The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture has announced the 2023 Cultural Arts Grant award recipients.

Through funding from the city of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, and the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, 39 nonprofit organizations will uplift and vitalize communities through arts and cultural expression. Awarded projects begin in January.

For more information, visit sbac.ca.gov/grants.

Everybody Dance Now! received an Organizational Development grant from the City of Santa Barbara to train their teaching artists for service to Santa Barbara public schools.

Grant-funded initiatives include a revived Milpas Street Cinco de Mayo festival; a youth-led gang abatement ceramics program; and a traveling Toyota van offering classical music concerts and instruments to schools.

The majority of applicants provide free arts services and programs that wouldn’t be possible without additional funding support.

“Our city grant support will help us to bring back our lost historical Cinco de Mayo tradition and energize the Milpas corridor,” said Jacqueline Inda, founder of the Greater Santa Barbara Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The grants are administered by the County Office of Arts & Culture through a longstanding city/county partnership model that earns additional state funding for the region. The office recently received regranting funding from the state and will announce new programs in early 2023.

“Local arts and culture organizations put so much time and love into helping local communities to express themselves where they live,” said Sarah York Rubin, Office of Arts & Culture executive director.

“This is important and relevant work that the creative sector is uniquely able to perform, and the city of Santa Barbara and county of Santa Barbara recognize arts and culture investment as communty investment,” she said.

As part of its commitment to a vibrant, sustainable local cultural sector and arts access for all, the city of Santa Barbara invests nearly $300,000 annually into the community through its Arts and Culture Grants.

Funding recommendations are determined by the city’s Arts Advisory and Community Events & Festivals committees.

The three programs, Community Arts, Organizational Development, and Community Events & Festivals, support diverse nonprofit organizations to provide free arts access for underserved communities, offer arts programs and services for residents and visitors, and create events and festivals that enhance economic and community vitality.

Community Arts Grant Recipients:

A to Z Cooking School

Hillside House, INC

Artist Jana Brody

Lum Zine

Mission Poetry Series

Santa Barbara Art Works

Performing and Visual Art Camp

SB Black Culture House

Trust for Historic Preservation

Santa Barbara Art Association Student Art Fund

Community Events and Festivals Grant Recipients:

Cinco de Mayo Festival

Elings Park Foundation

Healing Justice Santa Barbara

Kinetic Cake Experience

Lobero Theatre Foundation

Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee of SB

Pacific Pride Foundation

SB Culinary Experience

SB Museum of Art

SB Revels

SBCC Dance Collective

UCSB Arts & Lectures

Organizational Development Grant Recipients

American Dance and Music                                           Flamenco Arts Festival
Center Stage Theater                                                    Ensemble Theatre Company

Everybody Dance Now!                                                 Explore Ecology

NewGrit                                                                        SB Arts Collaborative

SB Gay Men’s Chorus                                                   SB Museum of Natural History

Santa Barbara County’s Arts Making Impact grant program funds innovative projects and collaborative efforts that create more equitable arts access countywide.

The County Arts Commission develops the program and determines award allocations. Funds are generated through the Santa Barbara Bowl’s Arts Subsidy, which earmarks up to $56,000 annually through ticket sales.

This cycle was dedicated to smaller organizations with annual budgets under $500,000. Projects were funded in each of the county’s supervisorial districts. 

Arts Making Impact Grant Recipients:

Arts Mentorship Program                                               Blue Sky Center

Goleta Education Foundation                                         SBCAN: Artist Jessica Altstatt

Orcutt Children’s Arts Foundation                                   SB Dance Institute

SB Gay Men’s Chorus                                                   Santa Maria Philharmonic Society

Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden Foundation

For more about the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture, a division of the county’s Community Services Department, visit www.sbac.ca.gov.