Laguna Playhouse Names New

Artistic Director and Managing Director

David Ellenstein (left) and Bill Kerlin (right), new Artistic Director

and new Managing Director of Laguna Playhouse.

North Coast Repertory Theatre’s Artistic Director David Ellenstein and Managing Director Bill Kerlin have been selected to fill those same roles for Laguna Playhouse, effective immediately. They will continue in their positions at North Coast Repertory Theatre, as well.

Read more here. 

Three Orange County Organizations

Awarded NEA Grants

Pictured (left to right) are images from ArtsOC's Día del Niño, an Easter Seals Southern California event, and a performance by The Wooden Floor.

The National Endowment for the Arts announced more than $103 million in recommended grants as part of their second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2023. Included were 176 grants across California, totaling $6,383,600. Among those are three in Orange County:

Arts Orange County for $45,000 in Grants for Arts Projects - Local Arts Agencies to support a free public festival celebrating the "Día del Niño."

Easter Seals Southern California, Inc. for $20,000 in Grants for Arts Projects - Media Arts to support programs focused on advancing disability inclusion in the film and television industry.

Wooden Floor for Youth Movement (aka The Wooden Floor) for $25,000 in Grants for Arts Projects - Dance to support dance education and performances.

Read more here.

Orange County’s William Camargo

Receives 2023 National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Award

Orange County’s William Camargo has been named as a recipient of one of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures 2023 NALAC Fund for the Arts grant awards. The 102 awards, totaling over $1.13 million, will provide funding support to 70 Latinx artists, ensembles and cultural workers, and 32 arts organizations across the United States and Puerto Rico. Camargo a photo-based artist and educator born and raised in Anaheim, was awarded with an Emerging Artist/Arts Leader Award by Arts Orange County at the 2022 Orange County Arts Awards.

Read more here.

County Spends $800,000 Renovating

Clark Park Interpretive Center

A renovated interpretive center at Ralph B. Clark Regional Park in Buena Park is back open, giving visitors rare access to the county’s collection of artifacts and fossils from up to 80 million years ago.

The center recently spent about $800,000 on the renovations, repairing roof panels, windows and structural beams. These repairs will help preserve the integrity of the building and the unique fossil and artifact collections inside, officials said.

Read more here.

Grants and Opportunities

The National Endowment for the Arts is accepting applications for two of its programs, as well as nominations for another. 

Grants for Arts Projects is the NEA’s largest grants program for organizations, providing comprehensive and expansive funding opportunities for communities. 

Grants.gov submission deadline: July 6

Read more here.

Our Town is the NEA’s creative placemaking grants program. Through project-based funding, the program supports activities that integrate arts, culture, and design into local efforts that strengthen communities over the long term.

Grants.gov submission deadline: August 3 

Read more here.

To honor and preserve our nation's diverse cultural heritage, the NEA annually awards up to nine National Heritage Fellowships to master folk and traditional artists, including one Bess Lomax Hawes Fellowship.

Nominations deadline: May 30

Read more here.

The City of Santa Ana’s annual Investing in the Artist Grant Program is in its final round of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding. A total of $400,000 is available to disperse among both individual artists and nonprofit organizations for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Read more here.

The Los Angeles Department of Arts and Culture Media Career Pathways Prototype for LA County Youth invites proposals from organizations. The program focuses on youth in or transitioning out of foster care, youth impacted by the justice system, and low-income youth of color, all of whom face significant structural and social barriers to entering family-sustaining careers in the media professions.

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.