introducing self-expression and creative career pathways to arts to youth facing economic barriers. VMOTA uses textile art as a tool for dialogue, cultural exchange, and storytelling, ensuring our exhibitions and programs are not only accessible, but deeply relevant. CAC funds will support curatorial/programming staff salaries and gallery rent.

Provide art exhibitions and related educational programs to the general public with a focus on textile and fiber art.

Funding for Luna Dance and Creativity (“Luna,” formerly Luna Dance Institute) would support culturally responsive, anti-biased dance education programs for children, families, educators, artists, and agencies from underserved communities across California. PROFESSIONAL LEARNING provides intensive, holistic training to teachers, fostering leadership, creative self-efficacy, and equity. FIELD MOVING advances justice through practice-to-policy strategies, research dissemination, and advocacy rooted in community collaboration. Through PARTNERSHIPS, Luna works with schools, districts, and organizations to build sustainable, equity-focused dance programs. Luna’s EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION program promotes developmentally informed, intercultural learning grounded in neuroscience and play theory. STUDIO LAB offers dance-making classes for children and adults, free family classes, panels, and works-in-process showcases. As a 33-year old anchor organization, Luna serves individual artists and dance organizations, who are especially at risk during our current economic uncertainty and lack of federal support.

Our ADA-accessible STUDIO LAB children’s program offers a progression of dance learning designed to nurture the choreographer in every child in a studio class structure at Luna’s studios in Berkeley. The STUDIO LAB adult program offers opportunities for and presentations on dance research, the choreographic process, and topics that expand ideas about what dance is and who can dance.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING fulfills Luna’s mission to bring all children to dance as we deepen the knowledge and practice of dance learning through workshops, courses, panel conversations, and resources designed so that creative practitioners manifest creative self-efficacy, investigate teaching practice, establish collegial communities, cultivate dance leadership, and become change agents.

Luna helps the field of dance education arc toward justice through FIELD MOVING, our practice-to-policy approach that includes sharing the findings of our inquiries and research; joining with others to create impact; and relentlessly advocating for inclusion, creativity, and self-determination. Recognizing that our work is situated within systems of oppression and racial injustice, we seek change by working together in community, paying attention, staying true to our values, and placing children as the future at the center of our work.

Through PARTNERS FOR CHANGE, Luna collaborates with organizations (social service and human welfare agencies, schools and school districts) throughout the region, state and nation to build capacity for enduring dance programs that support the values of each community.

Luna, an expert in EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION in dance, has refined, over more than three decades, its pedagogy and curriculum to align with discoveries in neuroscience, play research, child psychology, and cultural responsiveness. As we envision a future with today’s toddlers becoming tomorrow’s leaders, early learning demands our crucial attention and focus. Luna faculty continue our research, theory-building, and practice to better understand how dance is at the convergence of all processes of learning.

With support from the California Arts Council, Support Black Theatre will generate cultural capital and create a thriving Black ecosystem where theatre is at the center of mutual aid, political power, and economic growth, through grassroots community power-building campaigns that center Black storytelling. A general operating support award will fund capacity building costs for organization sustainability, including gap funding for operations, staff training and burnout prevention, executive training, board training and expansion, strategic planning, and a financial audit. Building organization capacity will result in the long-term sustainability necessary to succeed in its mission as an arts service/network organization and generate this community transformation.

Support Black Theatre’s four core initiatives – New Works Pipeline, Talk Forward™, Equip, and GroundED – follow the principle of “See, Create, and Invest.”

Our New Works Pipeline retains the power of decision making for Black artists and theatre by developing new Black plays and securing funding for Black theatres to mount full productions of new work by Black artists.

Talk Forward cultivates and nurtures Black audiences, flipping the model of the traditional post-show talkback by inviting audiences into the process of theatre making through reflective feedback long before a full production is mounted.

The Equip initiative builds theatres’ executive leadership capacity through leadership courses and nonprofit management training and direct services including introductions to funders, grant writing seminars, writing letters of support. The initiative raised over $1.3 million in grant awards for Black theatres between 2021 and 2025. Equip also offers technical training and paid internships in dramaturgy, playwriting, directing, stage management, producing, and technical design.

The GroundED initiative provides year-round arts workforce development and artistic opportunities, building career pathways in the arts and related fields for 300+ youth ages 15-25 each year. GroundED introduces young people to careers in Black theatre through the work of August Wilson, among other playwrights. Our annual August Wilson monologue competition for high school students includes complementary in-school education throughout the school year, culminating with late-spring performances and judging at partner Ebony Repertory Theatre.

The Tenderloin Museum requests CAC operational support to sustain community-centered programming during significant growth and economic uncertainty. As we break ground this summer on our historic expansion—tripling our footprint to 10,050 square feet—CAC funds provide critical operational stability enabling us to maintain our equity-focused mission while navigating this transformative period.

Grant funds will support staff salaries, utilities, insurance, and program materials across our Eddy Street museum and Larkin Street venue, where our “Compton’s Cafeteria Riot Play” celebrates transgender resistance and community. This operational foundation is essential as we manage construction complexities and ensure uninterrupted service to the Tenderloin’s diverse communities.

Operational support directly enables our equity goals: maintaining free and sliding-scale programming, continuing individualized support for disabled artists, and preserving the community co-creation approach that has guided our work for nearly a decade.

The Tenderloin Museum opened in 2015 with the intersecting goals of promoting a deeper understanding of the history of the Tenderloin neighborhood, re-imagining our collective future, and supporting our current community. To accomplish these goals, the museum enacts a three-pronged approach: a critically-acclaimed permanent history exhibition, community-driven programs and tours, and economic support in the form of local partnerships and hiring practices. To accomplish these goals, each year TLM produces 40-50 public programs, 5-7 special arts presentations (including aerial dance, theatre, and visual art exhibitions), and 50 walking tours, in addition to maintaining its critically-acclaimed permanent history exhibition. All told, these programs attract approximately 5,000 people each year. We invest in deeply collaborative relationships with organizations in the arts, humanities, and social sectors, and our success on a relatively small budget is directly linked to those efforts.

With support from the California Arts Council, Village Arts will continue to fund three administrative positions and employ multiple teaching artists at our community arts center. All funds will be used to bring diverse arts programs to the children and families of the greater San Fernando Valley.

Village Arts is a year round community based arts education organization. We offer arts programming in the performing and visual arts. Our programs include after-school and weekend classes as well as a robust theatre program where students rehearse and perform a classic musical.

With support from the California Arts Council, GYOPO will be able to help fund salaries for part- and full-time staff members as well as rent for our organization’s headquarters in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. Located in the lowest quartile of the Healthy Places Index, our 1,300 sq ft headquarters is a vibrant, flexible space used for public programs, community salons, internal workshops for volunteers, and office space.

Formed in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, GYOPO was impelled to develop a more vital sense of agency, progress, and connection amongst individuals of the Korean diaspora within and beyond Los Angeles. Since its founding, GYOPO has worked with a range of nonprofit art spaces, cultural institutions, schools, and other venues to organize artist talks, lectures, symposia, and performances by contemporary artists, architects, professors, curators, filmmakers, actors, writers, and other cultural producers, both emerging and internationally renowned. Through diverse programming, GYOPO aims to strike a balance between creating dedicated spaces for “gyopos” (a term in the Korean language that refers to persons of Korean descent who live outside of Korea), and providing free public forums for lively, intergenerational, intersectional, and cross-cultural discussions.

GYOPO offers free, year-round programming for the public that fall under categories such as: critical discourse, artist talks, curator lectures, exhibition walkthroughs, symposiums, traditional focus, film screenings, panel discussions, and workshops. Additionally, GYOPO hosts social events for gyopos and the wider community such as the annual Chuseok fundraiser, GYOPO edition launch, welcome receptions, cultivation gatherings, and volunteer retreats.

With support from the California Arts Council, ABD Productions/Skywatchers will sustain its programs, staff and operations supporting our cross-cultural, intergenerational, and mixed-ability community arts program centered in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Awarded funds will support ABD Productions/Skywatchers staff who administer and implement our arts performances and community engagement programs dedicated to engaging and uplifting the voices of marginalized residents with lived experience of housing insecurity, economic precarity, and substance use disorder. Funded programming includes: Ongoing Weekly Mentorship Workshops; Community Grand Rounds health equity program; Annual Memorial Processional & Vigil honoring those who have died on the street; 50+ yearly community engagement events across the Tenderloin, Mid-Market, and Mission districts; and the Calling Us In multidisciplinary performance project.

Since 2011, ABD/SKYWATCHERS—an ensemble composed largely of Tenderloin (TL) residents subject to housing insecurity, social isolation, and chronic illness—has been co-creating site-specific, multidisciplinary artworks that center and uplift the lives, histories, and urgent concerns of the residents of the TL. Ranging from little formal training to over 40 years of professional experience, ensemble members contribute our varied experience and skills to an arts-based platform of our own making.

Each year over 100 Tenderloin-based performer-residents come together to engage several thousand audience participants and a substantially larger audience for web-based and video production. All events are free and held in ADA-accessible spaces. Participation is also free, and SKYWATCHERS’ open-door policy invites anyone interested in joining to drop in and participate. The organization and all our programming is dedicated to expanding the boundaries of traditional performance forms and modes of engagement. We are an ever growing and changing group of co-creators that attract audiences who may rarely enter conventional arts venues, but come to see our stories spoken, sung, and moved on SKYWATCHERS’ stage. We also attract traditional arts audiences that are engaged by the works’ themes, aware they don’t see these stories in other artwork they seek out. Over the last decade, SKYWATCHERS has made works that address the slow violences of poverty and structural disenfranchisement, mass incarceration and the war on drugs, the climate crisis and clean water, and revolutionary acts of community survival.

SKYWATCHERS creates lasting impacts:
· In 2024, 8,500 people participated in/ witnessed SKYWATCHERS.
· We have built sustained collaborations with 15 neighborhood partners.
· We have built a health equity partnership with UCSF, California’s largest medical
school, and the Department of Public Health.
· At the neighborhood level SKYWATCHERS positions the arts as an integral sector
in equitable social change in San Francisco.

With support from the California Arts Council, ROGUE ARTISTS ENSEMBLE will provide fair wages for its part-time staff, with special emphasis on sustaining the company’s Managing Director and newly appointed Artistic Director. Staff support will underwrite the company’s leadership transition as it fortifies its operational structure, as well as the company’s new play development events and at least one world premiere production over the next year.

Rogue creates original works of theater incorporating mask, puppetry and modern technology. We believe in collaboration as an approach for creating work and frequently partner and work closely with guest artists, diverse communities and other arts organizations to realize projects.

We have a strong commitment to community outreach and educational programs including school workshops and classes for adults, many of which are provided for free. Our all-ages shows have toured throughout California to small community events and schools, in addition to larger venues including The Geffen Playhouse, The Pasadena Playhouse, Segerstrom Performing Arts Center, Rio Hondo College, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the National Puppetry Festival in Minneapolis. Rogue has received accolades from critics in LA and a UNIMA Citation of Excellence, the highest honor within the puppetry community. We have also received Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and LA Stage Alliance Awards.

We believe that storytelling is a powerful platform for social inclusion and cultural exchange. All Rogue projects are built in collaboration and conversation with our audiences across the greater community of L.A. These interactions inspire us to create responsively, with inclusion at the core of our work. We strive to include a multitude of voices and perspectives in the planning and implementation of each project’s development, as well as through the company’s administrative operations. Theater is a living art form that requires inherent intellectual and emotional exchange between audience and performers, and our values are put into practice through listening, responding, and refining. The art we create emerges in dialogue with audience feedback.

With support from the California Arts Council, MashUp Contemporary Dance Company will sustain essential administrative and artistic leadership through funding for its full-time Executive Director. Providing strategic oversight and organizational leadership, the Executive Director will be vital to the company’s operations, driving artistic vision, program development, community engagement, communications, fundraising, and financial planning forward. Investment in this role would enable MashUp to thrive as a leader in the contemporary dance field and a change-maker for gender equity in the arts. By establishing this position, MashUp ensures the stability and growth of its programs while staying rooted in its mission to uplift and support female-identifying and non-binary artists.

MashUp sustains the following programs:

International Women’s Day Dance Festival (IWDDF) — Annually in March, MashUp recognizes the advancements of women with a four-day festival, featuring an all-female and non-binary choreographer showcase, movement classes, dynamic panel discussions around gender equity in the arts, and unique networking opportunities. Highlights include one-on-one mentorship for high school students at the Women Dance Summit and the electrifying Support Women Artists Day film festival.

National Women’s Equality Day (NWED) – Each August, MashUp joins forces with female-identifying creative teams, ideological partners, or social justice organizations to celebrate NWED via a performance, creation of a film, or community gathering. This program provides an opportunity for cross-disciplinary female artists and activists to collaborate, and challenges audiences to examine a current, culturally critical feminist topic.

Choreographic Residency — Open to female-identifying and non-binary emerging and mid-career choreographers, the residency includes a stipend ($2K-$4K), studio time with MashUp company dancers, and a fully produced showcase with professional documentation. A direct investment in the future of the dance field, this program is one of the only LA residency opportunities that provides this level of financial and producorial support.

Choreography Open Mic Nights — Quarterly events that offer eight LA-based choreographers 10 minutes to showcase their work and engage with a supportive public audience. The environment is designed to be extremely supportive, encouraging choreographers to ask for feedback and allowing audiences, including “non-dancers,” to learn how to articulate their thoughts about dance and directly interact with the artists, fostering a deeper appreciation for the art of dance.

Intensives — MashUp hosts two-day dance intensives at its home studio: Frogtown Creative, as well as sends teachers out to studios to ensure access. Crafted specifically for the early career professional, these intensives include movement classes, Q&As with industry leaders, and mentorship sessions.

With support from the California Arts Council, Salastina will continue to enrich lives through its three core programs:

1) Presenting affordable, equitable, and world-class live classical chamber music concerts in the greater Los Angeles area, offering a generous allocation of complimentary tickets to under-resourced communities
2) Nurturing the next generation of music creators through our zero-cost Sounds Promising Young Composers Program
3) Bringing comfort and connection to critically ill patients through Vital Sounds, our program of one-on-one, virtual performances at hospital bedsides.

Salastina provides three areas of program activity:

1) Live performances that invite audiences into our creative space. Salastina’s programming seeks to add depth and breadth to traditional classical music. All concerts are live-streamed. Notably, our in-person audience attendance has surged 198% when comparing our last complete pre-pandemic season to the current one. On average, Salastina presents 18 to 22 performances per season. Five Main Series programs are repeated in Pasadena, West Los Angeles, and Orange County, with additional events rounding out the season.

Our proprietary concert formats include:

– Sounds Unknown: an exploration of the many reasons — from racism to misogyny to bad luck — why some composers never gain due recognition
– Sounds Mysterious: a musical guessing game in which the composer’s identity is redacted; the audience and musicians guess who wrote the piece together
– Sounds Delicious: our contemporary take on the Salon tradition — pairing gourmet courses and music around themes from history, science, literature, or pop culture
– Happy Hours: casual performances by, and spirited conversation with, a well-known guest artist. This “peek behind the creative curtain” prioritizes personal interaction between musicians and fellow music lovers at an accessible $5 price point

2) Sounds Promising is Salastina’s tuition-free Young Artist and Young Composer apprenticeship program serving up to five young composers free of charge. All instruction occurs virtually. Most participants are local to Southern California.

3) Vital Sounds: one-on-one virtual bedside concerts for ICU patients. Since May 2020, Salastina has provided private, virtual bedside concerts to the bedsides of critically ill patients in the ICUs of UCLA and Huntington Health. Our musicians have provided over 75,000 minutes to more than 4,000 patients and their caregivers. We provide two hours of one-on-one, virtual bedside concerts five days a week at no cost to patients or hospital partners.

We give away the vast majority of our revenue as grants and maintain a very small operating budget, so BFF would use $30,000 in general operating support to strengthen our core operations and expand our impact. $4,000 would support the administration of our grant program, including application maintenance and panel management. $10,000 would fund outreach and engagement efforts targeting under resourced filmmakers in the East Bay through marketing. Critically, $6,000 would be dedicated to improving our data infrastructure—gathering and analyzing demographic information about our applicants, grantees, audiences, and the regional filmmaker landscape. This will inform more equitable funding strategies and community programming. Finally, $5,000 would fund our staff person and $5,000 for office software and telephone expenses. This support ensures BFF continues to advance diverse storytelling and inclusive filmmaking in the East Bay and beyond.

Berkeley FILM Foundation serves filmmakers who live or work along the Eastern Shore cities of the San Francisco Bay – specifically Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, Richmond, and Oakland. Equity and inclusion are at the core of our work; 47.64% of the projects we have funded were created by women, artists of color, and filmmakers who identify as disabled or part of the LQBTQIA+ community. We hold regular screenings at The New Parkway Theater in Oakland which connects filmmakers with local audiences and strengthens theatrical attendance. Our professional development program connects established filmmakers with new talent to assist on their project. And our biannual educational workshops addressing relevant industry topics and trends attract many attendees.

BFF is often among grantees’ first supporters. We award grants to 20-25% of applicants each cycle, while many of our national peers’ funding rates are closer to 1-2%. BFF’s early investments in emerging filmmakers establishes a pipeline for artists to successfully apply for other programs through the lifecycle of their film as was the case with films such as “Crip Camp,” “Inequality for All,” and “Friendly Signs.” Filmmakers consistently share that BFF support was fundamental to unlocking subsequent opportunities, demonstrating our crucial role in sustaining the East Bay’s vibrant filmmaking ecosystem.

As you already know, independent filmmakers in the Bay Area face significant challenges. According to a 2024 survey of Bay Area filmmakers conducted by BAVC Media, 43% of respondents believe the odds of them living in the Bay Area in three years are 50% or less, with many of these respondents citing the high cost of living. 32% of respondents described their careers as “stagnant,” and 12% as “declining.” BFF is deeply invested in serving this community, and the East Bay filmmaking community in particular, which contains a wide range of artistic visions and lived experiences.

With support from the California Arts Council, BEYOND BAROQUE FOUNDATION will sustain the salaries of its Associate Director and Programs Manager as they manage, coordinate, curate, and assess over 100 yearly free and low-cost programs, including readings, festivals, seminars, and writing workshops. This grant will also allow the Center to implement outreach strategies and connect with underrepresented communities throughout the Los Angeles region in support of our ongoing efforts to make the literary arts accessible to all.

Since 1968, Beyond Baroque has been the key institution in the development of LA’s grassroots literary culture. Featuring a theater, bookstore, workshop space, and an art gallery, it is the central forum for literary exchange in a region whose 18.7 million residents have few other dedicated literary spaces. Committed to supporting writers and artists otherwise marginalized by traditional literary institutions, Beyond Baroque’s legendary free workshops have nurtured some of the country’s most notable writers, while its reading and performance series has hosted many of the world’s greatest writers, artists, and performers. Today it combines a rigorous commitment to artistic excellence with an equal commitment to ensuring that the literary arts remain accessible to all at little or no cost. It does so by offering an extensive array of free and low-cost workshops for writers of all levels in multiple genres, by programming over 100 yearly literary events, and by hosting eight contemporary arts shows per year in its gallery space.

CAC funds will be used to pay salaries and assist in overhead expenses as 1) we publish 4 books–including “Caramelle & Carmilla”—which features the award-winning work of California-based author Jewelle Gomez; 2) launch Aunt Lute’s first audiobook, read by California author, Ginny Berson; and 3) execute four community programs in West Oakland and San Francisco’s Tenderloin and Civic Center. All three areas have zip codes that rank in the two lowest quartiles of the Healthy Places Index.

Aunt Lute publishes 3-4 new titles a year, provides editorial support, and promotes authors through extensive programming, leveraging the power of literature to manifest connection. Our programming includes readings, workshops, and conferences, providing writing, publication, and promotional skills as well as representation on the literary stage.

The (INTERNATIONAL-new branding name) Museum of Dance (legally names with IRS as such) requests $30,000 in General Operating Support to sustain staffing for our first public space in San Francisco, launched through the city’s Vacant to Vibrant initiative. Funds will support IMOD personnel overseeing day-to-day operations, program management, and partner coordination. IMOD will lead this new cultural hub in collaboration with San Francisco Dance Film Festival, San Francisco Dance Works, and ChromaDiverse. Together, we will offer dance education, public programming, exhibitions, artist residencies, and digital archive labs. Staff will ensure inclusive, high-quality, and community-centered programming—expanding access to vocational training, cultural preservation, and performance opportunities. This support strengthens IMOD’s capacity to manage a vibrant, shared space that serves artists, students, and the public, advancing equity and innovation across San Francisco’s dance and arts ecosystem.

Our core programs and services include:

Education Partnerships: Collaborating with local and national schools, we provide comprehensive dance education programs for students of all ages, including movement, technique, choreography, performance, and dance history. We also offer civic engagement projects and paid internships, fostering a deep connection between dance and community.

Artist Partnerships: Working closely with local and national dance artists, we offer support, resources, and space for their presentations, performances, lectures, and teaching work. By nurturing these partnerships, we contribute to the growth and visibility of dance artists.

Archive Partnerships: We collaborate with local and international dance archives, shining a spotlight on hidden dance archives and assisting in the interpretation and understanding of their significance. By showcasing these archives, we contribute to the broader appreciation and preservation of dance history.

Exhibition Planning and Preparation: Engaging with students, local artists, national and international historians, and archivists, we design and create dynamic “Pop-Up” exhibitions that explore the connections between dance and communities. These exhibitions foster a sense of community engagement and connection.

At the Museum of Dance, we are dedicated to creating an inclusive and enriching environment that celebrates the art of dance and its profound impact on our lives.

With support from California Arts Council, Creative Netwerk will expand after-school and summer Hip-Hop and Street Dance education programs, 1-5 days/week, for underserved youth, ages 5-18, and families of color and low-income communities across Santa Barbara County. Funds will support culturally-rooted programming in schools, affordable housing, juvenile justice facilities, and community centers, along with teacher training for local street/club artists. CN will offer 35–85 weekly classes in dance, DJing, and wellness, serving 4,000+ youth and fostering confidence, creativity, and community engagement. Youth-led performances and family/community dance celebrations reach 4,000+ audiences. CN will expand its partnership with Lompoc USD, launching artist residencies, welcoming 20+ guest artists from around the nation to lead seminars in Dance, DJing, Music Production, Wellness, MCing, Photography, Artist Career Development, Theater, connecting with hundreds of students/week.

In Santa Barbara County, Creative Netwerk partners with Goleta USD, Carpinteria USD, Lompoc USD, and Santa Barbara USD, offering hip-hop, street/club dance, and DJ programs, and curricula connecting regional dance styles to wellness and family engagement, in after school weekly classes and events.

CN provides access to Winter, Spring Break, and Summer Dance Camps, in partnership with A-OK and United Way, leading to performances and family dance celebrations with live music by DJs. CN currently reaches 3,500 K-12 students/year across Santa Barbara County in Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Goleta, Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, Buellton, Guadalupe, Isla Vista.

CN partners with Title I public schools, affordable housing, juvenile justice facilities and CBOs, finding solutions to learning loss, isolation, and trauma through dance culture, music, and community. CN’s diverse arts leaders deepen collaboration and unification of the many regional street dance forms across California. DJs, teaching artists, and community partners expand access to free, life-changing learning, dance cultural development, and family engagement events.

Community partners include: United Way Fun in the Sun, One Community Bridge Project, the Theater Program at La Cumbre MS, the Dance Program at Santa Barbara HS, Santa Barbara City Parks and Recreation, Santa Maria Juvenile Hall, Notes For Notes, and more.

At the Boys & Girls Club of Downtown Santa Barbara, CN teaches four days/week youth and teen Hip-Hop, Breaking, DJ, and Folklorico classes, weekly open sessions, and a monthly family class.

With Lompoc HS, CN provides weekly after school programs and 20 week-long artist residency programs, sharing foundation, history, culture, and training in dance, DJing, event production, photography, videography, MCing, Music Production.

In LA, CN partners with After-School All-Stars, the ICEF Drama Club, ISANA, Boys & Girls Clubs, Glendale Unified, and the Arc to serve 1,000 students/year, including education in regional dances such as Clowning and Krump.

With support from the California Arts Council, Leap Arts in Education will provide free arts education to nearly 10,000 students at 33 Bay Area public schools during the 2025–26 school year. Through its Artist-in-Residence Program, Leap brings professional Teaching Artists into K–8 classrooms to deliver culturally responsive instruction in visual art, ceramics, music, dance, theater, architecture, and creative writing. Programs are co-developed with classroom teachers, aligned with California Visual and Performing Arts Standards, and tailored to reflect the strengths and needs of each student community. Each residency spans 8–16 weeks and includes weekly sessions of 1–2 hours, culminating in student-led performances or final projects. In total, Leap will provide over 4,000 hours of arts instruction across Title I (federally designated low-income) public schools, helping students build confidence, creativity, and connection through the arts.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM
Leap’s flagship program for grades K-8 increases equitable access to high-quality, equity-focused, multidisciplinary arts education. In-school artist residencies use culturally attuned content and practices to engage diverse students and optimize success. Depending on grade and discipline, residencies lasts 6-20 weeks, usually one hour per week.

Evolving since 1979, Leap’s program is unique in that:
– Our teaching framework emphasizes equity-focused Culturally Responsive Teaching and Creative Youth Development approaches, using the arts to foster inclusion, positive relationships, confidence, resiliency, community engagement, and self-efficacy in young people.
– Residencies are taught by Teaching Artists (TAs) with artistic expertise and with an average of 8 years of classroom experience.
– Programs progress grade to grade, often taught by the same TA, supporting deep, lasting student-adult relationships.
– TA Professional Development focuses on Creative Youth Development, Culturally Responsive Teaching, Implicit Bias, Self Awareness, Trauma-Informed Teaching, Educational Equity, and Intersectional Identities (since 2016).
– Seven disciplines – ceramics, two-dimensional art, music, dance, theater, architecture, and creative writing – provide choices for schools.
– Long-term partnerships with schools and TAs achieve a 90% average school retention rate.

Leap participants develop technical discipline-specific skills, integrate arts learning with other academic subjects. make positive connections, practice and strengthen skills in critical thinking, collaboration, and problem solving. TAs create an environment in which students feel safe and supported to create art with their inherent talents, unique perspectives, and life experiences.

More important than gaining specific art skills, students’ perspectives dramatically shift. They develop tools to think critically, collaborate, create, communicate, and connect with others—21st century skills that strengthen communities.

EQUITY TRAINING INITIATIVE
Leap launched its Racial Justice Training Institute (RJTI) to transform Bay Area art education, leading to equity-driven, student-centered, culturally responsive arts education, greater student outcomes, and a community of knowledgeable, equity-driven practitioners and influencers.

With the support from the California Arts Council Sacramento Women’s Chorus (SWC) will:
1) expand access to choral performances and instructional programs,
2) build a renewed social media presence to attract younger members and members from under-represented community members, and;
3) increase our capacity as a women’s chorus to engage in community outreach.
Developing choral performance skills will be accomplished via a Masterclass for chorus members taught by Deke Sharon, American arranger, composer, director, and producer of contemporary a cappella music.
Organizational re-branding and building a new informational website will enhance the community’s knowledge of the chorus and assist with recruiting new members and attracting a larger audience.
Attendance at the Sister Singers Network Festival in Chicago (2026), will provide the chorus opportunities to perform, network and attend outreach workshops with women throughout the country.

SWC’s core program is choral music performance provided by women. Our
performances highlight issues affecting women, such as gender equity, and
domestic violence awareness. We also partner with other local community
organizations focused upon women’s issues. We also fund raise with
proceeds going to support women’s causes, including scholarships for senior
high school females, with an interest in the arts, food drives for local food
distribution centers, and feminine hygiene items for high school girls.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Center for World Music (CWM) will strengthen its core operations and sustain culturally inclusive programs that foster global understanding through the performing arts. Grant funds will support general operating expenses, including rent and staff salaries, enabling CWM to continue serving historically underserved communities across San Diego County—particularly youth and families in the lower two quartiles of the Healthy Places Index. Through school programs, public concerts, and senior programs, the CWM engages participants in diverse music and dance traditions led by artists who are culture bearers. This funding will help ensure organizational stability, support a diverse arts workforce, and expand access to arts education and cultural experiences for those with the least opportunity.

Core organizational programs and services of the Center for World Music (CWM) consist of four initiatives serving San Diego County: a world music and dance concert series of 5 to 10 annual public events focused on the performing arts of Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, and North America; workshops and performances in partnership with cultural communities and institutions; a unique World Music in the Schools program; and an Access to the Arts for Seniors program.

WORLD MUSIC CONCERTS
The CWM presents an annual series of concerts carefully curated to introduce audiences to underrepresented musical traditions. Reaching approximately 1,000 attendees per year, the concerts present distinguished California, national, and international artists of traditional world music and dance in small and medium-sized venues.

COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS AND PERFORMANCES
In partnership with San Diego institutions and cultural communities, the CWM presents community workshops and performances reaching over 2,000 children and adults annually.

SCHOOLS PROGRAM
The World Music in the Schools program features more than 25 highly skilled, culturally sophisticated teaching artists and 16 ensembles-in-residence, representing 20 music and dance traditions from around the world. Established in 1999, World Music in the Schools has grown to become the largest CWM program. It offers both 8- to 35-week artist residencies and one-time encounters such as workshops and school-wide assemblies, reaching over 10,000 students each year.

ACCESS TO THE ARTS FOR SENIORS
Access to the Arts for Seniors offers enriching experiences for seniors living in affordable housing communities. Due to socio-economic and physical barriers, residents have limited access to cultural enrichment. This program aims to meet residents’ needs by presenting the world’s music and dance in the comfort of their communities. The program presents 52 quarterly events in 13 communities, reaching over 2,000 seniors per year.

Bay City News Foundation seeks general operating support from the California Arts Council to sustain and expand nonprofit journalism that strengthens California’s arts and civic infrastructure. CAC funding would support our Arts & Entertainment and Bay City Books sections on LocalNewsMatters.org, including weekly cultural coverage, newsletters and radio appearances that spotlight local artists, performers and authors across 13 counties.

Funds would also support our youth journalism programs: paid summer internships for college students and stipends for high school trainees in our Contra Costa Youth Journalism initiative. These programs cultivate the next generation of diverse journalists and ensure that arts and culture reporting remains vibrant, inclusive and accessible.

In a time of deep cuts to local news, this work helps preserve essential storytelling and civic engagement for Northern California’s diverse communities.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Our Arts & Entertainment (A&E) section amplifies local artists, musicians, performers and cultural events, ensuring the creative voices of the region receive the attention they deserve. Under the leadership of A&E editor Leslie Katz, who also reports on air with our partner Radio Sausalito, this coverage reaches diverse audiences through both digital and broadcast media, deepening community engagement with the arts.

BAY CITY BOOKS

Complementing our A&E coverage, our Bay City Books section celebrates literary culture by featuring author profiles, book reviews and coverage of local literary events. This platform supports the vibrant literary scene across our 13-county service area, connecting readers and writers while promoting local bookstores and literary nonprofits.

YOUTH JOURNALISM TRAINING

In addition to producing high-quality journalism, BCN is deeply committed to nurturing the next generation of reporters and storytellers. We offer two training programs: a paid college internship that provides hands-on experience in multimedia journalism, and Contra Costa Youth Journalism (CCYJ), a high school journalism training program that empowers students from underserved school districts with essential reporting skills. CCYJ was recently invited to cover the Lesher Newsmakers Speaker Series with funding from the Lesher Foundation. Their impressive work can be found here: CCSpin.net.

Together, our editorial content and educational initiatives contribute to a more informed, connected, and culturally rich community, underscoring the vital role journalism plays as both an art form and a cornerstone of democracy.

With support from the California Arts Council, Bay Philharmonic (Bay Phil) will unite communities and improve residents’ quality of life through dynamic performances during the 25/26 season. Funding will support our core operations, especially increased salaries for 35-45 professional musicians who deliver each show.
Bay Phil creates high-quality, accessible, and inclusive performances that serve Bay Area residents and engage diverse audiences. Programs embrace many cultures, traditions and musical genres. Every show features collaborations with guest soloists and professional performers, including dancers and choruses, inspiring over 1,430 guests.
Without musicians, we cannot make an impact on residents and add beauty and joy to lives through performing arts. CAC support helps us continue hiring and fairly compensating top-notch talent, and maintain artistic excellence to make sure live music remains a vibrant, unifying force in the Bay Area.

Founded in 1964, the Bay Philharmonic (formerly Fremont Symphony) fills a non-traditional-symphony niche in the Bay Area. Our performances at Chabot College Performing Arts Center are the most innovative musical experiences around.

Three to four times a year, Bay Philharmonic (Bay Phil) presents themed, culturally-inclusive performances that have broad appeal—-from traditional symphony lovers to families, and young adults. Our shows help educate, inspire, and bring joy to all our guests.

Bay Phil Youth Orchestra, launched in 2016, provides an encouraging and motivating environment for 35-50 young musicians aged 7 -18 to pursue musical excellence and gain performance experience. The students receive high-quality instruction from Bay Phil’s professional musicians. Through a variety of performance opportunities, BPYO empowers young musicians to actively engage in preserving and promoting the performing arts in our community.

Our Bay Phil Guild consists of volunteers who support and promote the Bay Philharmonic and BPYO. They organize and host youth competitions and recitals throughout the year.

With support from the California Arts Council, Free Arts for Abused Children dba Free Arts will increase the number of underserved, historically marginalized children who are engaged in trauma informed, evidenced based therapeutic art programs that have been found through peer reviewed research to reduce depression and anxiety and build resiliency and life skills.

Free Arts core programs and services are delivered through weekly, 1.5-hour, 8–12–week art workshops where youth engage in visual, dance, spoken word or clay art projects designed to support them in their recovery from trauma. Teaching artists and volunteers trained as mentors facilitate the curriculum for each workshop focused on an art medium and subject. Teaching artists create and bring samples of finished products for youth to model. Youth learn to use art supplies and art techniques while ameliorating the effects of trauma. Workshops are held for youth by age group, sometimes with their parents, grandparents or caregiver. Free Arts collaborates with other community organizations to host 2–3 art festivals in underresourced neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles annually that feature culturally responsive live music, local artists’ works, food, art activities, mindfulness, yoga, self-advocacy and community advocacy. The festivals give communities a chance to bond and learn to advocate for themselves.

Free Arts helps youth use art to develop a lifelong outlet for negative emotions. Free Arts creates a safe environment where youth, through the act of creating, regain a sense of mastery, resiliency and self-esteem. Free Arts uses the creative process and trained mentors to support youth in recognizing, understanding and coping with feelings of depression and anxiety, and finding positive ways to help youth deal with their emotions.

With support from the California Arts Council, Grupo de Teatro SINERGIA will fund 2 part-time Marketing/Community Outreach people to develop a marketing strategy via social media as well as a plan to conduct outreach in the community to promote our programming and reach new audiences.

Grupo de Teatro SINERGIA (Synergy Theater Group) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit arts organization operating out of the William Reagh Los Angeles Photography Center, located at 2332 W 4th St., in the heart of the Westlake District, one of the most densely populated and economically challenged areas of Los Angeles on the outskirts of Downtown. We organize arts programs representing the major ethnic groups residing within a five-mile radius of the Center, primarily Latino immigrant groups from Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Mexico. Throughout the years, SINERGIA has worked diligently to establish a working relationship with the surrounding community in order to integrate them as welcomed members of the company. Our focus continues to be on works and arts education programming relevant to our underserved community. We presently serve a highly transient, zero to low-income population, comprised mostly of first-generation immigrants.

With support from the California Arts Council, Art of the Matter Performance Foundation will: continue development of new artistic work and pay our performing company members and artistic collaborators; continue our residency
program with two residency cycles in the grant period with four lead resident artists, provide stipends, free rehearsal space, and mentorship to the lead artists and present their work in fully underwritten performances, pay staff members, and pay the rent for our studio/small theater space.

Deborah Slater Dance Theater live performances
Young Audiences teaching
Studio 210 Summer Residency Program
Another Way of Looking, program providing professional video recording and live streaming from Studio 210
Studio 210 offering rehearsal, class and performance space in the Mission District of San Francisco
Ways Not to Drown Workshops

Funds requested will allow us to hire part-time instructors and youth interns to lead our 9-month Hidden GEM Career Pathways Program, and pay rent for our creative studio so we can continue operating our social enterprise which hires up to 100 alumni from our talent pool to work on films. This program recruits and professionally trains a cohort of up to 45 young BIPOC filmmakers (ages 18-28) in an intensive film training and mentorship program where they create content that leads to employment or enrollment in post-secondary education. Funds support filmmakers develop portfolios/resumes and pipelines them into internships, apprenticeships and entry-level jobs, while improving employment, housing, education and mental health outcomes. Students are provided a stipend for their creative work and they make content in collaboration with local community leaders, non-profits, and social justice initiatives.

CAREER PATHWAYS PROGRAM
BIPOC filmmakers ages 18-28 are eligible for 1 year of free career training in film production, screenwriting/directing and animation/production . They are trained over the course of 9 months and are pipelined into externships, apprenticeships, post-secondary education programs and entry-level jobs. Apprentices receive structured support in growing business, special access to production space, equipment, events, and a large network of clients/colleagues to grow their own business.

SCREENWRITERS WORKSHOP
Free screenwriting workshop to learn everything about feature length film pre-production workflow. Free coffee & private time with screenwriting professionals to receive feedback.

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE WORK PROGRAM
Graduates of our career pathways program are eligible for paid work as a freelance filmmaker. They are referred to work with our client base and work with our instructors and professional filmmakers on paid contracts.

With support from the California Arts Council, the City of Berkeley | Civic Arts will make additional funding awards in its grants programs.

The Civic Arts Program (Civic Arts) is housed within the City’s Office of Economic Development and implemented by the City’s Civic Arts staff. The organizational structure and work flow of the Civic Arts creates an interrelationship between elected officials, City staff, Civic Arts Commissioners and the various arts programs, activities, and policies.

Civic Arts currently has three core programmatic areas:
1. Grants
2. Public Art
3. Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships

1. Civic Arts manages a transparent and equitable grants process to distribute City funds to artists, arts organizations, and festivals in the City of Berkeley.

2. Civic Arts works with artists to produce permanent and temporary public art projects throughout Berkeley in accordance with two city ordinances; Berkeley Municipal Code Section 6.14 (which provides opportunities for the placement of site-specific public art projects in public spaces), and the Public Art on Private Development Ordinance.

3. Some of the recent strategic initiatives and partnerships Civic Arts has engaged in include:
Codifying a Poet Laureate program in partnership with the Berkeley Public Library; Advocating for artist housing to be included in the City’s Housing Element policy; Partnering with local arts organizations for arts education programming in Berkeley Unified School District’s summer programs

With support from the California Arts council, Vatthanatham Lao Foundation will help with;
1. Event Operations venue rental, securing spaces for each event such as street closure fees, Merced County Lake Yosemite, securing space for dance practices. Permits and Insurances: necessary permits, liability insurance and compliance with local regulations.
2. Program Development: Workshops and Activities hiring artists, performers and educators to lead workshops, cultural activities and performances. Purchasing materials for arts and crafts, traditional instruments and other supplies. Supporting traditional competitions (e.g., boat races) with awards to encourage community participation.
3. Cultural Promotion, Purchasing traditional Lao costumes, instruments, and performance props.
4. Staffing and Volunteers: Providing stipends to key personnel such as event coordinators, instructors, and performers. Infrastructure and Equipment: Renting or purchasing tents, tables, chairs, safety equipment and portable toilets.

Lao New Year celebration, Lao Arts & Culture Summer camp, Lao Boat Racing Festival

With support from the California Arts Council, the Sacramento Master Singers will use grant funds to help pay for general operating expenses associated with the 2025-26 season. These expenses include venue rental fees, marketing expenses, and salaries for our artistic and administrative staff.

The Sacramento Master Singers presents three unique programs of choral music each year, covering a broad spectrum of themes, styles, and genres. These concerts take place in December, March and May, including a family holiday concert for a total of 10 performances.

The Sacramento Master Singers Scholarship for Young Choral Singers was established in 2003 in memory of Asya Pleskach, a former SMS singer who passed away in a car accident at the young age of 18. The purpose of this scholarship is to encourage young, dynamic singers with strong leadership skills who dedicate their talents and energies toward their school, church or community choral programs. Winners and runners-up are recognized and perform at our May concerts.

With support from the California Arts Council, Rhythmix Cultural Works (RCW) will continue to create and produce engaging and culturally relevant multidisciplinary arts programming that is meaningful and accessible to the communities that it serves. Working collaboratively with local artists and organizations, RCW’s programs reflect the cultural heritage and diversity of the Bay Area, activate public spaces, bring local history to life and honor and uplift historically marginalized populations.

As the organization grows and deepens its impact, RCW is committed to strengthening its capacity to meet the evolving needs of its community. RCW remains dedicated to its mission of building community by inspiring engagement in the arts—creating opportunities for people to connect, learn from one another, and gain deeper understanding of the world through shared arts and cultural experiences.

Rhythmix Cultural Works (RCW) serves approximately 15,000 adults and students each year through a combination of performances, classes and workshops. RCW produces events featuring artists that present a mix of contemporary and traditional arts disciplines from around the world. RCW offers a wide array of programming including free world music concerts, art walks and festivals, music appreciation classes, K Gallery art exhibits and receptions, low-cost family events, and free/low-cost world music and dance assemblies through RCW’s Performance, Art & Learning (PAL) program offered to thousands of students throughout Alameda County. Over the years, live performances of various genres have included Latin jazz, Bollywood blues, Venezuelan Rock fusion, flamenco, comedy, and free community events such as RCW’s Island City Waterways, Love Our Island Art Walks, and ‘Round the World Festivals. After emerging from the pandemic, Rhythmix expanded its live PAL assembly offerings and created new free community programs including cultural heritage festivals and a world music family concert series in local parks.

With support from the California Arts Council, Geoffrey’s Inner Circle will pursue our ongoing programming and operations as a small arts and cultural organization and further our mission as a multidisciplinary arts venue and Black cultural center to uplift and promote Black culture and diverse Black art forms in Oakland through educational and performance initiatives, engaging youth, seniors, and low-income individuals.

Geoffrey’s Inner Circle is a multidisciplinary arts venue and Black cultural center, operating as a hub of Black life in Oakland since the late 1970s and in its current downtown location since 1993. Geoffrey’s has for over 40 years consistently produced arts & culture programming including music and comedy shows, educational programs, jam sessions, festivals, community events, vocal and instrumental masterclasses with resident and visiting artists, an annual 10-week youth arts intensive, livestreams and lecture/performances for youth, and political events. Geoffrey’s centers Black art forms including jazz, blues, gospel, hip-hop, and R&B and features programming celebrating Black History Month, Black Music Month, and Kwanzaa.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Washington Neighborhood Center will cover increased general operating costs tied to the launch of eight new facilities in Spring 2026. Funds will support staff wages, utilities, insurance, facility maintenance, and essential administrative functions. In addition, the grant will strengthen program delivery through artist stipends, materials, equipment, and venue rentals. This support is critical to sustaining our expanded operations while ensuring all programs remain free and accessible. It reflects our ongoing commitment to equity by removing barriers related to cost, language, and physical accessibility for the communities we serve.

Our programming is based on our pillars of Cultural Art-Activism, Academic and Career Readiness, and Health and Wellness.
– Danza Azteka Cultural Arts Classes: Celebrating indigenous traditions through dance, music, and storytelling.

– K-12th Grade STEAM events: Integrating science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics to foster curiosity and critical thinking skills.

– Youth and all ages open mic and art gallery: Providing platforms for artistic expression and talent showcase.

– Chicano Drawing Classes: Exploring identity and heritage through visual arts.

– Native Garden and S.T.E.A.M. Soil Lab: Beautifying the community while educating on sustainable practices and indigenous plant species, as well as learning about biology through the soil.

– Art Activism: Using creative expression as a tool for social transformation and awareness.

– Open Wall: Offering a safe space for artists, including “street artists,” to create freely without fear of harassment or prosecution.

– 2 Spirit queer trans job readiness empowerment sessions: Tailored support and resources for marginalized communities seeking economic independence and empowerment.

With support from the California Arts Council, Pacific Opera Project will reinforce the staffing and programming that support education and community engagement opportunities for those with limited access to live musical performances. Following the successful pilot of our first Spanish-language music education program curriculum in spring of 2025, POP’s Education & Community Engagement Department will integrate this continuing initiative into our broader spectrum of engagement activities, supporting our first mainstage production in Spanish/English (May 2026). POP will also enhance access to live opera performances for our school partners through a touring version of our “Cinderella Story” (2024), which POP will produce on-site at six schools in FY26.

Organizational Overview

Founded in 2011 by Artistic Director Josh Shaw, Pacific Opera Project (POP) produces opera in a range of venues and LA neighborhoods, especially those in Central and NE Los Angeles (NELA), to increase access for communities with historically limited exposure to opera. Since Spring 2023, POP leases a permanent office and public performance space in Highland Park, expanding its artistic and economic activity in the area. POP’s budget-conscious productions are conceived for newcomers and fans alike wishing to embrace opera with low stress and maximum entertainment value. POP has produced over 60 mainstage productions since 2011, collectively reaching 56,000+ audience members in 20+ venues. Our free online video catalog of past productions has received 337,000+ lifetime views. POP’s Education & Community Engagement Department was established in 2021; delivering free in-school programs and a low-cost summer education program to K-12 students, nearly all at Title I schools.

Core Programs & Services

1. Mainstage Programs
POP produces 4-5 staged operas with orchestra annually, performing in venues throughout central and NE Los Angeles (20+ venues and counting). Since its founding, POP has produced 60 mainstage productions, collectively reaching 56,000+ audience members.

2. K-12 Education Programs
Our year-round offerings include four in-school programs, including a Spanish-language program, and one summer workshop, through which we introduce storytelling through music and collaborative creativity, with students generating content which is performed by POP’s guest professional opera singers. Our K-12 student demographic is 68% Latinx, 5.5% African American, 11% Asian, 14% Caucasian, and 2% multiracial; 70% qualify as low-income.

3. Highland Park Recital Series
A culturally expansive, intimate vocal recital series at POP’s Highland Park Headquarters, showcasing POP’s roster of diverse emerging artists.

With support from the California Arts Council, IDRIS ACKAMOOR AND CULTURAL ODYSSEY (IACO) will contribute to the vibrant culture of arts in California by advancing a diverse arts workforce and providing innovative community resources through three (3) goals:

1. To produce critically-acclaimed arts events that improve racial equity and access to workforce opportunities through the employment and education of artists;
2. To provide Professional Development resources that contribute to artist survival in the California economy; and,
3. To increase and diversify revenue by commercializing intellectual property (from 47 years of production) to establish passive income (i.e. e-commerce for films, scripts and education enrollment) for IACO’s long-term economic strength and management succession.

Implementing these goals assures IACO’s long-term continuation, across generations, by contributing effectual resources to the next generation of working artists.

As the oldest, continuously operating African American performing arts organization in San Francisco, IACO has employed 1000s of arts professionals, contributing to the vitalization and diversity of the local arts industry.

(1) Founded in 1972, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids Ankhestra (IAPA) implements innovative arts experimentation through live productions and international publications. For example, Black History Month 2024, IAPA performed the UNDERGROUND JAZZ CABARET residency featuring movie star DANNY GLOVER and legendary actress/activist RHODESSA JONES. Sold-out audiences witnessed multidisciplinary arts, woven into historic, imminent social issues as part of SF FOUNDATION’S BAY AREA CREATIVE CHANGE program (Strut Records/iK7 April 2025 release).

(2) Committed to dismantling biases and stereotypes, AFRICAN AMERICAN THEATER ALLIANCE FOR INDEPENDENCE (AATAIN) is IACO’s consortium of SF fiscal sponsorees that work together to increase inclusion of underrepresented artists in the City. In 1998, AATAIN! became a landmark project, pioneering the regranting business model to save Black theater (inspired by August Wilson). This includes Fiscal Sponsorship, Technical Assistance, development resources, and mentoring. Since 2021, AATAIN! collectively activated 17 Cultural Spaces by producing 85 public events, 28 workshops, 51 artworks, 4 exhibitions, and compensating over 100 arts professionals. Distributing $2.4 million, IACO’s highlighted regrantees have included African American Shakespeare, AfroSolo Theatre, Bay Area Theater Company, African American Art & Culture Center, and Medea Project: Theater For Incarcerated Women (an IACO founded company).

(3) “Don’t Drop Dead on Stage” is a new curriculum/workshop series designed to educate artists and arts administrators to establish economic security and long-term sustainability in San Francisco.

(4) Film Production: Based on its historic role in pioneering the Performance Art Theatrical Method, IACO’s tradition of ”Arts as Social Activism” continues in its public awareness films. Examples include: ”This Ain’t Your Mamas Theater Company” (women’s health/incarceration), ”Artistic Being” (imminent politics), and “We Just Telling Stories“ (theater recovery in prisons).

The Wayward Artist is a nonprofit theater company in Irvine, California, dedicated to producing innovative, inclusive, and community-driven performances. We are requesting General Operating Support to sustain our core operations, including staff wages, rent, utilities, and administrative costs. This funding will support our continued commitment to artistic excellence and equity through programming like Wayward Voices, which uplifts BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists, and by offering accessible, socially relevant productions. Following our move to a new shared space with Irvine United Congregational Church, we are expanding our reach and building deeper community partnerships. General Operating Support will ensure our long-term stability and growth as we remain a creative home for emerging and marginalized artists in Orange County and continue our mission to reimagine theater as a space for radical inclusion, dialogue, and transformation.

Core Programs and Services – The Wayward Artist
Season of Live Theatrical Performances
We produce 6–8 dynamic theatrical events each year, including full-length plays, musicals, new works, staged readings, and experimental performance art. Our productions reflect a range of genres and voices, often featuring bold reimaginings and socially relevant themes that challenge audiences and amplify underrepresented perspectives.

Internship and Mentorship Programs
We offer hands-on internship opportunities for college, high school, and university students interested in theatre arts, design, directing, and arts administration. These programs connect emerging artists with seasoned professionals, fostering growth, confidence, and a pathway into the arts workforce.

OC Theatre Guild Membership and Collaboration
As an active member of the Orange County Theatre Guild, we contribute to a county-wide effort to strengthen the local arts ecosystem through shared resources, advocacy, and collaborative programming.

Educational Outreach and Partnerships
We engage in educational outreach by partnering with local schools, colleges, and community centers to offer workshops, masterclasses, post-show discussions, and artist talkbacks. These efforts are designed to build bridges between professional theatre and community learning.

Wayward Voices: BIPOC Artist Initiative
Through our Wayward Voices program, we provide a dedicated platform for BIPOC artists to create, develop, and present new work. This initiative includes artist residencies, mentorship, and curated performances that center culturally specific narratives and empower artists to tell their own stories.

Community Engagement and Support
We are committed to being a vital cultural hub in Santa Ana and Orange County. Our events, talkbacks, fundraisers, and partnerships with local organizations foster meaningful community connections. We prioritize accessible pricing, inclusive programming, and active listening to ensure our work serves and reflects the diverse community we call home.

With support from the California Arts Council, TRITON MUSEUM OF ART will continue its trajectory of increasing diversity and inclusive exhibitions and art education programming to better reflect and represent the cultural, educational, and professional demographics of our regional audience. Over the past five years, the Triton Museum has made great strides in reaching out to formerly under-represented facets of our community, in its exhibition programs, its board representation, and its staff diversity. While we have come far and are reaping the rewards of new programming, we still have much to do. A grant from the California Arts Council will not only enable us to continue in these efforts, but will serve as a statement of support and validation that our efforts to be inclusive, aware, and equitable are well founded and well received.

The Triton Museum of Art is a vital community resource that provides accessible exhibition and education programs, which promote a broad range of contemporary California art. Through our multi-faceted programs, we strive to bring together the culturally diverse population of the Greater Bay Area to foster a better understanding of art and its role in building a strong community.

Through its art exhibitions and collections, the Triton Museum showcases works by California artists that are aesthetically and historically significant to our region and which demonstrate the rich diversity of cultural traditions, influences, and ideas that make up our community.

Education is central to the vision of the Museum and integral to the development and design of each exhibition. The Museum offers a learning environment in which curiosity, experimentation, and spirited dialogue are encouraged. Our aim is for each visitor to experience the Museum with enthusiasm, empowered by new perspectives and ideas. Art education programs for children, youth, and adults are designed to enhance the experience of art and to help develop skills of creation and appreciation.

The Community is the life force of the Triton Museum of Art. Each exhibition and program is developed with the visitors’ experience as a compass. The Museum serves as a resource for the community through collaborations with local arts and service organizations, schools, universities, and local civic and corporate partners.

For the entirety of its history, the Triton Museum of Art has been free to the public.

With support from the California Arts Council, Angels Gate Cultural Center will continue to carry out our mission to provide space for artists to work and to engage our community through arts education, exhibitions of contemporary art, and cultural events. As a primary provider of community-based arts programming for the Los Angeles Harbor area, AGCC recognizes our responsibility to provide equitable access to artistic and cultural resources for local families. We offer high-quality, year-round arts experiences for the public and elevate artists as integral and essential to a healthy and vibrant society. Grant funds will support salaries for our diverse staff of arts professionals, who curate and implement a robust calendar of programming designed to serve LA Harbor community members of all ages.

Angels Gate Cultural Center (AGCC) is a place that unites art, community and culture through creative discovery, exploration, and enlightenment. The Center provides the Southern California community with a year-round schedule of gallery exhibitions, cultural events and community classes. Angels Gate provides quality arts programming to over 20,000 visitors each year, and over the last 20 years, we have grown the classrooms served by our Artists-in-Classrooms (AIC) program from 10 to over 100 in LAUSD. The Center emerged from a group of San Pedro artists in the 1970’s that created artist studios and exhibition space within the 1940’s era Army barracks of Angels Gate Park. After 40 years, the Center provides professional work-studio space for 52 artists, including musicians, ceramists, painters, sculptors, writers, photographers, printmakers and jewelers.

Angels Gate Cultural Center is committed to thoughtful cultural diversity, equity, and inclusion within all facets of the organization: leadership, artists, programming, and community engagement. We strive to provide opportunities for all people to participate in creative expression, discovery, and exploration, including, but not limited to, indigenous people, racially and ethnically diverse individuals, and community members from all socio-economic backgrounds. AGCC believes that when the arts are truly accessible and culturally inclusive, they are a catalyst for community belonging and positive change.

With Support from the California Arts Council, BAYCAT will provide free digital media education to youth (ages 11-17) through our project-based film and audio production curriculum, and employ diverse young storytellers (ages 18-25) in our paid Studio internship which offers the opportunity to work with our professional in-house production team creating socially-conscious media for clients like the Golden State Warriors.

Courses emphasize hands-on learning to build expertise in professional tools like Adobe Creative Suite and cutting-edge equipment, and BAYCAT interns are well-positioned to secure employment once they graduate.

Our programs culminate in public screenings at our Dogpatch headquarters or local venues like the historic Roxie Theater. Showcases uplift the meaning of their work and publicly declare themselves as artists to an audience of their community.

Our award-winning Pathways model offers a continuum of opportunities to meet the needs of young creatives from their first touchpoint and throughout their careers as alumni:

BAYCAT ACADEMY provides free digital media education to youth (ages 11+) year-round through our project-based film and audio production curriculum. Mentors guide youth through the creative process to generate and pitch ideas, produce short films, respond to their peer’s work, and connect projects to social justice issues. Courses emphasize hands-on learning to build expertise in professional tools like Adobe Creative Suite and cutting-edge audio/video equipment. Our advanced media makers, “The Crew,” are paid to produce pro bono media for local partners like the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and immigrant advocacy group, PODER.

BAYCAT STUDIO, our professional in-house production team, creates socially-conscious media for clients like the Golden State Warriors. Our paid Studio Internship mentors diverse young storytellers (ages 18+) through hands-on experiences in six to eight-week internships focused on skills spanning pre production to post or short term intensives to train participants to apply for on-set employment. BAYCAT interns are better-positioned to secure employment once they graduate with a reel, a stronger resume, a LinkedIn profile, and a network of diverse industry professionals.

Programs culminate in public screenings at our Dogpatch headquarters or local cultural venues to celebrate the impact of their work and publicly declare themselves as artists to their community.

With support from the California Arts Council, Wheelchair Dancers Organization, now locally known as Dynamic Inclusive Dance (D.I.D), will create meaningful connections through dance by providing a creative and inclusive space where dance classes are accessible to all. CAC funds will help D.I.D grow its reach, strengthen partnerships, and deliver inclusive workshops and events throughout San Diego County—ensuring that all individuals can express themselves through dance.

Wheelchair Dancers Organization (WDO) offers 6 and 8-week dance classes for wheelchair users and standing partners. All classes are provided free of charge to participants. A professionally trained dance instructor teaches the dance moves, and over the course of the classes a dance routine is perfected. Wheelchair Dancers provides dance for individuals of all ages and abilities, including children as young as age four and as old as age 90. The dancers are provided several opportunities throughout the year to participate in performances for a variety of audiences, including the WDO Showcase that takes place in September of each year and attracts an audience of nearly 500 people. We have also expanded our classes to be virtual as well.

​​With support from CAC, this fall, Bay Area Music Project (BAMP) will open our first dedicated independent facility, a new community music education center, expanding access to East Bay youth beyond our five partner school sites. The center will expand employment opportunities for teaching artists and house cutting-edge music production technology to support our growing digital audio programs.

CAC funds will also support BAMP’s work at partner schools, prioritizing under-resourced students from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, from kindergarten through high school. BAMP currently serves over 250 students and is poised to expand its on-site programming for high school students in 2026. BAMP’s student-centered model integrates socio-emotional learning to empower future leaders during their most formative years. This expansion marks a transformative step toward broader access to an inclusive creative future.

Bay Area Music Project (BAMP) serves 250 K–12 students from under-resourced communities in Alameda and Oakland, CA, where access to high-quality music education is limited. Over half of our families identify as low-income, and BAMP is committed to making music education accessible through full-tuition scholarships, free instruments, and inclusive programming.
BAMP operates across five partner school sites during the academic year. Our flagship elementary chapter, serving 195 students, runs five days a week with 3–6 hour sessions. Starting in second grade, students choose from various ensembles—choir, strings, winds, brass, percussion, ukulele, and digital audio design & production. Our approach emphasizes small group instruction, culturally responsive repertoire, and leveled age-appropriate ensembles. Students regularly perform across the Bay Area, including collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and singing the National Anthem at Golden State Warriors games.
Our middle and high school programs serve 55 students with 1–2.5 hour sessions, two days per week. Offerings include a rigorous cello study, a digital audio design program preparing students for music industry careers, and a culture-centered classical guitar class in East Oakland that celebrates Hispanic heritage through music and shared meals.
In response to consistent community encouragement, BAMP expanded enrollment by 25% in 2025, introducing new ensembles, including Double Bass at the elementary level and a more rigorous Cello Academy for middle and high school, and grew our performance partnerships with the NBA and local arts organizations, including the West End Arts District, Rhythmix Cultural Works, Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, and DIFF WORKS Studios.
BAMP’s community impact has earned widespread recognition, including the 2024 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award, the 2023 Jefferson Award for Public Service, and the 2021 Spotlight on Quality Award from the California Department of Education. At our core, we believe every child deserves the transformative power of music and the confidence to thrive.

With support from the California Arts Council, San Jose Taiko will provide performance, education, and outreach programming that celebrates 52 years of artistic excellence and presents the Asian-American art of taiko as a path to social action, community development, cultural preservation, and Asian-American identity, uplifting San Jose Japantown and our larger Asian-American community.

CORE PERFORMANCES – broad reach of ~22,000 audience members
Touring Program, Local Presentations, Home Concert Series

EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCES – deeper impact for ~18,500 students
School Outreach Program

CORE CLASSES/TRAINING – deepest impact for ~1,100 students/trainees
Junior Taiko, Youth Recreational Classes, and Oyako (parent/child) Workshops, Public Workshops, Master Classes, Adult Recreational Classes & Senior Programming, Audition Program, Taiko Intensives

WIA is seeking funds to elevate the visibility of women (cis and trans) and gender non-binary creatives in animation, VFX, and gaming. We offer mentorship, professional development, and industry access to underrepresented talent through programs like Mentorship Circles (500 participants/year), professional growth events (30 planned in 2026), a 6,000+ user Talent Database, a year-long Leadership Institute, and youth-specific support. Informed by community feedback, 2026 will include a six-part freelance course and live portfolio reviews to help creatives adapt and get hired. We partner with studios to increase visibility and push for inclusive hiring.

Having grown from 120 members to 12,000 creatives over the last 10 years, we are on the brink of realizing a major milestone for the animation industry: our goal is to see women and non-binary people in 50% of animation and VFX creative roles. With LA being home to the biggest animation studios in the world, it is a major focus of ours. Realizing our goal of gender-parity will not only increase representation and inclusivity in animation and visual effects, but leverage the entertainment industry’s cultural influence to move gender equity forward across California and beyond.

1) Mentorship Circles – WIA has 50 Mentorship Circles, connecting 500 women and nonbinary creatives to mentors in the animation, VFX, and gaming industries each year.
2) Professional Growth Events – WIA provides professional growth events, including titles such as “Understanding the Animation Feature Film Pipeline for Beginners,” “Negotiations and Contracts,” “Bridging the Gap Between Jobs and Staying Hired,” and many more.
3) Talent Database & Industry Advocacy – WIA’s database of over 6,000 women and non-binary professionals is used by over two dozen studio recruiters and hiring managers. Additionally, we have 30+ studio partners who participate in our programs and provide financial support on an annual basis.
4) Leadership Institute – a highly interactive, year-long leadership program designed specifically for women and gender non-binary people in middle management creative roles.
5) Youth Development & Scholarships – WIA hosts two Mentorship Circles for young people in California without formal animation education and/or come from low-income families. WIA also provides scholarships to support deserving animation students who identify with an underrepresented gender and demonstrate artistic talent, a passion for animation, a financial need, and a promising future in our industry.

With support from the California Arts Council, Pacific Arts Movement will sustain its organizational infrastructure to continue delivering year-round public programming that centers Asian, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander stories. CAC support will help maintain staff roles essential to producing accessible cultural experiences like the San Diego Asian Film Festival, Spring Showcase, Cinemathek, and youth education programs, ensuring equitable access to media arts across San Diego.

Pacific Arts Movement (Pac Arts) is one of the largest media arts organizations in North America, specializing in Asian American and Asian international cinema. Our flagship event, the San Diego Asian Film Festival, has emerged as a leading showcase for Asian cinema in North America and a significant platform for Asian American media. This festival serves as a celebration of the diversity and breadth of the Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora, featuring everything from passionate independent voices and thought-provoking documentaries to major hits from Asia and work from cinema masters. In addition to the film festival, we operate Reel Voices, a program that has been empowering local high school students to master the art of documentary filmmaking since 2005. This program includes a comprehensive 10-week summer class and a year-round partnership with Monarch School. Through Reel Voices, we inspire and equip the next generation of storytellers, teaching them technical skills like video editing software and guiding them through all stages of production. The ultimate goal is to create socially-conscious storytellers who can authentically represent their experiences and perspectives, aligning with our mission to amplify underrepresented voices and reduce barriers to entry into the media arts.

With support from the California Arts Council, Bell Arts Factory is dedicated to harnessing the power of the arts to celebrate and showcase the rich diversity of thought and culture within our community. Our mission goes beyond artistic expression – we seek to inspire and promote acts of kindness and social good that resonate throughout the region.

Situated at the crucial intersection of the arts and nonprofit work, we are committed to ensuring that all community members, regardless of background or circumstance, have meaningful access to creative experiences. By fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment, we empower individuals to express themselves, build connections and contribute to a vibrant compassionate community.

After-school art programs English and Spanish , Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturdays. Summer Spanish Art Programs. We also offer offer monthly community events, low cost artist studios, and monthly gallery openings.

With support from the California Arts Council, DISCO RIOT will continue to support and produce a wide range of artists through our innovative programming. DISCO RIOT has developed a shared leadership model that includes a collaborative staff and board support system. Funds from CAC will supplement the compensation of key staff members, including our Operations Coordinator, Education & Outreach Coordinator and Producing Artists, as well as be used to continue fair wages for our teaching and tech staff. These funds help us support our team which in turn provides sustainability, increased impact, and professional development, particularly for BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, and transitional youth artists in our community.

We achieve our mission through a combination of activities that create opportunities for movement-artists to develop their practice that also invite the general public to explore the impact of movement in their own lives. These activities include classes, artist residencies, networking events, performance opportunities, and online projects. Our key programs like Choreo & _____, S P A C E Alliance Studio Residencies, Queer Mvmnt Fest, Summer and Fall Workshops, and ongoing donation-based classes allow the larger arts community and the public to come together with socially conscious dance as the fulcrum.

With support from the California Arts Council, San Diego ART Matters will provide an annual schedule of free and low-cost programs and services to individual artists, cultural practitioners, nonprofit arts and culture organizations, and other members of San Diego County’s arts and culture sector to include, advocacy training and engagement, coalition building and networking, professional and career development, marketing and communications, research and intermediary services.

SDAM’s core programs and services support our mission through education, advocacy initiatives, strategy development, coordinated communications, research, convenings, coalition building, and public forums.

PROGRAM: Education and Advocacy – SDAM serves all county residents through education and advocacy in support of arts and culture in the following ways:
*Meet with elected officials to discuss critical issues affecting artists and arts and culture organizations throughout the region;
*Educate the public regarding candidate platforms during key elections by hosting moderated public forums;
*Vet ballot propositions impacting the arts and share information with constituents;
*Host briefings and forums to bring candidates running for office and elected officials together;
*Attend hearings, write letters and Op Eds, and organize public comment on issues of importance to the field;
*Work with local, state and national partners to conduct research that measures the economic and community impact of the arts; and
*Monitor government budget cycles to identify threats to funding and mobilize support as needed;
*Provide arts advocacy training.

PROGRAM: Member Services – SDAM serves coalition members through a variety of programs, including but not limited to the following:
*Communicate information to the field through quarterly newsletters, e-blasts, and Advocacy Alerts;
*Host quarterly convenings for the creative sector;
*Produce and present annual Arts, Culture and Creativity Month awareness building campaign;
*Conduct annual survey of Coalition members to create a unified advocacy agenda for increasing public funding for the arts;

PROGRAM: Intermediary Services- SDAM helps ensure grants and impact investments reach artists and other “hard-to-reach” communities:
*Grantmaking assistance to grant makers, including oversight of all phases of a regranting process
*Community outreach, needs assessment and cultural planning
*Research, reports, and data mining
*Other consulting services as needed.

With support from the California Arts Council, Clarion Alley Mural Project will support: 1) a series of five new murals on Clarion Alley in celebration of our California farmworkers; 2) a community celebration for the new murals with music, poetry, and food; and 3) a series of poetry readings by local California poets.

Since 1992, CAMP has produced over 900 murals and worked with many talented artists, many of whom are just starting their careers and looking for opportunities to publicly display their work – some would identify themselves as primarily muralists or public artists, for others it’s a chance to create public work for the first time. In addition to works directly on Clarion Alley, CAMP has produced a number of offsite projects in collaboration with community partners, including two international exchange and residency projects with Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2003 and 2018-2022. CAMP has worked with many collaborative initiatives, including La Casa de las Madres, Poor Magazine, Creativity Explored, the San Francisco Print Collective, Oasis For Girls, Horizons Unlimited, the American Indian Movement Youth Council, the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, the South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), Hospitality House, WRAP (Western Regional Advocacy Project), San Francisco Poster Syndicate, Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), and Art Forces. In addition to its direct work with artists and organizations through the production of murals, CAMP has been very active in the community through participation in public presentations about public art and its role in social activism.

Specifically, Clarion Alley Mural Project provides the following programs and services:
• Creation, support, & maintenance of murals
• Community events
• Exhibitions
• Tours
• Community education (presentations, tech, classes, social media)
• Publications
• International exchanges & residencies
• Advocacy as members of the community-based coalition United to Save the Mission (USM) to bring attention to the needs of the communities CAMP serves and help ensure that these are recognized and addressed by City leaders

With support from the California Arts Council, Youth Art Exchange (YAX) will operate community-driven art spaces in San Francisco and engage youth of color, artists of color, and their diverse communities of all ages through exceptional multidisciplinary arts programming, events, and exhibitions. Funds will be used to support general operating expenses, including critical salary support for key staff positions for two arts centers housing specialized multidisciplinary studios and gallery spaces in 100% affordable housing sites in the Excelsior and Mission. As we celebrate 25 years of arts education and experiences in San Francisco, we will activate these spaces and make the arts accessible with workshops, classes, and interactive artist residencies, provide paid opportunities for artists, and contribute to San Francisco’s vibrancy.

Our core youth and community programming is free to increase accessibility to the arts. High school programs in disciplines like architecture, fashion design, film photography, music production, and printmaking include after school studio classes, in-school residencies, summer intensives in the arts and architecture, and paid summer creative workforce internships. We also have a Youth Advisory Board, teaching assistantships, and alumni internships. Our programs provide a safe third space for youth to explore themselves, build positive relationships, develop a foundation in the arts, connect to cultural traditions, and make San Francisco thrive. Within our new arts centers, we have expanded program offerings to include younger students and more adult activities too.

We have strong ties and connections with the communities of our core constituency, particularly in underserved areas of San Francisco. Our priority for low income youth and youth of color to shape their city has led to several notable public projects including youth designed and built parklets, public art projects such as murals, installations, creative disruptions, and events. We have convened the annual San Francisco Youth Arts Summit for 15 years to bring together youth artists and arts educators across the Bay Area for creative exchange and community building. We have an active role in arts advocacy and the representation of youth artists in San Francisco. Integral to our work is the experience of the artists who teach in our programs. We value their ability to further their own practice, both in partnership with their students and through residencies, public projects, exhibitions, and exchange with other artists.

Through youth programming, exhibits, public projects, our annual participatory (415) Public Gallery, events, adult classes and community workshops, we serve 600+ enrolled youth, 30 artists, and 7000+ audience members per year.

With support from the California Arts Council, GREEN ROOM THEATRE COMPANY will bring theatre and dance performances and training directly to under-resourced communities, enhancing career skills, literacy, and community connections. Funds will be used primarily for the following: (1) mount a New(ish) Shakespeare festival, introducing the Bard’s magic to new audiences through a bilingual adaptation of “As You Like It” and a drama based on “Othello” focusing on inclusion and the Black male experience in theatre and beyond, (2) provide mental health and theatre literacy education of special value to Latine youth, based on our recent successful production of Luis Alfaro’s “Black Butterfly,” and (3) expand ballet folklorico training to children and youth.

GRTCCV provides: (1) classes for children, youth, and adults; (2) touring productions; (3) staged readings; (4) ballet folklorico training; and (5) performances of reinvented classics at pivotal Coachella Valley venues.

Now in its 16th season, GRTCCV is focusing especially on serving the Central and East Coachella Valley, providing employment development training. Many alumni of our training programs have found paid theatre work in the Coachella Valley and beyond, or majored in theatre at colleges and universities.

For many years, the summer conservatory’s large Broadway musical trained 60 young actors and technicians. However, responding partly to changes wrought by the pandemic, recently Green Room has focused on projects that combine bilingual theatre productions with youth discussion groups to address important social issues. The successful 2023 “Novio Boy” project used an engaging Spanish-English romantic comedy and supporting discussion groups to boost teen literacy and social-emotional skills. The recent “Act Against Bullying” project similarly combined an award-winning play with discussion groups focused on bullying prevention/response.

In a typical year, GRTCCV sponsors several other projects. These include Shakespeare/classical productions, performances to celebrate Black History Month and other diversity initiatives, and classes throughout the year. Recently we expanded ballet folklorico classes in Indio public schools and spotlighted folklorico performances along with our theatre productions.

GRTCCV is innovative in its performance venues, themes, and approaches. For example, we recently devised a play about the history of “Section 14,” addressing a controversial episode when the City of Palm Springs in the 1960s forcibly evicted hundreds of mainly Black and Latine residents from a planned downtown redevelopment site. This innovative project used oral history and a community advisory committee to help develop the play. Our performances have been held in a 400-seat auditorium, a brew pub, bookstores, and even a cemetery in order to reach diverse audiences.

With support from the California Arts Council, the PACIFIC CHAMBER ORCHESTRA will be able to plan, promote, and perform our main season and Dream American emerging composers’ concerts as well as to carry out our multi-generational music and educational programs. The funds will support artistic, operational and educational program expenses.

PCO is a resident company of Livermore’s Bankhead Theater and also performs in Lafayette and before the pandemic and great recession also served the Antioch, San Francisco and Napa. PCO’s atmosphere is friendly and welcoming to all audiences reaching directly to low-income seniors, families and communities in need, low HPI areas, and through our educational programs title 1 schools introducing students to the wonders of classical music. PCO’s current offerings include:
– four sets of main concerts are performed each season in two locations.
– a fifth set consists of new works by competitively selected emerging composers under the theme Dream American
– a variety of educational programs: elementary in-school assemblies that introduce and teach basic music fundamentals, full orchestra school day matinée performances, and clinics for middle and high school music students that reaches over 6,000 students every year in Livermore, Pleasanton, and Hayward.

With support from the California Arts Council, Down For Dance will expand our reach and deepen our impact by providing inclusive, high-quality dance, movement, and art programming for individuals of all abilities—especially those with Down syndrome and other disabilities who have been historically excluded from the arts. Grant funds will support general operations, including hiring and training additional instructors, securing studio rental space in professional dance environments, and expanding scholarship support to ensure financial barriers do not prevent participation. These investments will allow DFD to reduce waitlists, reach more communities across Southern California and beyond, and provide students with transformative opportunities to build confidence, express themselves creatively, and connect with others through the arts. This work fosters inclusion, equity, and representation in California’s cultural landscape, empowering individuals to thrive on and off the stage.

DFD offers a variety of inclusive, high-quality, low-cost art and dance classes to more than 215 individuals with Down syndrome and other disabilities annually. Based in Southern California, DFD delivers more than 9,500 student-hours of direct programming each year through our core programs which include year-round instruction and performance opportunities in traditional dance styles (musical theater, tap, and ballet), modern dance styles (hip hop and jazz contemporary), and visual arts.
Across all dance classes, students learn the fundamentals of technique and are encouraged to explore the way their body moves to find and cultivate their own style through improvisation and free style. Throughout the year, our dancers perform at showcases and community events – giving our students a platform, promoting social inclusion, and helping shift public perceptions of disability in the arts.
Beyond dance, in our Art Explorations class, students are encouraged to be curious and playful as we explore feelings and emotions, while promoting positive self-expression through drawing, painting, collage, and more.
To help ensure accessibility within traditionally and historically excluded communities, DFD offers classes at various locations in collaboration with dance studios throughout Orange County. Further, demonstrating DFD’s experience, and ongoing commitment to engaging and uplifting historically and systemically under-resourced, excluded, artists, especially those inhibited by transportation, physical, geographic, or socioeconomic barriers, DFD offers classes both in-person and online, with full/partial scholarships available to those in need.
Demand for Down For Dance’s high quality programming is evidenced by our extensive waitlist: we currently have over 50 students on our waitlist.

With support from the California Arts Council, we at Red Poppy Art House (RPAH) celebrate our 22nd anniversary and will produce another year-long program of in-person multidisciplinary performances, featuring music, poetry, dance, literary events, visual and performing workshops, art-exhibits, and lectures.
We will showcase the talent of 500 local and international artists, and bring more than 5000 audience members from around the Bay-Area to San Francisco’s Mission-district.

We will continue offering our free, bi-monthly Mission-Arts-Performance-Project (MAPP) and free family-art classes, while also completing the final steps of becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and will begin preparations for applying to the Legacy-Business-Registry as a long-standing, community-serving organization that contributes meaningfully to the history and identity of the Mission.

These funds are critical to sustaining our operations, deepening our impact in the community, and supporting our continued-growth.

Red Poppy Art House produces more than 150 multi-disciplinary events each year including music, poetry, dance, literary events, art exhibitions, workshops and lectures that showcase the talent of local and far-flung artists. The Poppy is known locally, nationally and internationally as a venue that welcomes artists from all backgrounds to share the music of their culture, allowing the changes and fusion that naturally comes from performing in the diversity of San Francisco. Operating from a neighborhood storefront, The Poppy’s intimate performing space is ideal for listening and creating diverse art forms. In addition to its performing program, The Poppy serves emerging arts professionals through its Professional Development Track, which provides training in community arts presentation through workshops and internships. Finally, the Poppy serves neighborhood youth through its monthly free Family Art afternoons.

West Edge Opera (WEO) seeks 30K in General Operating support from the California Arts Council October 1st, 2025 – September 30th, 2026 in order to continue organization’s mission to develop new operas with California themes, and in order to bolster the WEO annual opera festival in downtown Oakland that employs over 100 local artists and technicians each year.

New Operas:
Across 2025-2026, WEO will develop ‘Claude & Marcel’, a new opera about surrealist artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, with music workshops toward its premiere. In 2026, WEO will launch a new commission to another pair of California-based artists – Ryan Suleiman and Cristina Fríes.

Opera Festival:
In 2026, WEO will present 3 fully staged and orchestrated operas across 3 weekends in August 2026 at The Scottish Rite Center in downtown Oakland for 5,000+ audiences.

West Edge Opera was founded in 1979, initially as Commedia dell’Opera, then as Berkeley Opera. In 2012, the organization became West Edge Opera led by General Director Mark Streshinsky. In its 39-year history, West Edge Opera has presented 100 complete operas by 63 different composers.

In 2014, West Edge Opera (WEO) focused all programming on an annual Summer Opera Festival, presenting fully staged and fully orchestrated operas performed in repertory. To present these operas, WEO turned toward unique venues of East Bay cultural history. Previous festival venues have included The 16th Street Train Station in Oakland, The Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, The Bridge Yard, in Oakland.

In 2017, WEO launched a standing Winter program called SNAPSHOT – a presentation of new operas at the Ed Roberts Campus, Berkeley, and the Wilsey Center for Opera, San Francisco. Since 2017, WEO has presented excerpts from 16 new operas by new and established librettist/composer teams from the West Coast region.

In 2020, WEO began commissioning and developing new operas toward world premieres. In 2020, WEO announced the commission of Bulrusher from Eisa Davis and Nathaniel Stookey (based on her play by the same name) and in 2024 the opera premiered at the WEO Summer Opera Festival in downtown Oakland. In 2021, WEO announced the commission and development of Dolores by Nicolás Lell Benavides and Marella Martin Koch and in August 2025 the opera will premiere in downtown Oakland with Dolores Huerta in attendance. 2 more commissions are due for upcoming premieres.

Each year, WEO serves approximately 90 local artists and 5,000 audience members in the Bay Area.

Saint Remy Arts & Culture seeks General Operating Support to sustain and expand its trauma-informed, culturally-rooted arts programs serving individuals with mental illness, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts, especially within Latinx, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, veterans and the unhoused communities. CAC funds will support staff salaries, artist fees, free public workshops/classes, and administrative costs to deepen our impact across Los Angeles County and beyond. This support will help us continue fostering safe, inclusive spaces for healing through visual and performing arts while building long-term capacity for community leadership, intercultural collaboration, and systemic change.

My name is Joshua J. Ramirez and I am the founder and executive director of Saint Remy Arts & Culture, a LatinX led 501c3 organization with a mission to provide transformative spaces for individuals with mental illness, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts through art and advocacy. At Saint Remy, we believe in cultivating safe and authentic spaces that builds trust and connection with the community we serve, in an effort to raise the visibility of unseen and unheard communities. Through the tenants of empathy, compassion, and transparency, we provide free culturally responsive visual and performative classes and workshops that foster growth, healing, and recovery through art.

As a people first organization, it is important to liberate economic resources and provide them to invisible communities. There is an element of activism in everything we do, and through long term and consistent efforts, we have built strong relationships with the mental health community and partnering organizations, such as Tri-City Mental Health, NAMI, LGBTQ+ Center, MOMA, Mental Health America of LA and many more. Through our social justice-based initiatives, we wish to continually expand our reach, while continuing to provide free visual and performative art services to the homeless/unhoused, veterans, LGBTQ+, the neurodivergent community.

With support from the California Arts Council, SAN FRANCISCO BOYS CHORUS (SFBC) will provide access to in-depth, sequential, after-school choral arts instruction and performance opportunities to 190+ students at four sites (San Francisco, Marin, East Bay, San Mateo) during the grant period (10/1/25-9/30/26). SFBC will focus on helping choristers strengthen their vocal technique and performance skills. Choristers will participate in a series of community performances, working with guest artists and SFBC’s partner performing arts organizations to bring choral music to diverse local audiences. SFBC will also continue to provide tuition assistance for choristers from low-income families, reflecting its mission to provide access to arts engagement and learning opportunities and an avenue for choral arts training for young people from all backgrounds in the region. CAC funds will help underwrite artist fees for the project.

SFBC’s choral arts training program provides after-school instruction to young people (ages 5-18) in San Francisco and at three regional rehearsal sites in the East Bay, Marin, and San Mateo. Students from the three regional sites regularly travel to San Francisco for large group rehearsals, concerts, and performances.

The choral arts training program has four components: 1) Instruction; 2) Performance; 3) Recording; and 4) Touring. Training is sequential, divided into six tiers based on age and skill: Chorus School (Levels 1-4); Concert Chorus (Level 5); and Graduate Chorale (Level 6), for older choristers (grades 9-12). SFBC also has a Handbell Program for interested students.

SFBC is committed to the preservation and revitalization of the boys’ chorus tradition, a gender-specific art form that is many centuries old, and to providing a safe and nurturing space for boys to explore and develop their artistic capabilities. At the same time, SFBC maintains an open-door policy, welcoming students across the gender spectrum to participate in and benefit from the Chorus experience.

Veteran conductor and Artistic Director Emeritus Ian Robertson, who served as SFBC’s Artistic Director for many years, resumed the position of Artistic Director on August 1, 2022, to spearhead the SFBC’s 75th Anniversary celebration in 2023. Under Maestro Robertson’s direction, SFBC celebrated its 75th Anniversary with a major 75th Anniversary Concert, held at the Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco in June 2023, as well as a 75th Anniversary Concert Tour to the United Kingdom and France, in July 2023.

Robertson continues to oversee the artistic staff and repertoire as the Chorus continues to rebound from the pandemic, rebuild enrollment, and reestablishing a strong public presence through a robust live performance schedule. In July 2025, he will lead SFBC’s summer concert tour to Italy.

With support from the California Arts Council, Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) will continue scaling our award-winning music production training, artist recording residencies, mentorship, and performance programs to Los Angeles to meet ever-growing demand for our programs in Southern California. Serving 2,500+ California women/girls/gender-expansive artists from under-resourced communities (96% low-income, 93% BIPOC) every year, WAM addresses the staggering gender inequity in the music and media industries, where fewer than 5% of the people creating the sounds, music, and media in the soundtrack of our lives are women/gender-expansive.

Named “Best Hope for the Future of Music” by the SF Weekly, WAM has been an essential part of the Northern California music ecosystem/community for over 22 years.

WAM has consistently engaged thousands of women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals every year from historically marginalized communities over the last 22 years:

● Girls on the Mic (GotM) annually provides 2,000+ girls/gender-expansive youth from the most under-resourced communities in Northern California (96% low-income/93% BIPOC/ages 11-18) with free music production and media arts training that inspires them to amplify their voices and creativity.

● Local Sirens Concert Series serves 30-40+ under-represented women artists every year (majority low-income; 100% BIPOC) with performance opportunities at premier venues like Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF Jazz, Brava, Dolby, The Independent, Rickshaw Stop, etc to audiences of 2,000+

● WAM’s Artist Residency programs provide free recording studio services and artist mentorship/development in WAM’s professional recording studios to 4-5 local female/gender-expansive artists each year, as well as digital distribution and promotion to expand their audience.

● WAM Core Training/ Adult Education provides music production and industry certification training to 500+ women/gender-expansive students every year

● Paid Internship program: WAM’s paid internship program serves 90 college-age women/gender-expansive young adults (94% low-income; 84% BIPOC)/year with education, career counseling, mentorship and job placement in creative careers at companies like Dolby, Pixar, Pandora, NPR, Sony, Disney, ESPN, etc.

● WAMCon is a national recording arts conference series for women/gender-expansive aspiring recording engineers and music producers. WAM has hosted dozens of conferences in Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Boston, and virtually reaching 2,000+ women/gender-expansive people from 30+ countries and featuring music producers, songwriters and recording engineers who have worked with everyone from Selena Gomez to Cardi B to P!nk and Rihanna.

With support from the California Arts Council, CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW LOS ANGELES will prioritize bolstering key operations that sustain the health of the nonprofit organization, which is centrally anchored by Carla magazine, a quarterly publication published in print and online that exists as an active source of critical dialogue on L.A.’s art community, and is available for free in over 170 galleries and art spaces around the city. Beyond production costs, this grant funding will support critical strategic planning which will help our nonprofit work towards the longer-term goals of bringing on additional staff (such as full-time operational support and a membership and development employee), raise compensation to writers and other contributors, and allow us to produce more community events.

The materials in Carla’s archive include published reviews, essays, and podcast episodes that
critically examine exhibitions, practices, and trends within the contemporary art scene. Oral histories
and interviews offer firsthand accounts from L.A.-born or -based artists, curators, and cultural
producers, and written exhibition reviews and topical essays build context around the art being
produced in our city. These materials hold immense value for the local arts community, functioning as
both a historical record and a living resource that underscores the plurality and complexity of
contemporary art in L.A. By prioritizing accessibility, the archive not only ensures that a diverse range of
writers, curators, artists, and artworks are featured in Carla’s coverage, but also that a broad and
diverse audience can access and meaningfully engage with that coverage. Carla’s publishing and programming activities prioritize artwork and critical writing by
individuals from underrecognized backgrounds—including women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and those from
other marginalized communities. We are committed to platforming work that critically investigates the
art world’s racist, patriarchal, and capitalist structures and imagines pathways to dismantle them.
Through careful tracking, we ensure that the writers and artists featured in each issue reflect an array of
identities and voices. We are committed to mentoring and uplifting the work of emerging critics through
an open submission policy and a robust, engaged editorial process.

With support from the California Arts Council, ArtReach will provide free and low-cost visual arts programs for over 7,000 young people annually, focusing on those with limited access to creative opportunities, including youth from low-income families, newcomer and refugee communities, Native youth, and LGBTQIA+ youth and families. General Operating Support will help sustain ArtReach’s in-school and community-based programs and strengthen the team’s capacity to meet growing demand across San Diego County. Funding will support staffing, artist wages, and the continued activation of ArtReach’s new community arts center in Hillcrest, an inclusive and intergenerational space that welcomes diverse communities, especially those living in the lowest quartiles of California’s Healthy Places Index. This support is vital to ensure long-term sustainability and equitable access to arts engagement for historically marginalized populations.

ArtReach San Diego is a nonprofit organization committed to increasing access to visual arts education for youth, especially those from under-resourced schools and communities.

ArtReach offers the following programs:

In-School Programs: These programs utilize an inquiry-based, standards-aligned, and sequential curriculum designed to foster creativity, critical thinking, and self-expression. With a strong focus on supporting social-emotional learning goals, the lessons help students build confidence, resilience, and emotional awareness through artistic exploration.

Mural Programs: ArtReach engages youth in collaborative public art projects, where they design and create large-scale murals that promote teamwork, community pride, and artistic achievement. Additionally, ArtReach offers commercial mural projects that provide youth apprentices with real-world work experience, helping to support reduced-cost murals for Title I schools.

Community Programs: ArtReach hosts accessible art workshops and classes for families and individuals in a variety of settings, including our two in-house art studios, libraries, and community centers. These workshops focus on process-based techniques led by local artists, creating opportunities for authentic connection through the arts.

ArtReach employs local artists as teaching artists, ensuring that its programs not only deliver valuable arts education but also support the local creative economy. These programs are offered county-wide, providing free or low-cost services to Title I schools and underserved communities across San Diego County.

With support from the California Arts Council, Create Peace Project will amplify its impact on youth development and community building through facilitating the creation of eight student-led murals within elementary schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in the 2025-2026 academic year. Over a focused 4-6 week period for each mural, our comprehensive program will immerse the entire student body of each participating school in dynamic creative arts and peace education initiatives. This deeply collaborative approach, expertly guided by resident artist Ross Holzman and his team, will empower students, educators, and the school community to actively participate in every stage of the mural process, from initial concept to final execution, fostering a sense of ownership and collective achievement. The resulting large-scale artworks will serve as enduring visual testaments to collective creativity and strengthened community spirit.

Create Peace Project’s core programs are the peace Exchange, Banners for Peace, Community Murals, the Singing Tree Project, Peace Flags, Peace Media Project, and More Love. More Peace. The Peace Exchange is an international exchange of art and messages of peace using where students are asked to artistically express their visions for peace on postcards that are used in a global cross-cultural exchange. Banners for Peace is a collaborative painting workshop focused on promoting positive messages and uplifting art into the schools on giant canvases. Community murals transform school yards and barren walls into educational and inspirational works of art. Many of these murals are youth inspired, bringing entire communities together to create a cohesive vision of peace for the entire school population to engage. The Singing Tree Project is a STEM visual arts and writing workshops for students ages 8+. Students work together to create a leaf for the school tree mural to share their individual vision of peace with the school community. Peace Flags are a visual art activity for school children of all ages. Students are prompted to create their vision of peace on piece of fabric. The pieces are sewn together to create a finished flag that is hung in the school. Our Peace Media project translates these works of art onto traditional advertising spaces, to promote the visions of our youth to the general public. More Love. More Peace is a cross-cultural, virtual education platform launched in 2020 to provide students with a space to share their vision of peace through art.

With support from the California Arts Council, Remainders Creative Reuse will be able to increase organizational capacity by providing a salary for a part time Director of Finance and two new teaching artists. Having reached annual revenues of over $1,000,000 in 2024, we feel it is imperative to have a staff member dedicated to overseeing all financial activity. Also, adding two teaching artists will enable us to increase the number of affordable art classes, workshops, and community events, some of which are free or subsidized through scholarships, enabling us to reach more individuals across all age groups and backgrounds. The Remainders budget has allocated the matching amount of $30,000, providing for these salaries.

Remainder’s Creative Reuse is a Pasadena-based nonprofit and creative reuse center that supplies abundant low and no-cost arts and crafts materials to a diverse and inter-generational audience as well as educational resources and active arts programming. We provide art opportunities to people of all ages and economic levels, engaging them in maker culture as a means for creative expression, personal growth and well-being while educating artists, artisans and teachers to include creative reuse in their work and training them to teach others. Remainder’s is an inter-generational space where seasoned local artists and makers work side by side with younger generations providing a space for connection and community. New learners benefit from the open sharing of knowledge and experience and older adults benefit from being able to connect and serve the community through our volunteer and workshop programming.

With support from the California Arts Council, Noorani Dance will utilize general operating funding for personnel expenses for our Artistic/Executive Director, School Administrative Director, Administrative Manager, Marketing Manager, Development Manager, and Administrative Assistant.

Noorani Dance is committed to enlightening minds and hearts through the arts by (i) presenting traditional and innovative performances of kathak dance, (ii) offering training in kathak dance, and other traditions related to South Asian classical arts (iii) participating and presenting works of collaborative partnerships across other forms of performing arts.

With support from the California Arts Council, Maya’s Music Therapy Fund will provide free and low cost music therapy to 101 youth and adults with developmental disabilities in individual and group sessions throughout the Bay Area. Through consistent weekly music therapy sessions, participants will develop artistic, cognitive, and social skills based on individualized goals.

Maya’s Music Therapy Fund’s board certified music therapists work with people with disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, brain injury, hearing and vision impairment, ADHD, Rett syndrome, and other developmental disabilities. Experiencing the unique power of music to engage our brains and our bodies, clients gain physical and social skills while building self-esteem and confidence during individual and group music therapy sessions. MMTF also collaborates with agencies and existing programs that serve people with disabilities from Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco Counties in Northern California.
Our main programs are:
– Individual music therapy sessions
– Group music therapy sessions
– Our annual Maya’s Spring Music Festival where participants perform and celebrate their talents with an audience of supportive friends and family

With support from the California Arts Council, HERO Theatre will use grant funds for staff salaries, artist fees, rent for office and storage space, overhead, and programming costs to support our commissioning, development, and production work.

HERO’s goal is to create programming that has a lasting impact on audiences and helps shape a better society. We produce elaborately staged readings, full productions of plays, and special events like FESTIVAL IRENE: a 2-week festival honoring the life and legacy of Cuban playwright Maria Irene Fornés.

We commission bold, innovative new work. In 2019, HERO launched OUR AMERICA new play commissioning series, in which BIPOC playwrights explore real stories of cities in America undergoing vast socio-economic change. Under this, HERO produced Amina Henry’s TROY, inspired by THE TROJAN WOMEN and based on true stories of unhoused women in L.A. HERO partnered with local shelters to invite more than 300 unhoused women to attend and provided free tickets, round-trip transportation, concessions, and a post-show talkback with artists. HERO’s 2023 production of Henry’s NOTHING, NOTHING continues these partnerships and responds to audience desire to celebrate Black women and joy.

In 2021, HERO launched NUESTRO PLANETA (NP), a multimedia new works initiative rooted in research around ecological concerns in Latine countries and the U.S. and how Latine American families are directly affected.

In September 2021, HERO presented an elaborately staged reading of FLEX by Candrice Jones about a Black high school girls’ basketball team that explores such themes as teen pregnancy and abortion.

In 2022, we produced Velina Hasu Houston’s TEA and also RISE: An Immersive Exploration of Gun Violence in Schools which received critical acclaim.

HERO’s education programming serves elementary through high school students in the L.A. school district, specifically through Inner-City Arts and solo writing and performance classes at Homeboy Industries for formerly incarcerated youth. HERO’s Dukakis Mentorship Program, provides early career artists and administrators one-on-one mentorship; 50+ artists served.

HERO frequently invites communities represented in the work on our stages to attend our programming for no cost.

With support from the California Arts Council, StageWrite will strengthen organizational infrastructure with expanded administrative roles, while supporting the immediate needs of our partner school communities with residencies, educator workshops, and teaching artist training to support equitable access for youth to engage with drama as a crucial means of self-expression, identity-building, and well-being.

StageWrite serves approximately 1000 students annually in San Francisco public elementary schools. StageWrite’s Building Literacy through Theatre sequential drama program begins with kindergarten and 1st grade students participating in story dramas based on social issues; 2nd and 3rd graders explore narrative story elements creating performances that reimagine grade-level texts; and 4th and 5th grade students write original work, including monologues and one-act plays, which are performed by the students and by professional actors. Our ADAPTS (Autism & Drama with Artists, Parents, Teachers & Students) program serves students with autism in inclusive residencies to engage students in creative play, improve communication, and encourage personal growth. All StageWrite programs are designed and implemented using student-centered methodology. It is our belief that students learn the most from examining their own thoughts and feelings, and thinking critically about the world. We believe in theatre as a tool for social change, and a means of empowering students and communities. This principle of StageWrite’s work has been a guiding force for 20+ years and has been essential in informing our response to the challenges of today.

As a response to the pandemic, StageWrite developed, piloted, and refined two new curricula: “Zoom-a-Rama: Community Through Drama,” designed for distance learning at the start of the pandemic, and “Room-a-Rama” which re-imagined our curriculum to use improvisational drama games and collaborative storytelling activities to build classroom communities and support social emotional learning as students returned in-person, serving 45 classrooms at 6 San Francisco public elementary schools.

With funds from the CAC General Operating Support grant, Fuse Theatre will bolster the administrative, marketing, and communications infrastructure necessary for the sustainable operation of our three core programs: Community Connections, Connect and Play, and Ignite Artists. These programs are the backbone of Fuse Theatre’s mission to create meaningful theatre experiences that expand perspectives and foster civic engagement. Supporting this operational capacity through the grant is crucial for planned strategic expansion and fulfilling Fuse Theatre’s commitment to equity, justice, and inclusion for all. It directly contributes to engaging and uplifting historically under-resourced communities and ensuring that Fuse events and programs align with accessibility standards for people with disabilities.

Fuse collaborates with local groups and individuals to present theatre for social awareness, justice and change. We work to make theatre accessible to all communities and inspire our audiences with stories that matter in our world. We have four programs: Ignite Artists Initiative, Community Connections, Connect and Play and Theatre for Trees – working within the three strategies of Education, Performance and Partnerships.

Whippoorwill Arts appreciates the CAC’s consideration of a $30,000 general operating support grant for your continued support of two critical part-time staff positions: Tiara Amar, Team Co-Director of Advocacy and Fellows, and Gabriel Block, Team Co-Director of Music aLIVE.

Tiara leads our Fair Play Initiative—a diverse, artist-led coalition advancing fair pay, professional protections, and equitable hiring practices for musicians—and manages our Fellows Program, which provides $25,000 fellowships to a talented and diverse cohort of artists. Gabriel directs artist engagement and production for Music aLIVE, which brings free live music to underserved schools, elder care centers, and community partners.

With CAC’s renewed partnership, Whippoorwill Arts will continue to support an outstanding cohort of musicians, foster more inclusive audiences, and bring the joy of live music directly to communities where it is needed most.

Whippoorwill Arts invests in US-based roots musicians; uplifts their talent, gifts, and hard work; and through collective effort, seeks to transform the music ecosystem for more equitable and ethical pay and professional protections. Whippoorwill Arts believes in asking musicians what they need, and in response to their stated needs has developed four core programs:

1. Music aLIVE creates performance opportunities with guaranteed pay for musicians in free concerts. The concerts are curated for underserved communities in non-traditional settings through partner agencies such as senior centers, prisons, rehab centers, veterans’ homes, and K-12 public schools. Each musician receives $200 for a concert that is free to the partner agency and community. More than 300 concerts serving more than 15,000 community members and 600 musicians have been funded to date.

2. Whippoorwill Arts Fellowships recognize and support musicians who are under the radar talent, and have demonstrated a sustained level of accomplishment, commitment, and artistic excellence. The fellowship awards $25,000 to each musician over two years. Fellows undertake a professional musical project, and join the Whippoorwill Fellow community for professional development, retreats and performance opportunities. To date, 11 fellowships have been awarded.

3. Collaborative Festival – annual festival, past partners include Freshgrass and NorthWest FolkLife;

4. Advocacy – created equitable pay and professional protection guidelines for musicians in partnership with the Center for Music Ecosystems and 4A Arts; currently working with RAMPD (Recording Artists & Music Professionals with Disabilities) and DisArt to better advocate for disabled musicians.

With support from the California Arts Council, the San Bernardino Symphony Association will fund office rent, utilities, and a parttime administrative staff member to assist with ticket sales, music rentals, and the Association’s Youth Orchestra.

The San Bernardino Symphony actualizes our mission through engaging and culturally/artistically relevant programming. We also provide a variety of educational enrichment programs, including concerts for the schools serving over 1,700 students annually, introductory workshops on orchestral instruments for every local third grade class (roughly 5,000 students each year), online educational videos, and our San Bernardino Symphony Youth Orchestra, a 70+ piece orchestra dedicatd to the performance of works by underrepresented composers. We also offer certificated Symphony Teens programs providing job skills training to local high school students. The vast majority of these students are of minority decent and considered at-risk due to economic circumstances. The Symphony also operates the Guthrie Music Rental Library providing low cost orchestral parts to other orchestras, schools, and choral groups.

With support from the California Arts Council, Kids & Art Foundation will advance strategic priorities that strengthen our capacity and expand our impact. This includes key staffing hires to enhance operational efficiency and fundraising; improvements to infrastructure and accessibility, including a transition to a more functional office space to support our growing ArtKit program; investment in monitoring and evaluation systems to better assess impact and inform program design; and deeper partnership engagement through travel, collaboration, and professional development. These efforts will ensure we remain a responsive, equity-driven arts organization serving pediatric cancer patients and their families.

Our programs provide opportunities for connection, enrichment, self-expression, and community for pediatric cancer patients and their families at no cost. Integral to our program design are professional artists, offering a unique, collaborative, and inspiring experience of creative engagement for the children. Current programs:

Amaeyzing ArtKits: all-in-one art experiences blend art/wellness projects containing materials, written instructions, and QR codes for pre-recorded instruction videos. Projects are about process, encouraging families to explore materials, ideas, and techniques, create together, and express themselves in meaningful ways. We are able to support thousands of pediatric patients through art in partnership with child life and health care providers. ArtKits are distributed remotely at 21 hospital partners and at-home.
Online Art Experiences: virtual art workshops that enable pediatric patients and their siblings to connect and create with each other. Diverse artists and creative partners lead projects such as heart sculptures, basket weaving, digital storytelling, artmaking for exhibitions, nature art, ink painting, plush toy design, portrait quilts, and printmaking.
Customized Hospice and Bereavement Workshops: professional artists are paired with families to create a legacy piece of artwork as requested.

With support from the California Arts Council, Yucca Valley Material Lab (YVML) will continue its dedication to hands-on making, material exploration, and cultural exchange for people of all abilities. Funds will support the five pillars of the organization including: the musician and artist residency programs; public workshops in rare materials such as glass, metals, neon, and more; Yucca Alta, YVML’s music program, recording studio, record label; the Living Library, Tool Library, and archive resources; and exhibitions of regional artists in Lazy Eye Gallery, a 64 sq. ft. micro gallery inside of a repurposed water tower. Additional funds will support ongoing organization-wide accessibility efforts, the 2025 Intertribal Noise Symposium, and creative opportunities, collaborations, and partnerships that fall outside of YVML’s planned 2025 programs and events.

Established in 2019, Yucca Valley Material Lab (YVML) provides a diverse range of programs including artist and musician residencies, instructional workshops, an art gallery, library and recording studio, and free public events. The instructional workshops can last anywhere from one to five days and cover a diverse range of materials including glass, metal, textile, wood and sound.

We offer up to 9 funded visual artist residencies a year which provide an opportunity to explore diverse materials such as metal, glass, fiber, clay, and neon. These two week residencies include lodging, studio access, technical assistance, and opportunities for community engagement. Our Musician-in-Residence program supports underrepresented artists with an emphasis on BIPOC artists engaged in experimental music. With a current capacity of one per year, the program provides lodging, recording studio access, and professional recording. It concludes with a free, public performance for the local community.

Our organization is steered by a small but passionate team comprising a full-time Director and four part-time positions that include the Music Director, Facilities Manager, Program Coordinator and Philanthropy Officer. Our Board of Directors consists of a Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, who are supported by an advisory board featuring artists, musicians, a legal expert, and an accountant. The Board meets quarterly to make key decisions with guidance from the Director. The Director collaborates with the Music Director to oversee the music programs. Furthermore, the Director supervises all staff, ensuring the efficient day-to-day management of our organization and its facilities.

YVML actively pursues a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity. Our commitment to racial equity is evident in our programs and services. In 2020 we established an invitational residency for a BIPOC musician. Since 2019, there have been 33 artists and musicians in residence, one third of whom identified as BIPOC and three of whom were international.

With support from the California Arts Council, AXIS Dance Company will ensure our ongoing core programs and accessibility throughout. These include: Open Community Classes and Access in Motion—free, accessible workshops led by D/deaf, disabled, non-disabled, and neurodivergent artists supporting creative expression and community wellness; Artistic Advancement, including our Summer Intensive, Company Technique Classes, Choreo-Lab, and Teacher Trainings to uplift artists across a range of embodiments and experiences; Home Season and Touring, which bring inclusive dance to local and national audiences through performance, workshops, and panels; and dissemination of our Access Guide, a national resource advancing accessibility in performing arts. These programs cultivate a thriving ecosystem that increases visibility and opportunity for D/deaf, disabled, non-disabled, and neurodivergent artists.

Our Artistic Advancement Program serves as a training ground for professional D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists and consists of our Summer Intensive, Company Appreniceship, Choreo-Lab, and Teacher Trainings. Our Summer Intensive, now entering its seventeenth year, provides professional development for dancers at all levels of their growth through a multi-day experience that connects participants.

Our Choreo-Lab paves the way for D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent choreographers to elevate their artistry through mentoring, networking, and peer support while producing original work. We have built a robust professional development suite of services that deepens Choreo-Lab participants’ understanding of the craft, including grants & fellowships, budgeting, production, presenting, and disability justice workshops, an enhanced year-round mentorship component, and opportunities to connect with Choreo-Lab Alumni and meet with presenters to learn from them. Through our Choreo-Lab program, we have a unique capacity to increase the representation of D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists in the dance field.

Many educators lack the tools or training to confidently create inclusive learning spaces for D/deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent students. AXIS bridges that gap. We pair 45-minute integrated dance performances with artist-led discussions, introducing young audiences to disability representation and the expressive power of movement. These experiences are joyful, interactive, and often a student’s first encounter with professional dance. In tandem, we equip educators with tools to create inclusive classrooms through movement-based exercises and dialogue about language, access, and belonging. Our focus on youth programming furthers our goal to introduce new populations to integrated dance. In 2024, AXIS reached 8,000 K-12 students in the Bay Area. 50% of participants were from low-income communities and 80-100% of participants were BIPOC.

San Diego Museum Council would use CAC funds to present three major regional programs that remove economic barriers for families throughout the San Diego region:

– Museum Month in February (half-off admission for all)

– The Big Exchange in May (free reciprocal member admission)

– Kids Free San Diego in October (free admission for ages 12 and under).

We are small yet have a big impact. Last year, we served more 220,000 people including more than 40,000 people in historically and systemically underserved communities and rural and inland areas of San Diego County (lower two quartiles of CA Healthy Places Index), plus more in the Tijuana cross-border region.

Funding will also help provide professional development, marketing support, networking, free artist housing/event space, and advocacy for more than 80 museums and cultural sites in the San Diego region.

San Diego Museum Council is comprised of more than 80 member museums, aquariums, gardens, historic sites, gardens, parks, and more across San Diego County. We connect hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists each year to a range of arts, culture, history, and science offerings that is diverse, vibrant and unique to the region. Each year, San Diego Museum Council delivers three promotional programs including “Museum Month” in February, “The Big Exchange” in May and “Kids Free San Diego” in October. These signature programs are designed make our museums more accessible by reducing financial barriers for families. The programs include educational, professional development and outreach events and are supported by integrated marketing campaigns. All year round, San Diego Museum Council provides its members with collaborative marketing, professional development, and networking opportunities.

With support from California Arts Council, The AjA Project will urgently expand our mission of collective empowerment through participatory storytelling, focusing on youth, emerging artists, and cultural bearers from refugee and immigrant backgrounds in San Diego. In a time of rising stigma and hateful rhetoric against these communities, our work is more critical than ever. Funding will be used to deliver accessible media arts workshops, fellowships, and community exhibitions that challenge exclusion, uplift lived experiences, and foster resilience and belonging. By offering a safe, creative space, we empower underrepresented youth to share their stories, preserve cultural heritage, and strengthen intercultural understanding through artistic expression.

The AjA Project has a strong reputation of delivering high-quality, high-impact programs to young people from diverse cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. This includes in-school and after-school programs as well as participatory workshops in collaboration with cross-sector partner organizations. AjA’s programs support young people to process experiences, understand their social and political landscapes and use the arts as a tool for creative self expression and social change. This year we have provided programming to newly arrived refugees, teen mothers, youth in detention, young people in military families, and youth across San Diego. The work at AjA remains grounded in the power of photography and visual arts as a tool for all youth, regardless of background, to see themselves as agents of change. AjA remains committed to igniting individual and social change from a grassroots, creative approach.

With support from the California Arts Council, Clockshop will use funding to underwrite the salaries of our highly-trained Artistic Project Director and Curatorial Associate due to the diminishing availability of arts funding at the local and federal levels. Both have significant experience working with artists on commission and in public space, and have training in equity and accessibility measures for presenting contemporary art to broad audiences and in collaboration with community. They also have formed deep relationships with our Parks partners and local neighborhood organizations and the arts community, which are crucial to presenting rigorous, ambitious, and accessible contemporary art in public spaces.

As a Los Angeles-based arts and culture nonprofit, Clockshop produces free public programming and commissions contemporary artist projects on public land to better connect Angelenos to the land we live on.

We address the climate crisis as a cultural problem that requires equitable cultural solutions. Through long-term collaborations with artists, like-minded partners, and local stakeholders, Clockshop promotes ecological stewardship and climate resilience among the communities we serve.

Our projects center working-class communities of color in Los Angeles and aim to support the wellbeing and vitality of multiple communities. Whether Indigenous, African American, Latinx, Asian American, Pacific Islander, or immigrants living in LA, we shape the city’s future together.

We bring this mission to our work at Los Angeles State Historic Park in Chinatown, and Rio de Los Angeles State Park (“The Bowtie”) in Glassell Park, in collaboration with California State Parks.

With support from the CAC, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program continues their 42-year mission to give artists the gift of time and space to develop their work in a unique setting of protected nature. In 2025 and onward, DRAP expand their programming with the intention of widening impact and lowering barriers to entry, by creating new opportunities for site access for the public, specifically for diverse communities. At the same time, DRAP extends its programming outward with satellite exhibits ranging from San Jose to San Francisco and beyond.

The Program provides – free of charge to artists – studio space, room, meals, and administrative support to 70 artists each year in the disciplines of visual art, media art, writing, music composition, choreography, and science.

With support from the California Arts Council, MARIN SOCIETY OF ARTISTS INC will foster opportunities with and for people of differing backgrounds and life experiences to incorporate the arts in their lives, with particular focus on opportunities and access for the immigrant population of color in the nearby San Rafael Canal community.
As a primary partner in The Canal Arts, MSA works with City of San Rafael , Marin County, Canal-based human services organizations, community leaders, businesses etc., to develop public forums and multi-ethnic working groups to foster public art and other arts and cultural activities to the Canal neighborhood.

We support art makers and creators in all stages of development & foster activities encouraging the general public, whether they consider themselves creators or not, to incorporate arts, culture and human enrichment in their lives. Core programs at the Art Center in San Rafael, CA include: free or affordable visual arts exhibitions; classes, critiques & workshops in a broad range of arts & enrichment activities; small ensemble, voice & performance; poetry/literature; health & life improvement. Our Crossroads Program makes the Art Center available for diverse community use. We provide space and services for artist studios, youth & under-served communities, and other arts & community groups. We partner with Blind & Vision Impaired of Marin to host & provide workshops with 1 to 1 assistance for vision challenged artists. We partner with agencies like Alchemia.org & Canal Alliance.org and The Canal Arts.org to support creative efforts of developmentally challenged artists, & in newcomer communities of color such as the Canal district of San Rafael. We sponsor art activities for youth. Programs are on-line, at the Art Center, in local schools, at the Boro Community Center in the Canal and elsewhere in the community.

The San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest (SFIHHDF), a project of Micaya Presents, will produce its 27th annual festival at the Palace of Fine Arts, featuring 8–12 world-class hip hop dance companies. CAC funds will support artist fees, production, accessibility services, and community engagement. The festival includes mainstage performances, a kids’ freestyle circle, an audience dance battle, an after-party, and ASL interpretation. Year-round programs include “Mission in the Mix” (local artist showcase), the “RESPECT!” Podcast (free hip hop dance history), and “Know Yourself,” a free arts and mindfulness workshop for underserved BIPOC youth and families. By centering cultural equity, accessibility, and representation, this project ensures that historically excluded artists and audiences can participate in high-quality, inclusive arts experiences that reflect and celebrate their communities.

Founded in 1999 by Micaya, The SF International Hip Hop DanceFest exists to support the cultural artistry and theatrical integrity of hip hop dance. The core programmatic goals of the SFIHHDF are to:

> Support the evolution of hip hop dance by presenting a range of innovative, high-caliber dance companies with world-class production values. Through these efforts, our goal is to garner positive attention for this rich artistic genre from dancers, audiences and the media.

> Broaden understanding of both dance and hip hop culture on the part of our audience and the Bay Area community, and use SFIHHDF as a vehicle for bringing together 3,500-4,000 culturally and economically diverse audiences to the theater.

> Contribute to the ongoing development and evolution of the genre by providing a consistent forum for its artists; by facilitating connections among hip hop dance artists, and providing mentorship opportunities for young dancers, and emerging artists and companies.

With support from the California Arts Council, ARTLAB21 FOUNDATION will operate the Experimentally Structured Museum of Art (ESMoA) in Lawndale, fostering creativity and greater cultural equity and access through (1) entirely free admission and programming, (2) exhibition models and civic art projects that push artistic boundaries and enliven non-traditional spaces, (3) arts education for K-12 public school students, and (4) artist residencies/exchanges.

ESMoA believes that many people should contribute to the interpretation and creation of art in an atmosphere that is free – we do not charge fees for admissions or programs – and freeing to visitors and artists. Since 2023, we have been headquartered in Lawndale, where 40% percent of residents are immigrants and 63% identify as Latinx. We are its first-ever visual arts space, with a gallery and art workshop studio. At our weekly drop-in Art Maker Space, visitors create art – collages/lino prints/drawings/paintings – at long tables, family-style. A weekly session for young children (3+) combines storytelling and artmaking.

Experiences – our word for exhibitions – offer curated presentations of contemporary art. One recent show was XICANA!, a cross-generational look at the Chicana Arts Movement featuring 67 artists, which travels in June to Escondido with an expanded checklist of San Diego artists. In the upcoming Experience GRIEF, our guest curator will trace stages of grief. As with each Experience, ESMoA will commission new works of art.

ESMoA nurtures artists. Through the LAB Residency, local artists create new work to accompany Experiences and lead workshops. We have just initiated an international exchange program. For Experience 62: STATIONS (2025), undergraduates from El Camino College collaborated with visiting students from the University of Fine Arts Münster, Germany, on a mural.

Under an initiative called EXTENSION, ESMoA organizes Experiences beyond our four walls. Our first such venture was EDGE (2024), which brought together the work of L.A. graffiti writers/muralists. To commemorate Juneteenth, we partnered with the organization Black in Mayberry on the exhibition FREEDOM.

ESMoA is integrated into the community’s fabric. Our team leads a school library-based Story Artlab sessions as well as workshops at the City’s Youth Day Parade, Day of the Dead festivities, and “Chalk Away” muralmaking on City Hall Plaza.

With support from the California Arts Council Helix Collective will invest in live workshops and artistic programs, and strengthen our marketing to better reach a wider audience. This support will allow us to pay contractors to achieve these aims including artists, videographers, and for marketing, administrative support, and online tools.

Helix Collective formed in 2009, as a chamber music ensemble with the objective of bringing classical music to new and diverse audiences. A feature of a “helix” is the ability to recombine into many different yet related forms. Thus, Helix Collective evolves and recombines for every program. The original group included flute, oboe and piano. With this trio, we toured and recorded the critically-acclaimed album, All In. In 2012, we became a non-profit 501(c)3. We added percussion and created the World Dance Club program, an album featuring newly-commissioned international dance music.

Our current core programs are the Los Angeles Live Score Film Festival, additional live score-to-screen concerts of media music, and music and storytelling concerts. We’ve developed new partnerships with the L.A. Film School for our annual festival and the Film Music Connect workshop with SAGindie, providing original, recorded scores for participating SAGindie filmmakers.

The Los Angeles Live Score Film Festival pairs directors of short films with film composers. The composers write original scores for Helix Collective to perform live-to-picture at the festival. After the festival, the scores are recorded for inclusion in the final version of the films. Films for the most recent festivals were curated by SAGindie and the L.A. Film School.

We also partner with the Composers Diversity Collective, an organization dedicated to increasing the visibility of composers from diverse backgrounds throughout the music industry and to mentoring emerging composers from underserved communities. Helix Collective recorded and produced “Shoutout!” a visual album of music by 12 composers from the collective, “Spotlight” a live concert featuring Composers Diversity Collective composers and Level Up game music concert featuring women and BIPOC composers.

In 2024 Helix Collective made the West coast premiere of Click Clack Moosic, a children’s musical story time program at Boston Court Pasadena.

With support from the California Arts Council, Vita Art Center will strengthen its capacity to deliver inclusive, high-impact arts programming that serves Ventura’s diverse communities. General Operating Support will sustain core operations, support staff and teaching artists, and ensure continued access to free art classes for youth, adults, and seniors.

Funding will expand our partnership with the San Buenaventura Housing Authority, supporting weekly off-site programs and a new initiative with their HOMEKEY community. We will continue our ceramics class for children with disabilities and expand culturally grounded Chumash led traditional arts workshops.

CAC support will also help us revitalize a previously blighted lot into a vibrant outdoor art garden and gathering space enhancing community wellness, connection, and engagement through the arts. Our growing campus includes 32 artist studios, three galleries, and a ceramics studio.

Since 2008, Vita Arts Center has been a cornerstone for quality art education, impactful community outreach, and vibrant exhibits. We connect Ventura to enriching art programs with a special focus on the families that live in our immediate neighborhood. In the primary community we serve, 46% of households are below the poverty level and 75% are Hispanic. Our outreach strategies aim to ensure that our entire community has access to quality arts education and programming.

Vita Art Center’s high-quality enrichment experiences in the visual arts are taught by local teaching artists, each specializing in their area of expertise, sharing their knowledge and passion with our community. With 20 programs per week, we provide students with a solid foundation in art. Students develop critical-thinking skills, creativity, visual literacy, self-esteem, and an appreciation of art. By teaching fine art skills, we equip students with the tools they need to express their creative voices. We’re committed to breaking down barriers through scholarships, free programming, and mentorships.

Our facilities include four galleries, a dedicated teen exhibition wall, a ceramics studio, and an outdoor classroom, creating a vibrant space for learning and expression.

Vita Art Center hosts 16 exhibitions annually that blend local and international talent. We inspire and educate the community via school trips, workshops, and tours. Our Teen Programs include Friday Night Studio, Ceramics, Metalsmithing, Summer Intensives and volunteer opportunities. Our Youth Programs offer after-school activities, summer camps, on-site school programs, and family art workshops aimed at fostering early artistic engagement. For adults, Vita Art Center presents a range of opportunities, from ceramics studio classes and memberships to wellness-themed arts programming and workshops in Metalsmithing, painting, drawing, and sculpting.

Vita Art Center is dedicated to enhancing lives through the arts, championing inclusion, and nurturing creative potential across all ages.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Magic Theatre will continue its value-driven mandate to serve historically excluded artists and organizations through partnerships, commissions, and residencies. We believe that giving local artists and organizations a theatrical home fights displacement and ensures the continued representation of all voices in our region. Recognizing that companies and artists lacked a permanent home because of demographic and economic shifts in the Bay Area, the Magic Theatre developed long-term partnerships with multi-year residencies, subsidized rental programs, institutional partnerships, administrative support, and community-oriented gatherings. We are the only producing San Francisco theatre with a facility that has prioritized support at this level. The Magic’s education program, Making Magic: Art & Community, is a year-round literacy education program for youth and adults situated in the Tenderloin district.

Magic Theatre’s core artistic programs provide writers with the practical resources they need to develop new works from conception to performance. We support commissioned artists during the early stages of play development with public readings of the script, casting support, fundraising, workshops, previews, and present the world premiere. Additional support comes through structured partnerships with local organizations connected to the play’s themes. We make long-term investments in the playwright by presenting premieres throughout the writer’s career as they build a body of work and promoting the plays to our nationwide network to build a writer’s career with other theaters.

Recognizing that BIPOC companies lacked a permanent home because of demographic and economic shifts in the Bay Area, the Magic has prioritized persons of color in all aspects of our organization- from staffing to creative support and partnerships. We revised our programs to better serve artists with multi-year residencies, organizational partnerships, and subsidized rental programs. We provide space, infrastructural, technical, and labor support; the artists and organizations are responsible for the creative and production elements of the performances. Each artist and organization we present reflect a different BIPOC experience, culminating in a tapestry of powerful work that is often ignored by mainstream theaters.

The Magic believes that the long-term vitality of our field is achieved through art education that inspires and motivates students and cultivates new audiences for theater. Making Magic: Art and Community partners with community service organizations to provide a standards-based literacy and art education program for youth and adults in the San Francisco Tenderloin, one of the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.

Through partnerships with Code Tenderloin, Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Center, Larkin Street Youth Center, the Southeast Asian Development Center, Bayview Opera House, and the SF AIDS Foundation, we encourage students of all ages to make their voices heard.

With support from the California Arts Council, the San Diego Children’s Choir will strengthen operations and expand access to choral music education for more than 1,500 children, ages 1–18, primarily from historically and systemically underserved communities across San Diego County, including inland neighborhoods and areas ranked in the lower two quartiles of the Healthy Places Index. CAC funds will support salaries for diverse teaching artists and staff, facility costs, and delivery of inclusive, community-centered programs. Over 70% of participants receive free, culturally responsive, singing-based music education through school and community-based programming. The Choir’s weekly Kodály-based instruction and performances foster musical growth, self-expression, and belonging. This investment will sustain a vital arts workforce, deepen cross-sector partnerships, and ensure that children from all backgrounds can access transformative arts experiences—strengthening the region’s cultural vitality and future.

SDCC was founded in 1990 to give children access to music education that had been diminished or removed from public schools. SDCC has met this need by providing accessible, comprehensive music education and performance experiences to San Diego County children. Each year, 1,500+ children participate in a progressive ensemble program (grades 1-12), an early years introductory music program (ages 1-6), and a school outreach program (PreK-5th grade). SDCC believes no child should be denied access to music education. To this end, we place sites across the county in neighborhoods of varying ethnic and socio-economic composition, and provide free programming for underserved children. Over 70% of SDCC’s participants either participate in our outreach program at their Title 1 school or qualify as low-income based on Federal Poverty Guidelines.
SDCC is an advocate for choral music and engages a broad cross-section of our community to provide a unique music education to choristers. From community performance collaborations to partnering with UCSD on music education and early childhood development research, SDCC actively engages with the community to make it better. Choristers perform for many diverse audiences including elderly residents in memory care, symphony and ballet lovers and even sports fans at Padres games.

With support from the California Arts Council, Mil-Tree Veteran Project will continue to strengthen its organizational capacity to better serve veterans and their families in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Grant funds will be used to partially support salaries for co-executive directors, an administrative assistant, an outreach and research assistant, and accounting services. These key roles will enable us to implement a leadership succession plan and begin using validated tools—such as surveys and screenings—to measure the long-term impact of our programs on participants.

Mil-Tree’s core programs are creative and art-based workshops, and retreats that support our vision to provide safe spaces for veterans returning to civilian life to gather, express themselves and tell their stories in a non-judgmental environment. We do this through ongoing creative programs that engage veterans and their families, active military and the greater community.

Mil-Tree is a grassroots nonprofit organization based in the High Desert community of Joshua Tree, California serving San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. The organization is inclusive and offers creative outlets in the arts and held spaces for dialogue and discussion for veterans, active military and civilians. Mil-Tree was created to welcome our veterans home not only with words by providing various opportunities of engagement with the community at large. Recognizing the loss incurred by leaving the close-knit unit formed in the military, this organization strives to help build new relationships within the community. We include active military, family members and civilians to accomplish this goal, and provide different types of art workshops and projects, including movement, writing, art, music, theater, building and rock climbing. We also provide dialogue circles and retreats to help support the ongoing transition from military service into civilian life. Our programs have a strong track record of positive impact on program participants. Those who participate feeling alone or isolated find a fun, safe and creative environment where collaboration and expression lead easily to new friendships. We have found that arts and dialogue are the best way to bridge different parts of community, building on trust and the things we have in common. Often our programs lead to personal transformation and growth, and the synergy created between our participants is recognizable and profound.

With the support of the California Arts Council, Benkadi, a project of Community Partners, will continue to provide high-quality West African Drum, Dance, and Culture programs to schools in under-resourced and underserved communities in Los Angeles County to promote academic growth and cultural diversity.

The program delivers equitable access to art education by offering weekly African drum, dance, and culture classes as part of the curriculum to all students regardless of income, background, prior experience, or abilities.

Beyond the classroom, Benkadi supports the broader community through experiential events and workshops, collaborating with local organizations in these areas.

The requested funding will support the administrative capacity of the program, including an update of the strategic plan, professional development for staff, and the completion of custom-created state-standard-compliant learning tools and aides for students.

Benkadi brings West African drum, dance and culture programs to schools of economic and social need in Los Angeles County and provides experiential events and learning opportunities to the wider community. Benkadi is fiscally sponsored by Community Partners.

With support from the California Arts Council, Artist As First Responder (AAFR) will strengthen its organizational capacity and sustain community-centered arts programming that amplifies the work and leadership of artists who heal communities and save lives. CAC funding will support general operations, including staffing, administration, and core programs across Exhibitions, Artist Residencies, Public Forums, and Community Archive Building. This support will enable AAFR to deepen its impact, advance equity, and expand opportunities for collective healing and creative leadership within the San Francisco Bay Area’s cultural landscape.

Exhibitions: Salt to Catch Ghosts (2022), Collective Arising: The Insistence of Black Bay Area Artists (2022), and Black Joy Story Windows (2021 and ongoing), a self-guided multi-media public art exhibition installed in 30+ storefronts in Downtown Oakland that highlights the work of more than 20 local Black Artists, Cultural Organizations, and businesses.

Site-specific Ceremonies: A Meditation for Black Lives (2020) and Art of Defense #Shield Build (2020) took place to honor Black Lives in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, and Ahmaud Aubrey, and Black Women in Mourning & Joy Collective (2022-ongoing) offers space for Black Femmes, Trans, and Non-Binary family to process their mourning through different arts rituals and practices.

Print and Public Talks: Since 2000, AAFR authored and facilitated the forum and live zine series Blatant. It centers on the radical imagination of Black women artists and cultural workers creating across disciplines and geography. The series has been sold at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, the Berkeley Museum of Fine Art, Bandung Books, and the San Francisco Museum of Fine Art.

The AfroPortals Project Space & Archive: an experimental, interactive Art and Design Lab rooted in the principles of Afrofuturism, Black Memory, and Collective Liberation, housed in two retrofitted shipping containers in East Oakland. AfroPortals fosters resilience and builds power within communities by cultivating belonging, storytelling, and radical imagination. The space blends art and technology to inspire community healing.

A monthly Men’s Wellness Fellowship gathering, a space of courage and safety for Black and Brown men in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2024, Artist As First Responder produced two print publications, created a site-responsive ceremony, hosted 64 public forums and 13 exhibitions, partnered with five global activation sites, and facilitated five community activations through the Climate Justice Artist in Residence.

With support from the California Arts Council, API Cultural Center, Inc. will build vibrant communities by providing high-quality Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) focused arts and cultural programs including performances, workshops, festivals, classes and exhibitions. These programs will nurture inter-generational and cross-cultural dialogue and understanding, collaboration, and social justice. API Cultural Center, Inc. dba Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) is the oldest pan-Asian performance and arts space in the East Bay Region of the San Francisco Bay Area. OACC provides easy access to unique, affordable or free, multi-ethnic and multidisciplinary arts and cultural programs.

Before the pandemic, we welcomed 25,000+ guests each year to our center through affordable or no-cost, unique, and easily accessible multi-ethnic and multidisciplinary art and cultural programs. Programs include:

(1) Artist in Residence; (2) Classes/Workshops/Seminars; (3) Exhibitions; (4) Festivals; (5) Performances and Other Special Events; (6) School Tours & Community Outreach

With support from the California Arts Council, Camerata Singers of Long Beach (CSLB) will support the second half of it’s 60th Anniversary season.

Camerata Singers of Long Beach (CSLB) is a 90-voice classical music chorus completing its 58th season. The organization is led by Grammy-winning Artistic Director, Dr. James K. Bass, Director of Choral Studies at UCLA. It produces 4 concerts per year, including the annual Peace Project, examining social justice topics, an annual performance of Handel’s Messiah, ChoralFest Long Beach in the Spring, and Evening of Song to finish the season. CSLB is the artistic partner of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. In the summer months, LBCS presents its free, community based outdoor concert series, The Front Porch Concerts. LBCS also runs two education programs. The Camerata Children’s Music Academy provides three weekly workshops teaching music fundamentals to pre-K children at the Long Beach YMCA Early Education Program, which runs state-funded child development centers for low-income families. Peace4Youth is presented in partnership with the Long Beach Unified School District, and brings the Peace Project into Middle and High Schools.

With support from the California Arts Council, Intersection for the Arts will celebrate our 60th Anniversary, continuing to deliver robust programs and services that strengthen the Bay Area’s diverse arts ecosystem. CAC funding will sustain Intersection’s fiscal sponsorship, professional development offerings, and affordable shared administrative and creative space in the heart of San Francisco, serving a wide range of artists and cultural workers. Specifically, funds will support Intersection’s capacity-building initiatives for artists and small arts organizations, including our Fiscal Sponsorship Program and Artist Empowerment Program. Through these programs, Intersection will offer engaging professional development opportunities such as THRIVE: A BIPOC Arts Leadership Program, Arts Finance Empowerment Camp, Art of the Hustle marketing cohort, Coaching Cohort Circles, Grants Coaching, and our Annual Membership Meeting, ensuring equitable access to resources and tools that empower artists to thrive.

For six decades, Intersection for the Arts has served as a bedrock institution in the San Francisco Bay Area, providing critical support to artists and small arts organizations across disciplines. As a nonprofit deeply rooted in the region’s artistic landscape, Intersection offers a unique blend of services that empower artists and cultural workers to bring their creative visions to life.

At the heart of Intersection’s work is our Fiscal Sponsorship Program, which enables over 145 artists and arts organizations working in visual arts, literary arts, music, theater, dance, arts education, advocacy, and emerging art forms to access funding, grants, and administrative support. This program helps artists navigate the often-complex nonprofit funding landscape while focusing on their creative work.

Intersection’s Artist Empowerment Programs are designed to equip artists with the tools and skills they need to thrive. Offerings include THRIVE: A BIPOC Arts Leadership Program, the Arts Finance Empowerment Camp, the Art of the Hustle marketing cohort, Coaching Cohort Circles, Grants Coaching, and an Annual Membership Meeting. These programs strengthen artists’ entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy, and leadership capacity.

In addition, Intersection offers low-cost administrative and creation space in the heart of San Francisco, providing affordable co-working, rehearsal, and event space where artists can collaborate, experiment, and build community.

Through these core programs and services, Intersection ensures that Bay Area artists and cultural workers have access to the vital resources, networks, and learning opportunities they need to grow. With a passionate team of artists supporting artists, Intersection upholds our mission of helping the arts sector thrive, building a more vibrant, inclusive, and resilient cultural ecosystem in the process.

With support from the California Arts Council, IAMA THEATRE COMPANY will sustain its innovative and inclusive new play development programs and expand its community outreach throughout Los Angeles. Funds will be used to offset increased rental and operation costs, pay artists and staff a living wage, and invest in more accessibility and audience engagement services that will increase our impact, with a focus on providing more free and low-cost performances, culturally responsive community events, and student scholarships. Our 2025/2026 season will include: the creation and presentation of 1 World Premiere mainstage production; our annual New Works Festival, featuring 8 new plays by L.A. based playwrights that engages over 50 local artists; 2 public, staged workshops of new plays by underrepresented writers; and our arts education platform, designed to support emerging artists from historically underserved communities.

For 17 seasons, IAMA Theatre Company has produced over 40 World and West Coast Premieres of new plays for the American theater, and developed over 100 more through our unique, ensemble-driven work and collaborative, new play development process. In addition to our mainstage productions, we program a variety of theatrical events, community engagement initiatives, education programs, and development opportunities for L.A. based artists and audiences including:

• The IAMA New Works Festival, our leading new play development program that features an annual series of staged reading workshops, public presentations, and post-show community discussions.
• Pass The Mic, our annual play festival intended to amplify voices of the Global Majority and create a town-hall like discussion with artists and special guests, with proceeds going to an organization of choice.
• The IAMA Emerging Playwrights Lab, our annual, one-year development residency for six early-career, L.A. based playwrights.
• The Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission, our annual commission sponsored by Shonda Rhimes and the Rhimes Foundation to support an underrepresented writer of color who has not yet had a play professionally produced.
• The FourthWall Musical Commission, our annual musical commission sponsored by FourthWall Theatrical to support the development of a new musical from inception to first workshop in a collaborative environment that is dedicated to elevating marginalized voices, identities, backgrounds, and stories.
• The IAMA Actors Summer Intensive, our annual education program offering scholarships for 32 early-mid career actors from historically underserved backgrounds, featuring master classes and workshops led by IAMA ensemble members and industry experts that focus on building the artistic muscles, creative community, and tangible skills necessary to work in a professional performing arts environment.
• IAMA Basecamp, our company’s internal artistic development program that includes the IAMA Playwrights Lab, the IAMA Directors Lab, and the IAMA Pilot Writing Lab.

With support from the California Arts Council, Palenke Arts wil continue its work of community transformation through the arts. Thus we’ll provide high-quality multicultural arts classes and events to underserved youth and families in the city of Seaside who would otherwise not have access to them. Our goal for 2025-26 is to serve 275 + unduplicated students both during school hours and after school at both our sites: the Martin Luther King School of the Arts and our brand new Teen Arts Center.
We also aim to expand our presenting and community arts season to include local, regional ,national and international performers. We are planning on hosting again over 25 events featuring Indigenous, African American, Afro-Latiné, AANHPI and Queer artists, such as the Moonflower Festival, Oaxaca by the Sea and the 10th Annual Palenke Arts Festival.

Palenke Arts is a multicultural arts organization founded in 2016 by a committed group of artists, educators and community members who wanted to address the lack of affordable multicultural arts programs for the youth in the city of Seaside. For the past seven years, we have provided high quality multidisciplinary arts, music and dance classes and workshops to many families who would traditionally not be able to pay for them.

In addition to our educational programs, Palenke Arts offers an awe-inspiring concert series that features local and international artists (México, Morocco, Cuba, Iran, Brazil, Vietnam, Spain) including Grammy and Emmy winners. Thus, over the past 7 years we have organized and participated in countless community events such as our own annual Palenke Arts Festival presenting to over 5,000 audience members yearly.

Palenke Arts exists to create a safe, vibrant and inclusive multicultural arts center in the city of Seaside that will benefit all of the Monterey Peninsula. We aim to uplift youth voices, inspire creativity and transform our community into a place where everyone feels seen, valued and welcomed through the healing power of the arts.

In recognition of our work, in 2019, we received the award as the Nonprofit of Year in Arts and Culture from the Nonprofit Alliance of Monterey County. In 2022 our Executive Director Juan L. Sánchez obtained the Champion of the Arts Award from the Arts Council of Monterey County.

With support from the California Arts Council, Deaf West Theatre will continue its long history of working to fully integrate Deaf artists and audiences into the world of live Theater through its productions, training, education and advocacy programs.

Productions in Amercian Sign Language with simultaneous voice translation
Children’s Theatre Educational Outreach Program; Artists in Schools (K-12)
Professional Training for Deaf Artists and Crews

With support from the California Arts Council, UNEARTH AND EMPOWER COMMUNITIES will sustain and expand its community-based arts programming in Compton, California, by providing year-round creative experiences for youth and families. CAC grant funds will support core operational costs including teaching artist stipends, program supplies, and administrative infrastructure essential to delivering our free Community Art Camp, Little Creators early childhood program, Houses of Steam, DiscoverU, and Compton Mural Project. These initiatives engage youth ages 0–18 in culturally relevant visual and performing arts that promote creative expression, civic engagement, and healing through the arts. Funding will help ensure equitable access to high-quality arts education in a historically under-resourced region, centering racial equity, youth leadership, and community pride. This general operating support will strengthen UEC’s capacity to serve over 400 youth annually and deepen its long-term impact.

Community Arts Program
Artists, 3 years – 6th grade come from all over Compton to dance, sing, draw, paint and have fun attending our free week-long Art camps. The program is designed to empower and expose students to critical thinking, collaboration, and creative problem solving in the arts.

Little Creators
Young artists, 0-3 years, receive a free art kit filled with supplies and activities to explore and create in their own homes. The program is designed to empower and expose our youngest students to sensory play, motor skill development, and creative problem solving in the arts.

Compton Mural Project
In partnership with Compton District 2 Councilperson, Andre Spicer, the Compton Mural Project will take a cohort of 25 youth, grades 6-9th, through a 30 hour process of learning Compton history, the importance of civic engagement, what social justice can look like, mural design, safety and creation. Students work directly with local artists to design and paint a mural in the community.

Houses of STEAM
Compton youth, K-6th, and their families learn STEAM education through hands-on training, building projects, attending field trips and speaking with BIPOC professionals in the STEAM career fields. The program is designed to empower and improve students’ proficiency in STEAM-related subjects.

STEAM Tech Center
This program prepares Compton students, grades 6-12, for STEAM careers through hands-on experience with tech, such as digital media, coding, robotics, sound & music production, and 3D printing.

Pathways Program
Upon high school graduation, students have the choice to enroll in college, train for a career and/or become an entrepreneur. This program supports high school graduates as they progress down one of these pathways with training, scholarships and grants. The program is designed to empower and prepare students for the successes and challenges of the future.

With support from the California Arts Council, Izcalli Escuela de la Raza will expand its staff and programs. General operating support will allow the organization to continue its mission of promoting cultural consciousness through the arts, education, and community dialogue, specifically by supporting culturally relevant theater education, professional performances by Teatro Izcalli, restorative arts trainings for educators, and Indigenous Restorative Circles that foster rehumanization and cultural reconnection.

Teatro Izcalli, a Chicanx comedy troupe, has been performing throughout the United States at various conferences, theater venues and community spaces for over 25 years. Teatro Izcalli follows in the tradition of el Teatro Campesino and Culture Clash and presents the traditions, opportunities, and issues related to the Chicanx/Latinx community. Our actos (sketches) and plays address issues such as racism, identity, higher education, and immigration. Additionally, for the past five years Teatro Izcalli had a residency teaching teatro to the next generation of social justice storytellers in San Diego middle schools.

Beyond Teatro Izcalli, Izcalli provides deeper intervention services and assistance for middle and high school students through Circulo de Hombres (Circle of Men), an on-campus after school program that support Latino youth with making positive choices and becoming more engaged in school by providing them with male role models and enriching cultural programming. The organization also offers Circulo de Mujeres (Circle of Women) that connects girls to women mentors and a community of support within their schools. In addition to art making activities both programs use a “talking circle” format to engage youth in dialogue and reflection about their issues, such as sexuality, teen pregnancy, and the violence that impacts their communities.

Program Goals:
1. To establish positive communication with current high risk students based on suspensions, grades, homelessness, gangs and other issues that can lead to the pipeline to prison.
2. Recruit mentors from the community to assist as presenters and added support for students in the community.
3. Create enriching art and cultural activities which deepen students self-awareness and promote community involvement
5. Continue to build healthy rites of passage programs, retreats, and events, for young people of color.
6. Help youth to create a deeper connection to the land and with Mother Earth.

With support from California Arts Council, Voices of Our City Choir (Voices) will advance our mission to amplify the voices of people impacted by homelessness through music and the arts. Funds will be used to enhance and expand the capacity of our program service model, which integrates welcoming, healing music/artistic programs into person-centered, culturally responsive outreach and case management to foster empowerment and respect, help unsheltered artists meet basic needs, and transform cultural narratives about homelessness. A grant from CAC will 1) increase the number of unsheltered San Diego artists we engage in musical programming that is incorporated into case management/wraparound support; 2) increase the visibility of San Diego artists experiencing homelessness to public audiences; and 3) elevate lived experiences of our Choir Members during performances to reframe public perceptions/stigmas around homelessness and catalyze change.

San Diego-based musician Steph Johnson co-founded Voices as a Performance Choir in 2017, in collaboration with local musicians and people experiencing homelessness. Our Choir has performed in more than 150 events, including San Diego Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Master Chorale, and America’s Got Talent (AGT), where Members received the Golden Buzzer award and inspired San Diego’s Board of Supervisors to declare June 2nd “Voices of Our City Day.”

To build upon the success of our choir, Voices expanded our arts and creative offerings to include songwriting and music production workshops and wraparound services that link Members to housing/social supports. We offer songwriting workshops to engage Members in creating new, original productions for our Choir to perform in community events. We also provide Members access to our in-house studio to learn music recording, engineering, video, and production skills.

In 2022, we formalized the structure of our case management, wraparound service referrals, and basic needs services into a Choir Member Services program. Through our musical programs, Members develop trusting, authentic relationships with our Member Services staff; these connections provide a critical avenue for staff to identify Members’ housing, food, and mental health needs and provide a symphony of resources to meet them. In this way, Voices uses the rhythm of musical programs to move Members through the hierarchy of basic needs and help them realize their full potential. In the process, Voices evolved from a performance ensemble to a nonprofit using musical programming to help unsheltered neighbors meet basic needs.

Voices has received excellence awards from Mayor Todd Gloria and the San Diego Psychological Association. Voices also received the 2022 Peacemaker award from the National Conflict Resolution Center.

With support from the California Arts Council, Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls San Diego will hire a seasoned non-profit Executive Director, who will intentionally grow and activate our organization in innovative ways. We will branch out beyond our signature Gxrls Rock! Summer Camp and hold year-round workshops to activate multiple community venues across San Diego. And, we will aim to triple our scholarships so that girls and non-binary youth, who are most disconnected from engagement with the arts, are able to have access to and participate in quality music programming.

Currently, our signature program/activity of Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls San Diego is to produce our annual week-long Gxrls Rock! Summer Camp for 50-55 girls and non-binary youth ages 8-17 during the month of June. In one week, we provide over 40 hours of direct programming. Campers receive fun and engaging music education, they form bands, write original songs, and learn an instrument. We also hold unique workshops during camp, working on a community impact project with other nonprofits. Campers are mentored by 15 inspirational professional artists, and participate in a live showcase performance at a professional venue, in front of over 250 audience members. As of 2024, Gxrls Rock! Summer Camp has created 65 youth bands, and 65 original songs have been written by our camp attendees, and we have served over 350 youth, and performed to over 2,000 family and community members. With additional capacity, we hope to provide quarterly year-round workshops (e.g., vocals, songwriting, ukulele).

With support from the California Arts Council, HIJOS DEL SOL ARTS PRODUCTIONS will expand access to culturally rooted arts education for over 2,250 youth participants and over 1,100 audience members in East Salinas and surrounding communities. ALL are welcome to join our free studio programs, school-based residencies, and community events that celebrate creativity, heritage, and identity. Youth receive unlimited art supplies, instruction, healthy snacks, and mentorship to support their educational and creative journeys. Programs culminate in annual student exhibits—A Toda Madres, Garabatos, and Día de Muertos—where young artists share and sell their work. Through community murals and paid apprenticeships, older youth also gain leadership skills and hands-on experience. Our work transforms public spaces and builds pride across generations, fostering connection, resilience, and opportunity through the arts.

Hijos del Sol, meaning “Children of the Sun,” embodies a philosophy of interconnectedness and sharing. Established in 1994 by Native American and Latino migrant artists in East Salinas, our award-winning organization has been repeatedly recognized by city, county, and state officials for impactful programming.

At Hijos del Sol, every participant is encouraged to explore their creativity freely, fostering authentic self-expression and personal empowerment. In 2024, we reached 2,979 youth and engaged over 2,442 community members in our events.

Recent survey results demonstrate that Hijos del Sol fosters artistic growth, confidence, and community. The findings highlight our impact in nurturing both creativity and a supportive community.

76.9% feel a strong sense of belonging
69.2% have friends in the program
53.8% feeling they can depend on others

HIJOS DEL SOL EXPERIMENTAL ARTS STUDIO is our unique model key for youth to find freedom of expression. With our hub in East Salinas, participants create without fear, unleashing their emotions, imagination, and enthusiasm.

HIJOS DEL SOL TRAVELING EXPERIMENTAL ARTS STUDIOS are set up on school grounds for all students to access and rotate into the experimental studio environment. In the coming year, we expect to continue to work with all 14 schools of the Salinas City Elementary District and more.

HIJOS DEL SOL CULTURAL EVENTS WITH ARTS EXHIBITS work with students throughout the year fosters a sense of belonging and cultural appreciation. At these events, we keep our traditions alive, preserving our heritage. 1) A Toda Madres, 2) Dia de los Muertos, and 3) Garabatos.

HIJOS DEL SOL TRANSFORMATIVE COMMUNITY MURALS include vibrant, symbolic images that reflect the strength of our people, uplift our community, and spread messages of unity and hope.

HIJOS DEL SOL APPRENTICES are a cohort under the guidance of Arts Director Jose G. Ortiz and Jose “Pepe” Nolasco.

With support from the California Arts Council, Turnaround Arts: California will work with 20 elementary and middle schools in underserved communities, providing training and resources to help educators integrate the arts into every classroom and across the broader school environment, building engagement and access to learning for all students.

Turnaround Arts: California’s programming is community-driven, culturally responsive, and focused on long-term sustainable school transformation through the arts. Our statewide network brings artists and arts organizations together with our partner schools to leverage and develop our collective expertise in arts education and arts integration. Together we cross-pollinate learnings, ideas, and data to move forward a new vision for public education across California.

Our core community arts programs and services include:

Retreats and Convenings: Network-wide convenings for principals, teachers, teaching artists, and arts organizations provide time for exchange around challenges and successes in advancing equity through the arts in public schools, while supporting strategic arts planning and arts-based professional development.

Coaching: Our coaching program, in partnership with our network of arts organizations, helps principals and teachers build their knowledge of arts integration, strengthen their leadership through the arts, align the arts to meet school district priorities, and become effective advocates for equity.

Professional Development: Professional development workshops provide teachers, principals, and teaching artists/arts organizations with strategies – centered in culturally responsive teaching and learning practices – they can immediately implement at school sites.

Arts Integration Lesson Labs: Lesson Labs bring together partnering teachers and teaching artists/arts organizations to study new instructional strategies, and design, implement, and evaluate lesson plans that integrate arts standards with subjects such as math and science.

Support for Special Projects & In-kind Supplies: We provide flexible funding, in-kind supplies, and strategy support to help partner schools and arts organizations collaborate to implement special projects at individual school sites such as artistic residencies, family art nights, community engagement projects, school musicals, arts-based field trips, additional professional development for teachers, etc.

With support from the California Arts Council, KULARTS will conduct artist service and advocacy programs that promote the artistic and economic development of our Bay Area Pilipinx diaspora community. Awarded funds will support KULARTS staff and partners who administer and implement our arts and education performances and programs dedicated to engaging and uplifting the voices of the Bay Area’s 500,000 Pilipinx community members. Funded programming includes: KULARTS Presents; Making Visible Project; Agos Community Engagement and Education Program; Philippine Master Artists-in-Residents; Art Dialogue in the Pilipinx Diaspora; Kularts Curatorial Continuum Program; and building capacity towards the opening of our new APICC/KULARTS Community Arts Space in 2027.

Every season, KULARTS provides various participatory programming, activities for artists and the greater community including:

KULARTS PRESENTS
Showcases commissions and presentation of contemporary and tribal Pilipinx art through works by American Pilipinx and international Philippine artists.

THE MAKING VISIBLE PROJECT
Highlights the under-recognized histories of Pilipinos in San Francisco and places them in dialogue with Pilipinx stories of today through commissions of visual artwork and curated exhibitions in indoor and outdoor spaces.

AGOS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & EDUCATION PROGRAM
AGOS ED PROGRAM – KULARTS’ new youth & family centered education program of folkloric dance and music and sociopolitical knowledge building.
PHILIPPINE MASTER ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE – the facilitation of cultural exchanges between master artists and the Pilipinx community; and
PHILIPPINE TRIBU TUR – a biennial immersion in Philippine indigenous communities designed for US-based artists and cultural workers.
ART DIALOGUE IN THE PILIPINX DIASPORA – gathers contemporary practitioners, master artists, and allied artists in a symposium and performance showcase to discuss urgent issues in the field.
KULARTS CURATORIAL CONTINUUM PROGRAM – curatorial committees—Queering Pilipinx Dance Aesthetics and NexGen Curators & Makers—of artists and creators under the mentorship of Artistic Director Alleluia Panis

With support from the California Arts Council, White Hall Arts Academy Foundation will expand access to year-round, culturally responsive arts education and workforce development programs for youth and young adults in South Los Angeles. Grant funds will support instructor compensation, curriculum materials, and community outreach across our core initiatives.

Soundworks is a workforce development program that trains justice-affected and transitional aged foster youth ages 18–24 in audio engineering, lighting design, and video production. Participants gain technical skills and hands-on experience in live entertainment, positioning them for apprenticeships and careers in the creative economy.

Saturday Sessions combines the HeARTbeats and Project MuszEd programs to deliver inclusive arts education year-round. HeARTbeats serves ages 4–12 with group classes in drums, violin, guitar, piano, singing, and dance. Project MuszEd offers conservatory-level instruction in music production, acting, and songwriting for teens and young adults. Each cycle serves over 60 students and culminates in a showcase to foster confidence and community pride. Funding supports class materials, instructors, and outreach. Classes run in 4- and 8-week sessions.

Private Music Lesson Scholarships provide over $20,000 annually in free lessons for children in underserved communities and youth impacted by foster care.

H.O.P.E. Choir and Ensemble are intergenerational performing groups that empower participants to engage in community through music. These groups uplift audiences with performances for organizations like United Airlines, LA Metro, CASA-LA, and the Taste of Soul Festival.

JAMM-U brings music instruction to youth with limited access to instruments. Students receive training in guitar, vocals, and production at partner sites across South Los Angeles, including Crete Academy, Watts Learning Center, and Birdie V. Lee Bright Elementary School.

Rock The Block is our signature annual wellness festival, drawing over 3,000 attendees to celebrate music, community empowerment, and wellbeing. With live performances, panel discussions, health services, youth activities, and clean energy showcases, the event reflects our mission to strengthen South LA through the arts.

With support from the California Arts Council, Table Mountain Rancheria will continue to develop its museum project, which is currently in the design stage. During the 2025-2026 fiscal year, key staff will revise its policies and procedures and draft the museum’s strategic plan, which will include increased accessibility to onsite exhibitions. The funds will be used for research visits to California collections where Native culture and history are presented to the public. Awarded funds will also support the reinstallation of exhibitions in the Rancheria’s Fort Miller buildings (1851-1865), where the history of the Alta California missions, early American military and settler occupation, and unratified treaties are presented from the Native perspective using photographs, artifacts, and didactic materials. These buildings, alongside its educational Native plant trail, form the first phase of the tribe’s museum complex.

Table Mountain Rancheria offers a variety of public and community-based programs such as workshops and classes on California Central Valley Native art practices and languages, exhibitions on local history and California Native basket weaving at CSU Fresno and Fresno City College, and at the Tribes annual intertribal powwow. Table Mountain Rancheria also maintains a series of historical mid-19th century structures known as the Fort Miller buildings that were relocated, reconstructed, and restored on tribal land as the site of educational exhibitions and tours for local community members and school-aged children. Adjacent to this site is a Native plant trail and reconstructed structures modeled on those used by tribal ancestors that collectively serve as an educational resource and include a cedar bark house, a grass house, and the excavated site of a sweat lodge once used by local Native doctor William Taucha. Table Mountain Rancheria also maintains an archive of local historical documents, photographs, recordings, videos, and transcribed oral histories, which is open to tribal members and researchers by appointment.

With support from the California Arts Council, Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC Media) will continue to serve as a mulit-disciplinary media arts hub for youth and adult film and media makers – providing advanced training and workforce development programs, artist support services, preservation and digitization services, and access to facilities, equipment and broadcasting through our community media program. For 49 years, BAVC Media’s programs have evolved with emerging technologies and industry shifts in production, exhibition and distribution. CAC’s general operating support will help BAVC Media continue to serve diverse independent media makers, and to sustain our organization financially.

BAVC is a community hub and resource for media makers in the Bay Area, California and across the country, serving over 7,500 freelancers, filmmakers, job-seekers, activists, and artists every year. BAVC provides access to media making technology and education, storytelling workshops, a diverse and engaged community of makers and producers, advisory and AV production services, media making grants and other resources. BAVC advocates for those whose stories aren’t being told, and provides the resources for anyone to create and share, and amplify their stories and those of their communities. BAVC’s diverse, inclusive, and innovative programs lead the field in media training for youth and educators, technology and multimedia focused workforce development, visually-driven new media storytelling and audio-visual preservation.

BAVC has been a trusted community educator, collaborator, incubator, community builder and resource for the media arts world since 1976.

With support from the California Arts Council, Vital Arts will fund full time salaries for our Executive Director, Program & Operations Coordinator, and Communication Manager to support our core programming including our ongoing Bay Area Artist Census, Artist Housing Advocacy support programs, development of our 10th anniversary Ghost Ship memorial event at Grace Cathedral and producing our Dabke Drag & Drums performance commission.

Current programs designed to combat the displacement of artists and preserve their essential contributions to their communities’ culture and economy include:

Artist Space Trust (AST): Partnering with the Northern California Land Trust, AST provides permanently affordable housing and creative spaces for artists, using a community land trust model to facilitate intergenerational transfers of property, ensuring affordable ownership and control. (www.artistspacetrust.org)

Artist Displacement Prevention Grant: A one-time grant offering up to $2,500 to artists facing urgent financial emergencies and displacement risks, serving artists in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties.

Trust-Centered Mutual Aid and Technical Assistance: We support the most historically underserved artists including LGBTQ+, disabled, unhoused, and BIPOC artists, collectives, and small organizations in operational, development, and financial stabilization.

Bay Area Artist Census (BAAC): A 3-year initiative gathering data to support the local artist community, focusing on BIPOC, trans, and disabled artists. The first year emphasizes community engagement, educational outreach, and gathering input on census design.

Advocacy: Collaborating with regional and statewide agencies to draft and propose legislative policies supporting artist housing and workspace, partnering with organizations like Safer Spaces DIY to adapt legal structures for artist spaces.

Artist Displacement Data & Information: As a regional hub, Vital Arts combines data on artist displacement with quarterly stakeholder meetings to formulate and implement strategies preventing displacement.

Resource & Information Sharing: Networking with local stakeholders to share knowledge and resources tackling housing and economic challenges for artists. Supported by a team of volunteer experts in various fields.

AB 812 Community Toolkit Development: Assisting in developing resources to implement CA Bill AB 812 for artist housing near cultural zones, enhancing the availability of affordable housing for artists statewide.

With support from CAC, Chrysalis/Queer Ancestors Project will offer four workshops for transitional age LGBTQ2S+ artists: our 18-week QAP PRINTS! program on visual storytelling and queer printmaking; 10-week Kaleidoscope literary workshop with Still Here San Francisco exploring identity and memory; 18-week QAP RESISTS! series focused on interdisciplinary art and activism; and 4-week Comix workshop in the spirit and tradition of resistance.
These programs culminate in two public exhibitions of prints, a community reading of Kaleidoscope writing, an artist panel, a community print party— attendees bring shirts to be printed by QAP artists, extending the exhibit beyond gallery walls–– and a Comix reading at the SFPL Hormel Center. QAP strengthens community bonds by connecting young artists across identities and generations, grounding them in a shared creative lineage and deeper understanding of LGBTQ2S+ history and culture.

Chrysalis Studio annually organizes 2 group exhibitions showcasing the work of 30 to 40 printmakers, conducts free Queer Ancestors Project (QAP) printmaking and writing workshops, offers 15+ printmaking workshops to the public, and holds an artist panel and a public reading showcasing the work of our QAP artists and writers. QAP promotes artistic exploration for historically excluded transitional-age youth (TAY) through printmaking and writing cohorts that foster creative community. These free programs for queer and trans youth combine arts with Queer and Trans history, to forge relationships between LGBTQ2S+ people and our ancestors.

QAP originated to address the lack of arts programs serving emerging LGBTQ2S+ transitional age artists and provides experiences that build community, artistic development, and personal resilience. QAP provides sustenance – workshops, training, space, equipment, critical feedback, and camaraderie – to young LGBTQ2S+ artists whose work is dedicated to social justice.

Our 2023-24 free in-person programming included 2 exhibitions presenting work created in our 20-week QAP PRINTS! and QAP RESISTS! Workshops, public receptions for both exhibitions, an artist panel carving space for LGBTQ2S+ intergenerational community building, a community printmaking party with free printing on t-shirts, and a public reading showcasing the literary work of participants from our 10-week QAP Kaleidoscope workshops in collaboration with Still Here San Francisco.

Bloom Arts Foundation will use CAC General Operating Support funds to deliver inclusive, culturally relevant music and dance education to PreK–6th grade students across Los Angeles County, with a focus on underserved Title I public schools. Funds will support weekly in-school classes, Interactive Assemblies, professional development for educators, and global exchange initiatives through our Futures in Tune program. Our sequential curriculum is grounded in the philosophy of Orff Schulwerk and inclusive of students with disabilities through adapted instruments and sensory support. CAC support enables us to expand access to communities historically excluded from arts learning, uplift cultural heritage through performances by culture-bearer Teaching Artists, and build long-term partnerships that center joy, creativity, and belonging. By embedding arts deeply into school culture, we foster student confidence, connection, and lifelong engagement in the arts.

In-School Weekly Classes:
Our primary program offers progressive music and dance education inspired by the philosophy of Orff Schulwerk and the science of Gordon Music Learning Theory. In it, we deliver weekly 30-50 minute classes for 10-35 weeks, meeting California Arts Standards. Students explore diverse styles through voice, drums, shakers, rhythm sticks, recorders, ukuleles, and adaptive instruments. We modify our curriculum to make it more accessible for students with disabilities and provide Sensory Kits. Our sequential curriculum builds a foundation for collaboration, creativity, and teaches fundamental music skills for youth who lack arts access.

Interactive Assemblies:
We produce high-energy, interactive performances where students engage with global traditions through singing, dancing, and instrument play. Assemblies feature call-and-response, storytelling, and cultural celebrations such as Hispanic Heritage Month and Indigenous Peoples Month. Assemblies are one hour each and designed for about 150 students. We typically perform two to four assemblies in the same day to reach all of the students in one school.

Futures in Tune:
Our global initiative connects students in Los Angeles, Mumbai, and South Africa through collaborative music projects in multiple languages. Through our international partners, we employ local educators and provide instruments to create cross-cultural exchanges that build empathy and community.

Professional Development for Educators:
We train classroom teachers to integrate music, movement, and rhythm into core subjects, classroom rituals, and school culture. We also train all of our Teaching Artists. Our workshops, coaching, and multimedia resources empower educators, regardless of musical background.

Why This Matters:
According to Create California, in the school year 2019/2020 only 11% of California schools offered a sequential, standards-based course of study in all four of the arts disciplines required by California state policy. As an arts partner, we help fill this gap—bringing inclusive, joyful learning experiences that foster creativity, equity, and belonging.

With support from the California Arts Council, SACRA/PROFANA will produce its 17th artistic season. Since its inception, SACRA/PROFANA has worked to bring contemporary and innovative choral repertoire to the greater San Diego area through concerts and educational programs. We’re dedicated to providing experiences that create and celebrate the power of choral music and strive to ensure that these choral experiences are accessible to artists, patrons and students. Season 17 will feature five concerts and provide workshops and mentoring for hundreds of middle and high school students. One of the most impactful educational outreach programs is the Summer Choral Intensive week-long choral camp, in its 12th season. Funds would be used specifically for artistic and education staff, singers, accompanists, teaching artists and choral artistic leadership. Funds would also support important operational activities underlying those programs.

San Diego’s only year-round professional chorus, SACRA/PROFANA was founded in 2009 by New York native Krishan Oberoi, quickly rose to become “San Diego’s go-to choral ensemble” (U-T San Diego). Described by KPBS as “choral music for the iPod generation”, the dynamic choral group has collaborated with the Chieftains, Producer Carlton Cuse (of ABC’s hit show Lost), Japanese composer Nobou Uematsu, and many other prominent creative minds.

The SACRA/PROFANA Education Outreach programs strive to aid teachers and students in the pursuit of knowledge in music, discipline, focus, language skills and community. We do this through:
* Residencies and workshops for middle and high school choruses,
* Seminars for the high school level coupled with concerts side-by-side with our core professional chamber choir,
* Middle and high school presentations on the voice, music and singing, and
* The Summer Choral Intensive, one of San Diego’s most sought after summer vocal programs for high school and middle school singers.

With support from the California Arts Council, 501 (see three) ARTS will hire its first General Manager to implement strategic initiatives, manage budgets, and oversee fundraising efforts. This position will expand our capacity to develop socially engaged, artist-led dance, music, and theater projects that serve, among others, communities across California most impacted by environmental injustice. The GM will align financial strategies with our values of equity and inclusion, facilitate cross-sector collaborations, and help ensure low-barrier community access to arts participation. They will also lead inclusive strategic planning and support efforts to embed ensemble members in civic, institutional, and community settings as we expand and deepen our reciprocal partnerships. This position will help build the organizational backbone needed to sustain long-term relationships, center community relevance, and uphold equitable practices across all programming.

501 (see three) ARTS develops and tours original, ensemble-devised performance works that often address pressing social issues. These works are typically developed through community-based research and storytelling, culminating in performances that blend theater, movement, and music. Our performance events often double as community forums, fostering dialogue among audience members on topics ranging from food insecurity to gun violence to plastic pollution.

With support from the California Arts Council, Fern Street Community Arts (FSCA) will enhance its organizational infrastructure to meet community demand for its core programs. Grant funds will support salaries of key staff (Program Director, Operations Manager, and Social Work Educator) who ensure FSCA’s effectiveness, sustainability, and impact.

These leaders are vital to program delivery as well as responsible financial stewards who uphold strong governance, operational accountability, and people-centered practices. Their work reflects FSCA’s core values: investing in human potential, nurturing a cooperative community culture, and maintaining responsible, mission-driven operations.

FSCA’s initiative, Fern Street Circus (FSC)—offers free, year-round circus arts education and public performances, primarily in City Heights. This funding will support the essential infrastructure that enables artists to bring accessible, high-quality arts directly into the community, using circus for connection, learning, and joy.

Founded in 1990, Fern Street Circus (FSC) has built a legacy of circus in San Diego through a series of annual shows in Balboa Park, Golden Hill, City Heights, and in neighborhoods across San Diego County.

EDUCATION. FSC’s education programs focus on serving communities mostly through City recreation centers. At Mid-City Gym in City Heights, we teach low-income youth free-of-charge, emphasizing skill building, conditioning, team work and cultural understanding.

PERFORMANCE. Known for creating performances with a playful sense of place, the Circus mixes adult professionals with after-school students. Anchor elements include live music; sets conceived and built by locally known visual artists; and a bi-lingual, non-linear narrative.

FSC’s Neighborhood Tour takes place each spring, with free shows in Mid-City San Diego neighborhood parks.

COMMUNITY. The Circus is resident in City Heights, interacting daily with and supporting activists and their constituents from around the world. In September 2023, FSCA moved into a recently vacated elementary school in City Heights, Central. At the former Central campus, FSCA has a 2,500 square foot gym with wood floors,, 20′ ceiling, natural light and a stage, as well as 4 classrooms for training, storage and an office. This is FSCA’s first-ever dedicated indoor space.

Fern Street Community Arts was named Live Well San Diego’s Central Region “Public Health Champion” of 2025.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Manilatown Heritage Foundation will continue sustaining the historic International Hotel Manilatown Center—a gallery, creative studio, and multidisciplinary community gathering space in San Francisco, California. Grant funds will support communication accessibility services for our collaborators and audience members, utility expenses for our Center, and salaries for our existing staff across gallery operations, administration, education, and arts programming.

Manilatown Heritage Foundation’s core programs honor the legacies of San Francisco’s Historic Manilatown and the 1977 International Hotel Anti-Eviction Movement, preserving a critical chapter of Asian American civil rights history. In addition, our Center serves as a cultural incubator, uplifting the activist artistic visions of today’s Filipino and Asian American communities through live music, spoken word, visual arts, and pre-colonial Philippine cultural practices.

The Manilatown Heritage Foundation’s core program is to maintain the legacies of San Francisco’s historic Manilatown neighborhood and the 1977 International Hotel Eviction by maintaining the International Hotel Manilatown Center as both a memorial to these legacies and as a multipurpose community gathering space for creative expressions relevant to today’s community.

With support from California Arts Council, In The Band (formerly Sound Art) will use general operating relief to sustain our infrastructure and overhead costs of supporting our music education and career readiness programs for vulnerable youth in underserved L.A. neighborhoods. With professional musicians as teaching artists, our mobile Music Education program uses contemporary music to teach the fundamentals of musicianship to K-12 students. Utilizing teaching teams of professional composers and audio engineers, our School to Career Readiness program provides music education and mentorship in songwriting, recording and production using the latest industry-standard Digital Audio Workstation technology, to at-promise youth, homeless young adults and foster youth in transitional housing, ages 17-24.

Our core programming provides on-site mobile music education to underserved students from K through 12th grade and at-risk, homeless and foster youth, ages 17 – 24, using contemporary music to teach the fundamentals of musicianship. Through one-on-one interaction, demonstrations and instruction from professional musicians, composers and audio engineers, we offer age-appropriate instruction in alignment with VAPA standards for school aged students. In The Band also offers songwriting, recording and production for homeless and foster youth, ages 17-24. School aged students will learn to play a minimum of four quality pieces of music and will master an instrument within one year, while our older youth will write, produce and record music. In addition, students will have opportunities to release music on the internet and perform at events throughout the city. In The Band curriculum includes the following topics: Tempo; Dynamics; Techniques specific to each instrument; Techniques for audio production and recording; Rhythmic concepts; Understanding and Reading musical notation; Writing musical notation; Understanding ‘beat’ and measures in 4/4 and other time signatures; Introduction to the music of world cultures; Introduction to rhythmic concepts (reading and writing); and Introduction to ensemble playing; and Introduction to performance.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Mariachi Women’s Foundation (MWF) will strengthen its general operations, support a diverse and vibrant arts workforce, and sustain its infrastructure through grant funding for staffing. This support will allow the MWF to continue delivering culturally relevant arts programming to East Los Angeles—a historically and systemically underserved community ranked in the lowest quartile of the Healthy Places Index. The MWF remains committed to its mission by offering mariachi performances, youth mariachi instruction, and community engagement programs that highlight the vital and growing role of women in preserving and advancing the mariachi tradition.

Core Programs and Services include:

1. MARIACHI MUSIC PERFORMANCE
a. The Annual International Mariachi Women’s Festival – held in Los Angeles, mariachi women’s group from California, the U.S. and abroad (Mexico, Canada, and Europe) participate.
b. The Mariachi Women Warriors Tour – Mariachi women’s groups travel and are presented in venues outside of Southern California. The tour provides mariachi women with performance opportunities, highlights their important role as cultural bearers, and exposes new communities to mariachi women’s performances.

2. MARIACHI MUSIC EDUCATION
a. The Mariachi Women’s Music Institute – Provides teaching opportunities for mariachi women. Additionally, mariachi music workshops are provided with a special focus on teaching the two instruments women are most discouraged to learn, trumpet and guitarron (bass).
b. Mariachi Pathways for Youth – Provides youth training opportunities through i) The Mariachi Youth Showcase – a stage for local and visiting youth mariachi groups ii) Mariachi Instruction & Performance Demonstrations in collaboration with school districts and community organizations iii) Mariachi Femenil for Girls – training for youth all female mariachi groups and iv) The Mariachi College and Career Conference – provides guidance on linking mariachi experience and skills to both music and non-music college degrees (i.e. STEM, Medical, Humanities) and professional careers.

3. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Community presentations (i.e. talks, exhibits and films) dialogues, performance demonstrations and cross-cultural exchanges that highlight the performances, history, culture, and lived experiences of mariachi women and girls.

With support from the California Arts Council, Gamelan Sekar Jaya (GSJ) will build our institutional capacity by expanding staffing, and strengthening our education and performance programs to sustain and improve the accessibility of our programs for historically under-resourced community members, including Indonesian Americans, economically disadvantaged communities, and disabled ensemble members and students.

This support will allow GSJ to strengthen and expand the accessibility of our many programmatic activities, including regular open houses with free community workshops, sliding scale public classes for all ages, residencies, workshops, and assemblies at local public schools with artists-in-residence and local teaching artists, Balinese cultural events in collaboration with the Indonesian consulate in San Francisco, as well as our free and low-cost performances across the Bay Area and beyond that reach an audience of approximately 10,000 people annually.

Direct artistic interaction is key to GSJ’s unique programming. Many of Bali’s most renowned performing artists have joined GSJ for extended residencies over the past 40 years. The artist-in-residence program is the only US program outside of a university or consulate to regularly host Balinese artists for extended residencies, making it an important resource for the public. Artists-in-residence share their artistic skills, experience, and creativity with these shared goals: direct artistic interaction with performers, students, and audiences; dissemination of major works from the living tradition of Balinese arts; enriching historical, cultural, and artistic understanding in a setting emphasizing artistic excellence and mutual respect. GSJ has presented hundreds of concerts locally and internationally, and each year GSJ introduces thousands of children, youth and adults to Balinese arts and culture through classes, school programs, and other outreach activities.

With support from the California Arts Council, Media Arts Center San Diego (MACSD) will continue to accomplish its mission of providing new media tools and channels to create equitable and engaged communities where underserved voices are heard. MACSD serves populations in the lower two quartiles of the Healthy Places Index in the San Diego region through our Education, Exhibitions, and Community Production programs. Funds from this grant will support our general operating costs (staff salaries, program costs, admin expenses, overhead fees, facility rentals), and support the professional development of media artists; thereby sustaining transformative community-oriented artistic programs and a creative workforce in San Diego and beyond.

MACSD programs, events, and film festivals are inclusionary—designed with audiences, participants, and community collaboration in mind. A summary of core organizational programs and services can be broken down into three categories:

WATCH—San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF) celebrates its 32nd anniversary in March 2025 introducing viewers to contemporary US-Latino and Latin American cinema. Additional programming includes the Que Viva Outdoor Cine Latino Series, and daily screenings of at our Digital Gym Cinema.

LEARN—Media education programs for youth include: Teen Producers Project, Youth Media & Tech Camps, ¡Tu Cine! Student Film Showcase, the iVIE Awards & Student Film Festival and in-school media programs.

CREATE—Tools for community-based media production and collaboration include: Frontera Filmmakers, a grassroots training course for independent filmmakers; and Video Production Services, helping community groups make digital media presence accessible and affordable.

With support from the California Arts Council, Golden Gate Men’s Chorus will produce a series of six choral performances in San Francisco during the grant period of October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, including promotion expenses (marketing, printing, postage, graphics) and production expenses (rehearsal and performance venue, music purchase, licensing, artists’ compensation, audio/visual recording engineer).

The GGMC presents spring, summer, and winter programs of men’s choral music annually, in addition to guest and community benefit performances throughout the year.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert will expand its Museum on the Go initiative to underserved communities in the Eastern Coachella Valley (ECV)—a region facing systemic inequities, limited transportation access, and few arts education opportunities. This mobile program directly delivers hands-on, bilingual arts and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) experiences to children and families in schools, parks, and community spaces. With a strong emphasis on visual and performing arts, the program highlights cultural relevance and creative expression while building community connections. Grant funds will support local educator and artist salaries, supplies, and culturally responsive programming. By engaging families in joyful, creative learning and hiring local talent, Museum on the Go supports educational equity and contributes to the ECV’s cultural and economic vitality.

Our Values

Learning
We value being a place that nurtures thoughtful, hands-on learning in a creative and engaging environment that celebrates learning as an innately joyful activity.
Family
We value being a place where multigenerational family members can grow their relationships through comfortably exploring, sharing and learning together.
Community
We value being a community resource and a welcoming place where people of all ages and backgrounds can come together to share experiences while learning about themselves and our world.

With support from the California Arts Council, LOS ANGELES PERFORMANCE PRACTICE (LAPP) will sustain and strengthen its artist-centered infrastructure that supports a network of independent artists working in contemporary, experimental, and multidisciplinary performance. CAC funds will directly support LAPP’s core programs and initiatives, including free artist consultations, professional development workshops, research and development support, creative producing partnerships, fiscal sponsorship, mentorship, wildfire relief, and a cohort program providing peer-to-peer artist support. General Operating Support will allow LAPP to maintain responsive, equity-driven services that build resilience, capacity, and creative agency for Los Angeles artists navigating ongoing precarity.

I. Programs for Artists

FREE ADVICE | Open consultations with staff and guest advisors from LA arts institutions to encourage a generous exchange of ideas, practices, knowledge, and resources.

WORKSHOPS | Professional development sessions cover practical skill-sets such as grant writing and budgeting, as well as creative topics like devising performance and dance practices.

RESEARCH + DEVELOPMENT (R+D) | Early project support gives time and space to multidisciplinary artists developing new projects. Includes childcare.

ACCELERATOR | A cohort of independent artists meet monthly to deepen self-producing skills and resource new work.

CASUAL | Artists show experimental work in early development to viewers for critical feedback.

II. LIVE ARTS EXCHANGE [LAX] FESTIVAL
Since 2013, LAX has served as a highly visible platform for performances, immersive installations, happenings, and talks that are geographically focused around Downtown LA. LAX consistently uplifts underrepresented voices, engaging artists with limited resources whose projects would benefit from being witnessed. We connect projects to partners who can provide diversified systems of support.

III. CREATIVE PRODUCING
We work closely with independent artists’ projects, providing the scaffolding of institutional support on every layer of development: ideation, grant writing, partnership cultivation, touring and management.

IV. FIELD INITIATIVES
LAPP advocates for local initiatives with national impact:

INDIVIDUAL ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS | We administered unrestricted funds to a broad range of LA County artists as an Administering Organization for the California Arts Council in 2023.

RESEARCH IN THE ARTS | A comparative study of contemporary performance-making examining geographic funding disparities, now expanded to include institutional networks for alternative governance in the arts.

BRIDGE THE GAPS | An artist recovery initiative offering microgrants and residencies to wildfire-impacted artists in Los Angeles, in partnership with the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs.

MENTORSHIP | Through the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, we offer paid internships focused on production and development in the arts.

With support from the California Arts Council, Volti will continue its mission to champion living composers and push the boundaries of contemporary vocal music through bold, adventurous programming. CAC funds will support general operations and Season 47 activities, including three distinct concert programs and a landmark interdisciplinary collaboration with Del Sol Quartet and the Oakland Ballet. Exploring themes of memory, nature, play, and transformation, the season features recent works by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Marcos Balter, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, and Chris Castro; composers whose music exemplifies Volti’s commitment to innovation and expressive depth. CAC funding will help ensure fair compensation for artists, sustain educational programs like the Volti Choral Institute, and strengthen community engagement efforts, ensuring Volti remains a vital incubator for groundbreaking vocal music in the Bay Area and beyond.

Volti’s core program is presenting concerts and creating recordings of leading-edge unaccompanied music for vocal ensemble. In addition, Volti enjoys frequent collaborations and partnerships with groups including Kronos Quartet, Del Sol Quartet, ODC/Dance, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Festival Napa Valley, and Cal Performances. Another core service is educating young singers through the Choral Institute, centered on an annual retreat gathering several high school choirs for an intensive weekend of music-making. Volti singers serve as faculty and offer coaching and voice lessons to the student singers. The Choral Institute often includes working with a composer in residence on a piece commissioned for the occasion. We offer discounted participation in the Choral Institute to the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, serving students from low-income and marginalized communities.

With support from the California Arts Council, Arms Wide Open (AWO) will pay operating expenses that include studio rent, teaching artists, and production expenses, including those for productions by Rising Stars (exclusively for people with disabilities) and the Inspire program that offers individuals who are especially talented more challenging performance experiences. While the majority of AWO’s programs are designed solely for people with disabilities, INSPIRE is designed for people both with and without disabilities, giving each participant the chance to learn from others who share the same love of performance and who can offer valuable life lessons. Grant funding will also support AWO’s first satellite site in North San Diego County that expands its geographic reach by making it possible for people from other parts of the region to participate…a long-time vision realized!

Arms Wide Open provides a wide range of classes (e.g. Hip-Hop; Jazz; Health & Fitness; Tap; Voice; Percussion) designed specifically for individuals with disabilities to provide them opportunities for engagement in activities that improve their health and can lead to a positive and busy social life.

AWO serves 200+ individuals with autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, brittle bone disease, and other developmental delays and physical challenges. They are from many cultural/socio-economic backgrounds and live in a variety of settings (e.g. group/foster homes, with families). They come to East County from throughout San Diego, and now North County residents can take classes at AWO’s new site at the California Center for the Arts.

A team of master teaching professional artist/choreographer, musician/vocal coach director/drama instructors teach classes six days a week at the main studio and one day a week at the new North County site..

For many years, a highlight of AWO’s programming was its annual theatrical productions at the Lyceum Theatre. Due to Covid-19, performances at a professional theatre could not take place, but AWO transformed a dance studio into a theatre seating 80 people. Over the past several years, AWO presented four musicals – most recently, Wizard of Oz (Fall 2023).

AWO now offers two large scale production programs: Rising Stars serves people with special needs or disabilities by producing and creating annual musicals. Most productions feature a cast of 80+ actors. Because these productions are so popular there are several casts so that everyone who is interested can participate. Unlike Rising Stars, INSPIRE is designed for people with and without disabilities, giving each participant the chance to learn from others who share the same love of performance and who can offer valuable life lessons. In May 2024 AWO returned to a large stage with performances of Newsies: The Musical.

With support from the California Arts Council, ACTA will continue to serve California’s diverse traditional arts ecosystem through statewide programs, services, and grantmaking that center historically underrepresented artists and cultural communities. As a hybrid arts service organization and direct program provider, ACTA invests in cultural transmission and community well-being through initiatives like the Apprenticeship Program, Living Cultures Grant Program, Traditional Arts Roundtable Series, Arts in Corrections, and Reentry Through the Arts.

General operating support will sustain ACTA’s work in rural and urban regions, prioritizing communities in the lowest quartiles of the California Healthy Places Index. Funding will bolster ACTA’s ability to provide direct support to traditional artists, technical assistance, and field-building efforts statewide that affirm culture bearers as essential contributors to community health, racial equity, and collective resilience across California’s cultural landscape.

Founded in 1997, ACTA has developed the infrastructure to offer programs and services supporting the diverse traditional cultural expressions of California’s traditional arts field. As a statewide arts organization, we have long-standing relationships with community collaborators cultivated through a steady development of grantmaking to culture bearers, a robust Arts in Corrections program, and public programs that increase community wellbeing and health equity.

Our Apprenticeship Program offers $5,000 contracts to mentor artists for 1-on-1 training of apprentices, contributing to cultural and artistic knowledge transmission. The Living Cultures Grant Program supports pathways that nurture, sustain, and engage participants in traditional arts, with grants of $7,500 to individuals and $10,000 to California-based nonprofits, fiscal sponsors, and Tribal Nations. As the CAC administering organization for Folk & Traditional Arts since 2022, making larger and individual grants to traditional artists possible for the first time.

Our work as an intermediary involves regranting from government and foundations to individuals and organizations, as well as providing those entities with capacity building, training, technical assistance, convening, and field-building activities. Grounding our programs is field research, documentation, publications, and creating/maintaining a vast, unparalleled archive. This work may involve participatory cultural asset mapping, and program design and curation, which actively engages the community.

ACTA also works at the intersection of traditional arts, health equity, and social change by addressing education, mental health, displacement, and prevention through our Building Healthy Communities and La Cultura Cura programs. Sounds of California is a collaborative recording, composing, and community engagement initiative, inviting locals to participate in field recordings, analysis, and soundscape celebrations.

Our Art Breaks In program brings traditional arts to incarcerated individuals in 11 state prisons and to recently incarcerated participants in reentry sites in Los Angeles and the Antelope Valley—supporting cultural restoration in some of California’s most vulnerable communities.

With support from the California Arts Council, Playhouse Merced will sustain its year-round community theater productions, youth conservatory training, and outreach programs in Merced County—a culturally diverse, historically underserved region of California’s Central Valley. Grant funds will support core operational costs, including staff salaries, utilities, and production expenses, allowing the organization to offer affordable performances, need-based scholarships, and inclusive programming that reflects the community it serves. This funding will help Playhouse Merced strengthen organizational capacity, maintain accessibility for Title I school partners and older adult performers, and provide a welcoming space for creative expression and mental well-being. As one of the only producing theaters in the region, Playhouse Merced plays a vital role in ensuring local access to the arts and inspiring the next generation of performers, technicians, and creative leaders.

Playhouse Merced provides on-site educational services through classes and workshops in acting, dance, voice, playwriting and instrumental music as well as off-site programming by providing trained teaching artists to schools. In addition, Playhouse Merced presents a 10-show season on-site, off-site alternative work and episodic programming.

With support from the California Arts Council, Sacramento Fine Arts Center will be able to fully sustain its operations in 2025/ 2026 with enough personnel to continue meeting its community goals and expand programs in an effective and efficient manner.

The Sacramento Fine Art Center (Sac Arts), established in 1986, is a nonprofit organization located in Carmichael and is one of the largest community art centers in the unincorporated area of Sacramento County. With a membership of over nearly 400 artists, 50% percent in the over 60 age group, Sac Arts provides over 7000 square feet of exhibit, classroom, and studio space. Sac Arts provides exhibits, classes, workshops, art opportunities, and events as a major art facility serving Sacramento and surrounding counties. Sac Arts is home to a collaboration of art groups, including Northern California Arts (NCA), representing artists of all media and styles, and Watercolor Artists of Sacramento Horizons (WASH), supporting water media artists. Our members come from nearly every Sacramento county zip code as well as thirteen other California counties. The Galleries are open 32 hours per week, at no cost to visitors. Sac Arts is run by volunteers, with a very small staff, and is self-supporting through show and class revenue as well as several annual fundraising activities.

Our programs include juried exhibitions, group exhibitions, and solo shows. The organization also offers a variety of classes and demonstrations. Sac Arts hosts 36 juried exhibits were held in the larger galleries with 26 separate artist-led courses and workshops presented for 215 sessions in the studio. Artist receptions are held on the second Saturday of every month with live music and food provided. Approximately 10,000 people visit Sac Arts annually.

Monthly club meetings for (WASH) and (NCA) provide free art demonstrations by noted artists. Members are apprised of activities through a bimonthly newsletter and social media announcing shows, classes, and special projects. Sac Arts offers free quarterly lectures on business development for artists and low-cost bimonthly tech assistance for artists.

With support from the California Arts Council, RuckusRoots Inc will strengthen our capacity to deliver inclusive, community-centered, and environmentally-focused arts programming across Los Angeles. Funds will be used to support our core operations, including staff salaries, teaching artist fees, and administrative infrastructure such as our studio rental space, insurance and essential supplies. We plan to invest further in strategic planning efforts, program evaluation procedures, and professional development to ensure our programs remain equitable, impactful, and accessible. With this crucial funding, RuckusRoots can build long-term sustainability, better supporting both our team of teaching artists and small core staff, and amplify the voices of youth and community members through our intersectional approach to climate resilience through art-making.

RuckusRoots’ programs fall into three categories: In-School, Apprenticeship and Public, all working to achieve the following goals:

1. Co-create arts programming in communities where it is needed and wanted.
2. Offer programming that inspires a shift in knowledge, values and/or behavior with regards to environmental challenges like climate change, utilizing the arts as a tool for engagement.
3. Amplify the artistic voices of marginalized groups.
4. Share resources with local artists and activists from the communities where we work.
5. Utilize found, recycled or natural materials in artworks whenever possible

Main programs:

-In-School: Wild Art, TRASHformation and A.L.I.V.E.: Art Living in Vibrant Environments are offered as enrichment or expanded learning opportunities to elementary and middle school-students. Our multi-week programs last 1-6 months, with students aged 5-13 led by professional local artists. Programs aim to build age-appropriate visual arts skills in the areas of painting, drawing, sculpture, design and/or creative reuse, and social-emotional skills of collaboration, creative confidence and change-making. Each program results in a collaboratively-built, large-scale final artwork, ie: a mural, creative-reuse collage, or sculpture, and culminates with a public showcase i.e.: open house, community event or art walk.

Teen / Young Adult: For high-school and transition-aged youth, these programs (The Rebel Garden Project and Public ARTivism Apprenticeship) offer smaller groups of students (10-40) deeper learning and mentoring experiences with practicing artists. Themes of art as activism and as a profession are explored; students gain experience creating artworks as well as in professional development and entrepreneurship (artist statements, documentation, branding, design and project management).

Public Workshops: We offer free, youth or multigenerational, multi-series or one-time workshops (Garden Magic, From Earth to Art) in which the public is invited to learn techniques and sustainability-uses of specific mediums (fabric, ceramics, non-toxic paint, biodegradable and natural materials) from local artists and experts.

With support from the California Arts Council, INTERNATIONAL ORANGE CHORALE OF SAN FRANCISCO will sustain and expand its commitment to performing and commissioning new choral music by living composers. Funding will support general operations, including the production of our 2025 world premiere of A Dominion of Light: Requiem for the Estranged by Tarik O’Regan and our signature Freshly Squeezed program, which exclusively features new works by underrepresented composers. Our performances are free to the public and presented in accessible venues, removing financial barriers to attendance. CAC support will help us reach broader Bay Area audiences by adding concerts in the SF South Bay, expanding beyond our current footprint in San Francisco and the East Bay. This support will help ensure that cutting-edge choral music continues to flourish and resonate with California communities.

The International Orange Chorale of San Francisco has performed world premieres of dozens of choral works and has also presented regional premieres of multiple works, including Milton Babbitt’s Music for the Mass, Jake Heggie’s Faith Disquiet, Fredrik Sixten’s Missa Brevis, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Unremembered, Nico Muhly’s Lorde Heare My Prayer Instantly, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw’s Fly Away I.

To date, IOCSF has:
– Premiered over 150 world and regional premieres
– Worked with over 120 new composers
– Commissioned dozens of new works
– Premiered and performed works in 7 counties in California for thousands of audience members over 20 years
– Headlined the 2023 Chorus America Conference in San Francisco with Chanticleer
– Awarded Chorus America’s ASCAP “Adventurous Programming” award

With support from the California Arts Council, Youth Speaks will sustain and expand its year-round arts education, public performance, youth-led narrative strategy, and artist development initiatives. As a multidisciplinary arts service organization, Youth Speaks not only supports young artists through spoken word and performance-based programming, but also strengthens the field by supporting uplifting BIPOC artists. CAC funds will support program delivery, curriculum development, artist pay, and infrastructure that enables culturally responsive, artist-led engagement. Youth Speaks trains and mentors emerging artists, offers professional development, and builds capacity through fellowships, narrative change campaigns, and community partnerships. Through our youth-centered, equity-driven approach, Youth Speaks cultivates a vibrant arts ecosystem that amplifies emerging voices and advances creative leadership across generations.

For 29 years, Youth Speaks has created safe spaces that challenge young people, especially those from communities where opportunities for creative expression have been historically and systemically eliminated, to find, develop and apply their voices as creators of societal change.

Founded in 1996 in San Francisco, Youth Speaks is a leading presenter of Spoken Word performance, education, and creative youth development programs. Trailblazers of local and national youth poetry slams and festivals, and a leading presenter of Spoken Word performance, education, and creative youth development programs, Youth Speaks has helped create partner programs in 47 cities across the United States.

As the founder and lead convenor of the Brave New Voices Festival and Brave New Futures Network, Youth Speaks has significantly invested in the entire field of literary performance programs that intersect arts education, youth development and public narrative practices.

Youth Speaks created even more opportunities for BIPOC artists at the intersection of arts and culture, ancestral and indigenous practices, and multi-racial movement work to be networked as we were selected to be a California Arts Council Administering Organization for Individual Artists Fellows. Through this initiative, Youth Speaks convened over 500 Artists in webinars and learning sessions over 3 months, completed an application process, reviewed applications for over 1,000 prospective grantees, and led a rigorous schedule of Professional Development for the Artist Grantees.

With support from the California Arts Council, Urban Jazz Dance Company will sustain and expand our Deaf-led, intersectional programming from October 2025 through September 2026. We will produce our 18th annual Home Season, present the 12th Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival, deliver performances and workshops at schools across California, and continue our virtual #DeafWoke series, elevating BIPOC Deaf and Disabled stories. CAC funds will support essential staff, artist fees, and production costs, enabling us to meet increased demands for accessible programming that centers Deaf leadership, racial justice, and disability justice. Our work amplifies the voices of those most impacted by systemic oppression, bridges Deaf, hearing, and Disabled communities, and deepens cultural equity in the performing arts. We will ensure our programs remain accessible, inclusive, and rooted in community leadership.

UJDC educates audiences about current events, empowering minorities, lack of early access to language for Deaf children and social justice. We provide educational workshops/performances at Deaf schools, mainstream programs, Universities, state colleges and seniors homes in the process, creating a healing space for many who have experienced domestic abuse. UJDC passionately visits over 70 schools per year, local to International, working with both hearing and Deaf people of all ages and abilities.

With support from the California Arts Council, Grown Women Dance Collective will produce world-class dance performances, community arts and wellness classes for children, adults, and seniors in under-resourced communities, and dance and movement-based workforce development training.

Funds will support artists and staff, increasing our capacity to empower BIPOC artists, center the voices of historically marginalized community members, and strengthen our organizational partners’ missions through art. We will celebrate and strengthen Black and Brown communities; support cultural resistance, resilience, self-empowerment, and joy. Support will help create spaces that inspire a sense of belonging, dignity, trust, joy, collaboration, and innovation, and empower folks from historically disinvested groups to leverage their strengths, imagine new possibilities, achieve goals, reinvest people-power back into our communities, and collectively create a more just future.

Our programs celebrate resistance, resilience, self-empowerment and joy.

Performances & Narrative Shift Choreography: We create world class performances led by dancers of color in our 50’s and 60’s, centered around African American experiences and achievements. Our choreography shifts the narrative on important societal issues such as mass incarceration, homelessness, voting rights, and environmental justice. We challenge stereotypes, create cross-cultural, intergenerational, and cross-class bridges, catalyze new conversations and community action, and create a forum for healing based on art, justice, and human connection.

Dance and Healthy Movement Instruction in Under Resourced Communities:
We teach Dance (Technique & Dance with Literacy) to youth and therapeutic movement to adults (Dance, Pilates for Back & Joint Pain, Pre/Post Natal Pilates, & Fall Prevention for Seniors); bringing access to the arts, wellness skills, and the growth and emotional well-being associated with both.

Pilates Certification Training and Mentorship for Underestimated Community Members:
We provide Comprehensive Pilates Certification training for disinvested community members. Programs include full scholarships to receive internationally accredited certifications, mentoring, mental health counseling, financial literacy, nutrition classes, paid internships and job placement assistance. This empowerment program helps break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, helps stave off gentrification, decreases health disparities, and creates healthier, more joyous communities.

With support from the California Arts Council, the City of Calexico’ s Cultural Arts Division will continue sustaining operating expenses in the form of key essential supporting staff salaries and funding of general expenses, while providing arts and culture exposure and opportunities to the community – specially those who are underserved.

The City of Calexico Cultural Arts Division (CCAC) operates under the City’s Recreation Department, serving as a vital hub for artistic and cultural expression. Since its inauguration in February 2008, the CCAC has been committed to providing accessible and enriching artistic opportunities for the community. Our core programs and services include:

Art Exhibits – CCAC hosts diverse art exhibitions, inviting children, youth, and adult artists from various backgrounds to showcase their work. These exhibits foster creativity, encourage artistic expression, and provide the community with exposure to different artistic styles and perspectives.

Workshops & Classes – We offer meaningful and affordable arts education, including papel picado workshops, inclusive art programs for developmentally challenged individuals, dance and music courses, poetry circles, photography, acrylic painting, and themed painting nights among others.

Community & Cultural Events – CCAC plays a central role in celebrating cultural heritage through festivals, themed exhibits, and heritage events. Our programs highlight Mexican American and Latino traditions, featuring mariachis, rondallas, and handicrafts, as well as featuring other cultures and traditions.

Concert Series – The arts center hosts live music performances, including concert nights that provide cultural enrichment and entertainment for the community.

Youth & Senior Arts Engagement – We design specialized programs to foster artistic expression among youth and senior citizens, ensuring accessibility and engagement across all age groups.

Mural Projects – CCAC coordinates public art initiatives, issuing calls for artists to install murals at key locations throughout the city. These murals serve as visual narratives reflecting the city’s values, history, and cultural identity, instilling community pride.

With support from the California Arts Council, the San Diego Creative Youth Development Network will provide direct programming and services, including but not limited to, convening & networking opportunities, arts advocacy, information and research, professional development opportunities, and marketing, promotion, audience development services to our Network of community-based artists, creators, tradition bearers, educators, and arts/culture organizations who are direct providers of creative youth development programming. These include the organizations and the people who lead, support and provide artistic (e.g., in dance, music, theatre, playwriting, photography/film) and cultural programming.

Creative Youth Development (CYD) is a holistic approach to deeply engaging young people through the arts and creativity to promote personal well-being and support them in reaching their full potential. SDCYD Network is a coalition of providers, partners, and young people dedicated to harnessing their collective strength to build the field of creative youth development to maximize impact for youth. We achieve this by:

Building public awareness of the impact of youth arts programs as drivers of personal and community change.

• Initiate and conduct field research & evaluation
• Create content, communications, and campaigns
• Produce youth-focused and data-driven storytelling

Sharing expertise and best practices with youth arts programs.

• Provide leadership & professional development
• Provide networking & peer learning opportunities
• Offer technical assistance

Cultivating new pathways of support that benefit all local youth arts programs.

• Advocate for policy & systems change
• Grow diversity in funding
• Pursue collective funding opportunities

With support from the California Arts Council, NAKA will sustain its programs, staff and operations from October, 2025 through September, 2026. Supported programs will include: Maya Mam Weaving Project performances and gallery presentations; Dismantling Tactic X performances; Publication of a new book commissioned by Maggie Allessee National Center for Choreography; Voces Feministas workshops and public events; Live Arts in Resistance performance series collaboration with EastSide Arts Alliance; and the publishing of the NAKA Dance Theater 25th Anniversary Photo Book.

-Producing LIVE ARTS IN RESISTANCE, a series of performance showcases, artist residencies and community town halls that address racial inequity & white supremacy in popular culture.

-Creating and touring experimental performance works; including Y Basta Ya!, a series of touring dance performances and movement workshops to shine a light on the stories of Latine and Indigenous Maya Mam women and their experiences with invisibility, labor rights, domestic violence, and sexual abuse. Y Basta Ya! Is funded by a New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Production award, Rainin Fellowship and Guggenheim Fellowship.

-Research residencies in Japan and Mexico as part of NAKA’s work in community-based ritual practices

-Producing Dismantling Tactic X artist residency and philanthropic forums – convening a cohort of radical, social-practice artists who center their work on the topic of race and white supremacy.

-Co-Facilitating ongoing Circulos de Aprendizaje (Collaborative Learning Circles) with San Francisco Latina and Indigenous Maya Mam (Guatemala) immigrant women – using art for healing and addressing issues such as racism and colorism in the Latine community.

-Pro-Bono Language Justice Access Consulting, to arts and social justice organizations who want to hire in-person or online sign language interpreters. This includes: referrals for culturally appropriate interpreters who would be a good match for the situation (including trilingual Spanish-English-ASL / Chinese-English-ASL interpreters); sharing best practices about publicity and outreach (best done by Deaf-led organizations); sharing best practices about budgeting for interpreters, necessary prep information that interpreters will need prior to an assignment, interpreter placement, lighting; advocacy for the hiring of Deaf Interpreters. On occasion, NAKA Artistic Co-Director, Debby Kajiyama will serve as a pro-bono coordinator of interpreter services for events, such as the KH FRESH Festival (2023, 2024) Jess Curtis’ Memorial service and Melissa Lewis Wong’s recent show, flowers and fog.

With support from the California Arts Council, GRAND VISION FOUNDATION will sustain its operations as a vital arts and culture hub in the underserved LA Harbor area, providing live music experiences in the community and music education in public schools.

Grand Vision Foundation (GVF) is a music-focused community arts organization, founded in 1996 to save and restore the historic Warner Grand Theatre, a 1,500 seat art deco movie palace. Today, the City of LA owns and operates the Theatre, hosting 100+ events annually, GVF serves as Theatre’s Friends’ Group, partnering with the City on ongoing events and promotion.

Since 2008, we’ve seen our vision come to life at the Grand Annex Music Hall, our 150-seat cabaret style storefront theatre, where we present an ongoing concert series of innovative global, Latin, jazz, and American roots music artists. The Annex has become a hub for the L.A. Harbor and South Bay communities, where residents and visitors can find a range of high quality and accessible cultural experiences. In addition to the indoor stage, GVF regularly collaborates with other community organizations to co-produce free outdoor music and arts festivals.

GVF engages the next generation through Meet the Music (MTM), a robust in-school youth education program, serving approximately 2,500 elementary school students annually with innovative musical skill building and engagement curricula. Founded in 2009, MTM provides equitable access to music education through sequential standards-based instruction and participatory live music experiences. MTM helps to close the arts education opportunity gap (compared to students in affluent districts) while deepening student capacity for creative learning. We serve under-resourced LA Unified School District schools with a focus on the LA Harbor area, providing innovative musical skill-building and engagement curricula.

With support from the California Arts Council, Westwind Brass seeks General Operating Support to sustain our vital role in San Diego’s cultural ecosystem. Aligned with the CAC’s commitment to broad reach and equity, we provide diverse musical experiences, enriching our community. This funding will directly support our ongoing operations, including essential expenses like staffing and facilities, ensuring our capacity to deliver high-quality performances and educational programs. As a dedicated arts organization, this support is crucial for maintaining our organizational strength and continuing to contribute to California’s vibrant arts landscape, fostering accessibility and engagement for all.

Through our outreach programs, our goal is to not only help provide a well-rounded education for children and create a healthier community, but also, by offering students the chance to participate in this learning process, we help build the future arts audience.

WWB strives to achieve its mission by building and satisfying a worldwide following of dedicated individual and organizational supporters, professional peers, music educators, and public audiences that: (a) organize, stage and attend concerts of outstanding classical and contemporary brass chamber music; (b) encourage instructional presentations and discussions of brass chamber music; (c) stimulate and foster creation, research and presentation- both live and recorded- of brass chamber music of the highest artistic and professional quality.

With support from the California Arts Council, Bay Area Creative (BAC) will deliver transformative arts programs that ignites self-expression, healing, and social change. Founded by nationally ranked spoken word poets, BAC provides steady work for over 30 artists each year abd reaches over 14,000 low-income youth and adults through free workshops and events in spoken word poetry, urban dance, and visual arts. Led by professional artists from the same communities they serve, these programs offer vital spaces for participants to process their experiences, build resilience, amplify their voices and share their creative works for the betterment of society. Through school-day residencies, after-school programs, summer workshops, and weekly community performances; BAC fosters a new generation of artists and leaders, strengthening the Bay Area’s arts ecosystem and cultural fabric.

SPARC Creativity offers spoken word poetry, dance, filmmaking workshops and performances tailored for underserved youth aged 5-18. Our comprehensive services encompass weekly arts workshops conducted during the school day, after school, and throughout the summer. Additionally, SPARC teaching artists lead impactful school day performances that showcase the creative expressions of our participants.

Revisions stands as a beacon of therapeutic arts for youth and families, providing essential services such as facilitating writing groups in Juvenile Hall, facilitating creative support groups for social workers, leading conferences focused on substance abuse prevention, and performing at mental health symposiums.

Educators for Empathy is dedicated to professional development for both classroom teachers and teaching artists. Our impactful sessions take the form of in-service school district-wide half and full-day training sessions. We extend our reach by collaborating with other nonprofits, offering monthly one-on-one coaching sessions to empower educators with transformative teaching practices.

Spoken works delivers local creative professionals to provide team building sessions that
connect members of the workforce to a culturally diverse panel of published authors and
nationally ranked spoken word artists. Activities are insightful, productive and high energy
designed to leverage lateral thinking towards new solutions and bonding.

With support from the California Arts Council, the Museum of the American Indian will work towards our mission of uplifting, supporting, and making visible the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas through authentic educational programs and cultural resources for Marin and the Greater Bay Area.

In the coming fiscal year, our organization aims to move forward in four key areas:

(1) Educational programming, including our Field Trip program which serves 4,000 youth annually and traditional crafts workshops with Native culture bearer honoraria;

(2) Collections work which continues our collaboration with the Coast Miwok Tribal Council on provenance research;

(3) Supporting Indigenous California artists through special exhibitions in our Contemporary Native Artists Gallery, with dedicated artist stipends; and

(4) Organizational sustainability through new financial management systems, upgraded technology, a new comprehensive revenue strategy.

For over 50 years, the Museum has served the Bay Area community as an educational and cultural center dedicated to supporting the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. The Museum was founded in 1967 when an excavation of Miwok Park unearthed masses of artifacts related to the Coast Miwok people.

From our location on unceded Coast Miwok land, we are dedicated to ensuring that our exhibits and programming bring greater awareness to this community, their place in our shared history, and their cultural contributions. Working with the Coast Miwok Tribal Council, the Museum’s permanent collection has been carefully curated to focus on two key themes: the Coast Miwok people have a living culture that has evolved from their distant past to the current day; and their culture can be a source of inspiration and wisdom for all peoples now living in Marin, especially as it pertains to living in relationship with the natural world.

Beyond visitors to our permanent collection and rotating exhibits, the Museum is an institution for the youth of the Bay Area. Prior to our COVID-related closure, the Museum welcomed between 4,000 and 5,000 elementary school children as a part of our field trip programs, the majority of whom were from Marin County Public Schools. After re-opening, we aim to provide co-curricular activities that support key learning objectives for State of California students in the 4th and 9th grades.

In addition to our field trip programs, the Museum partners with the local Native community to address issues specific to them – this may include hosting educational workshops facilitated by Native-led organizations, or working with Native artists to curate contemporary exhibits in our gallery.

Black Humboldt is seeking general operating funds to sustain and expand our culturally responsive programming, administrative capacity, and community engagement efforts throughout California’s Northern Coast. CAC grant funds will support the staffing and operations required to continue our core programs—including the Arts & Legacy Project, Juneteenth Cultural Festival, The Black Aesthetic podcast, and youth-centered archival work—while enhancing organizational sustainability. Funding will help us provide stipends for artists and culture bearers, increase outreach to underserved areas like Trinity and Del Norte Counties, and invest in the infrastructure needed to expand our impact. This support ensures Black Humboldt remains a vital hub for Black and Brown creatives, storytellers, and community leaders across rural and coastal Northern California.

Arts & Culture Programming – visual arts exhibitions, performance showcases, cultural festivals, and educational lectures focused on Black and Brown contributions to arts and culture. Uses creativity as a tool for wellness, expression, and community building.
Public Installations & Exhibitions: Features visual storytelling, history-sharing, and cultural education in public spaces (e.g., libraries, schools, museums).

Community Events & Celebrations- Intentional social gatherings designed to cultivate connection, joy, and solidarity among local Black and Brown residents.

Leadership Development & Community Advocacy- Programs designed to develop leadership among Black and Brown individuals in Humboldt, with a focus on equity, representation, and civic engagement. Network-building initiatives connecting local grassroots organizers and BIPOC-led groups to share resources and strengthen community infrastructure.
Media, Storytelling & Archiving- Platforms that highlights local Black and Brown experiences, creative work, and issues impacting the community.
Community Support & Healing Spaces- A culturally grounded support initiative for Black and Brown individuals new to the region, helping them navigate Humboldt and build connections. Events, dialogues, and workshops that provide support for intergenerational trauma, identity exploration, and collective care.
Economic Empowerment- Through vendor markets, grants, and visibility at events. Paid opportunities, fellowships, and capacity-building for creatives, organizers, and culture bearers within the diaspora.

strengthen California’s orchestra and music ecosystem by building the capacity of the staff, board, musicians, and volunteers within its workforce. Through professional development, advocacy, and knowledge-sharing, we empower 115 orchestras and their workforce of 2,600+ to navigate change, seize opportunities, and deepen their impact for communities in every corner of of the state, ensuring all Californians have access to the transformative power of music.

The Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO) is the collective force for orchestral music in California and the West. Founded in 1969, ACSO is the longest-running and largest membership-supported organization of its kind in the United States and is the preeminent leader in connecting, providing resources and education, and advocating for its community.

Guided by its commitment to be the voice, the forum, and the network for a growing community of orchestras, choruses, festivals, youth and university orchestras, aligned businesses, and orchestra professionals, ACSO provides essential leadership, networking, and learning through its annual conference; year-round educational, networking, and advocacy programs; and customized research and technical support.

Advocacy
ACSO gives voice and representation to orchestras at the state and national levels and advocates for increased public funding and support for the arts.

Professional Development
ACSO’s Annual Conference, regional programs and confabs, and online webinars and workshops offer unparalleled opportunities to learn from top professionals and experts.

Capacity Building
ACSO offers professional guidance and support through connections to experts, digital resource and on-demand learning library, and customized research and technical support produced by ACSO staff. ACSO also publishes an Online Concerts Calendar, posts jobs to a Career Center, and sends out information about the field through our bi-monthly eNews.

Peer-to-Peer Learning
ACSO 12 Virtual Peer Forums connect counterparts at different orchestras and ensembles in the ACSO network. They are safe spaces to exchange ideas, ask questions, share challenges, and offer best practices.