New grant program facilitates art-driven public service campaigns

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture has announced a grant program to hire local artists to create art-driven campaigns focused on public health, emergency preparedness, civic engagement, or social justice.

Applications for these new Central Coast Creative Corps grants are due by May 1. Guidlines and more information can be found here.

“Artists are change agents, helping us to imagine different perspectives and experiences through their work,” said Sarah York Rubin, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture. “By bringing artists to the community development table, this program invites everyone to create new approaches for understanding and caring for ourselves, each other, and the environment.”

Eligible organizations include 501c3 non-profits, tribal governments, and Central Coast government agencies with priority given to groups serving communities with the highest levels of need according to the California Healthy Places Index.

The Central Coast Creative Corps is a workforce development pilot funded by the California Arts Council to offer 23 awards of $140,000 for organizations to hire local artists and culture bearers.

Each of these awards provides receiving organizations $100,000 to compensate an artist for their work; $20,000 for artist-community engagement and supplies; and $20,000 for program administration.

Free informational workshops about the program will be held on Mar. 29 and Apr. 13 and will be hosted by Hannah Rubalcava, the Grants and Contracts Manager for the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture.

“Complex problems require creative solutions,” explains Hannah Rubalcava. “We’ll be working directly with grantees about what it means to work with a socially-engaged artist, and how that collaboration can be so powerful.”

Interested in learning more about the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture? Visit their website.