The California Arts Council (CAC) has announced the opening of the second round of organizational grant applications for its 2022 grant season, with applications now being accepted for the following grant programs: Artists in Schools, Arts Education Exposure, Arts Integration Training, Creative Youth Development, Jump StArts. Full details may be found here. The deadline is June 16.

Relief grants are available to individual artists through the California Relief Fund for Artists and Cultural Practitioners in partnership with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and California Arts Council. Full details may be found here. Deadline is May 20.

CAC is also accepting applications for Administering Organizations to manage statewide grantmaking for the Folk & Traditional Arts Program and regional grantmaking for the California Creative Corps. And now is also the time for Statewide & Regional Network Organizations to apply. More information here.

CFTA's 2022 Arts Champion Award Presented to

Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva

Yesterday, ArtsOC President and CEO Rick Stein and Edmund Velasco, President of the OC Musicians Union, Local 7, AFM, presented the Californians for the Arts (CFTA) “2022 Arts Champion Award” to Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva for her extraordinary efforts to increase State support for arts and culture, including more funds for the California Arts Council and special pandemic relief funding and legislation, as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media. Stein and Velasco both serve on the CFTA Board. The presentation took place on stage at Arts Orange County’s “bonus” Día del Niño Festival day in Fullerton, which is in the district she represents.

2022 Congressional Art Competition Winner Announced in District 49

The first of Orange County's 2022 Congressional Art Competition receptions took place recently, with Congressman Mike Levin (49th District) and Oceanside Museum of Art Director Maria Mingalone speaking to the high school student artists, their families and teachers. One work was selected to be displayed for a full year in the U.S. Capitol: La Costa Canyon High School student Clementine Thompson's piece titled California Cars. More information here. The winner and two runners-up received cash prizes from Arts Orange County. Later this spring, receptions will be held in the Orange County Congressional districts of Reps. Lou Correa, Young Kim, Katie Porter and Michelle Steel, also assisted by and with prize money from ArtsOC.

Arts Advocacy Week in California brought together arts leaders and artists in meetings with their State Legislators to brief them on the current state of the arts in their districts as well as the funding measures and arts-friendly bills that have been proposed. ArtsOC President & CEO Rick Stein and OC Musicians Union President Edmund Velasco (top row) are both Board members of California Arts Advocates and Californians for the Arts, and served as team captains for Orange County’s participation. Among the officials they met with was Senator Josh Newman (bottom). Meetings were also held with the staff members of Senators Pat Bates and Dave Min, and Assemblymembers Tom Daly, Laurie Davies and Janet Nguyen.

Top priority is getting California’s arts funding level up to $1 per capita, or $40 million per year, for the California Arts Council, the State’s principal arts grantmaking agency. Currently, California is at 66 cents per capita—well below Massachusetts & New York (over $2.00) and Minnesota (over $6.00). More information about the Legislative priorities for the arts may be found here.

The Laguna Art Museum announced art historian Jean Stern and recognized curator, educator and arts writer Rochelle Steiner will serve as Curatorial Fellows. Both curators will serve the museum through early 2023. Stern and Steiner will focus on their areas of expertise: presenting programs to educate art lovers with unique experiences. Stern has a wealth of experience as an author, curator, lecturer and teacher. He is a Director Emeritus of The Irvine Museum, where he helped to establish a national presence for the museum in the fields of California art and history through a series of books, exhibitions, lectures and documentaries.

Steiner brings with her over 20 years of experience working with artists and cultural institutions in the United States and around the world. Among her many accomplishments, she is a recognized curator, writer and educator, and has organized more than 70 major art exhibitions and large-scale public art projects worldwide. Steiner, a Los Angeles native, also currently serves as a Global Curator for Artpark in Western New York. Read more here.

We acknowledge with respect our presence on the ancestral lands of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians - Acjachemen Nation and the Tongva People.