By the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture
The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture is pleased to announce the 2023 Cultural Arts Grant award recipients. Through funding from the City of Santa Barbara, the County of Santa Barbara, and the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, 39 nonprofit organizations will uplift and vitalize communities through arts and cultural expression. Awarded projects begin this January. For more information, go to sbac.ca.gov/grants.
Grant-funded initiatives include a revived Milpas St. 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.
Sarah York Rubin, Office of Arts & Culture Executive Director noted, “Local arts and culture organizations put so much time and love into helping local communities to express themselves where they live. 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.”
City of Santa Barbara Cultural Arts Grant Award Recipients
As part of its ongoing commitment to a vibrant, sustainable local cultural sector and arts access for all, the City of Santa Barbara invests nearly $300,000 each year into the community through its Arts and Culture Grants. Funding recommendations are determined by the City’s Arts Advisory Committee and Community Events & Festivals Committee. 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
- Artist Jana Brody
- Hillside House, INC
- Lum Zine
- Mission Poetry Series
- Performing and Visual Art Camp
- SB Black Culture House
- Santa Barbara Art Association Student Art Fund
- Santa Barbara Art Works
- Trust for Historic Preservation
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
- Center Stage Theater
- Ensemble Theatre Company
- Everybody Dance Now!
- Explore Ecology
- Flamenco Arts Festival
- NewGrit
- SB Arts Collaborative
- SB Gay Men’s Chorus
- SB Museum of Natural History
County of Santa Barbara Arts Making Impact Grant
The County of Santa Barbara’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
- Orcutt Children’s Arts Foundation
- SBCAN: Artist Jessica Altstatt
- SB Dance Institute
- SB Gay Men’s Chorus
- Santa Maria Philharmonic Society
- Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden Foundation
About the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture
The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture is a Division of the County’s Community Services Department, serving as the local governmental umbrella for arts and culture projects and programs within the County. The Office represents a longstanding partnership between the County of Santa Barbara and the City of Santa Barbara. For more than 30 years, both governments have shared resources and staff to maximize support for Santa Barbara arts and culture institutions, programs, initiatives and projects. For information, visit www.sbac.ca.gov.
