February 10, 2025

Updates on National Endowment

for the Arts Grant Opportunities

The National Endowment for the Arts is updating its FY 2026 grant guidelines, with these changes impacting organizations applying in the Grants for Arts Projects or Challenge America categories. The Challenge America opportunity, considered the gateway grant into the NEA, is canceled for FY 2026. Organizations that have applied or were planning to apply to the FY 2026 Challenge America grant opportunity are encouraged to apply to the Grants for Arts Projects category at the March or July deadlines instead. New FY 2026 Grants for Arts Projects guidelines will be available no later than Monday, February 10, 2025.

As part of these changes, the February 13, 2025 Grants for Arts Projects deadline has been canceled. The FY 2026 deadlines are now March 11, 2025 for the first round and July 10, 2025 for the second. Organizations that have already submitted an application must submit a new application under one of these deadlines.

Under the updated guidelines, projects that celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence will be given priority. The updated guidelines are in response to recent directives.

A webinar covering the updated guidelines will take on Tuesday, February 18 at 2:00 p.m.

Read more and register for the webinar here.

New Funding Opportunity for Small Performing Arts Organizations

Photo courtesy of Arpana Dance Company.

The Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund (PAEPF) grant program will be opening in early March and now is the time to get ready. Join ArtsOC and CA for the Arts on Thursday, February 20 at 2:00 p.m. for an informational webinar to learn about eligibility requirements and how you can apply. If you're unable to attend on that date and time, you may register for any of the other webinars you will find listed at the link below. The PAEPF is funded by the State of California and administered by CalOSBA. Eligibility criteria applies.

Read more here.

National Council of Nonprofits Holds Webinar to Address Impact on

Nonprofit Organizations

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for many nonprofits, from more than one hundred Executive Orders being issued to confusion about the funding freeze ordered in a memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The National Council of Nonprofits held an informative webinar on February 7, during which a small panel of experts discussed the issues at hand along with strategies moving forward.

Register to receive the recording of this webinar here.

Roof Collapses at South Coast Repertory’s Santa Ana Production Center

South Coast Repertory's Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Suzanne Appel stand in the company’s set painting shop at its Santa Ana Production Center.

The roof of South Coast Repertory’s 18,000-square-foot production center collapsed due to rain on January 26. Located in Santa Ana about three miles northwest of SCR’s Costa Mesa theatre complex, the center is where all the company’s sets are painted, and where approximately 100,000 costumes, along with a large number of props, set pieces and building materials, are housed.

Read more here.

Mylan Wagoner Crowned 2025 Orange County Poetry Out Loud Champion

Patrick Brien, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Arts Orange County, presented the Orange County Regional Poetry Out Loud award to Mylan Wagoner.

Mylan Wagoner, a freshman at La Quinta High School, won the Orange County Regional Poetry Out Loud competition on February 6 at South Coast Repertory's Nicholas Stage. Hosted by Arts Orange County in partnership with the Orange County Department of Education, Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation competition. Mylan will represent Orange County at the state competition next month in Sacramento.

Learn more about Poetry Out Loud here.

Thuy Vo Dang Honored with

UCLA Research Awards

ArtsOC board member Thuy Vo Dang has received the 2024-25 Society of Hellman Fellows Award and a social impact grant from the UCLA Center for Community Engagement. This will enable her research on the British Vietnamese diaspora through community archiving and oral history. Thuy is a professor of Information Studies at UCLA, oral historian, arts advocate and author from Orange County. She also serves on the board of directors of the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association.

Read more here.

Individual Artist Grants Available

through Creative Capital 

Creative Capital has announced their 2026 Open Call for the Creative Capital Award, as well as the launch of a new two-year initiative, the State of the Art Prize. The Creative Capital Award is a one-time grant that provides individual artists with unrestricted project grants up to $50,000 for the creation of original, imaginative, impactful new artistic works. Through the open call review process for the Creative Capital Award, recipients will be selected for the new State of the Art Prize, which aims to recognize one artist from each U.S. state and inhabited territory with an unrestricted artist grant of $10,000.

Read more here.

OC Fair & Event Center Announces Retirement of Michele Richards

After more than 20 years of service at the OC Fair & Event Center, top executive Michele Richards has announced that she will retire this spring. She was appointed as CEO by the board of directors in December 2019 and led the state agency through several key projects, including shepherding the organization through the pandemic and helping lead the board of directors through two multi-year strategic plans.

Read more here.

Nominations Being Accepted for 25th

Orange County Arts Awards

Iryna Krechkovsky (left) and Beth Nam (right) performing at the 2022 Orange County Arts Awards.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 25th Orange County Arts Awards to be held in the Fall 2025, in the Samueli Theater at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Awards are presented for work in these categories:

Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Awards for extraordinary contributions to arts and culture over a lifetime.

Achievement Awards for outstanding work completed in one or more years.

Emerging Artist/Arts Leader Awards.

Please note that awards are not always given in every category each year. The deadline for nominations is March 15.

View the Call for Honorees and Nomination Form here.

Upcoming Member Mixer

ArtsOC will be holding a Spring Mixer for Members and Prospective Members on Thursday, March 20. The event will take place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Orange County Music and Dance building, located at 17620 Fitch Ave, Irvine 92614. Connect with arts colleagues from throughout the county!

To RSVP, please email Karen Ahola at kahola@artsoc.org.

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