2024 California Arts Council Grant Applications to Open 

The portal for the 2024 CAC grant applications will open March 28 with a deadline to submit of June 6. More information and links to the funding programs will be shared when they become available.

To learn more about the California Arts Council, click here.

In Memoriam

Thomas Bradac, a pillar of Orange County’s theatre community for decades, has died at the age of 76. Bradac was best known for his longtime championing of Shakespeare, leading first the Grove Shakespeare Festival and then Shakespeare Orange County. He was a founding director of the Shakespeare Theatre Association, an international service organization for theatres dedicated to producing Shakespeare, and additionally served as the organization’s president. He also served as the Chair of the Department of Theatre at Chapman University.

Read more here.

Langson Institute and Museum of

California Art Director to Step Down

Kimberley Kanatani, who came to the University of California, Irvine’s Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art as Museum Director in 2019, has decided to step down. Upon her arrival, she anticipated that it would take five years to demonstrate the promise of a new university art museum. “Here it is 2024 and I am so proud of the progress we have made together in advancing a co-created mission and vision,” she said. “I am deeply grateful for the work we have collaboratively accomplished and am returning to my family and home in New York with a sense of satisfaction in our collective efforts.”

For more information about the UCI Langson IMCA, click here.

Disneyland Performers Seek to Unionize 

Character and parade performers at Disneyland are seeking to unionize under Actors’ Equity Association, which has represented Walt Disney World stage actors since 1990. Equity’s goal would be to reach an agreement with Disney that includes annual wage increases that keep pace with inflation similar to the agreements the union has negotiated for Disney World actors.

Read more here.

Learn About Boosting Volunteer

Capacity with AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps will be hosting a series of Partner Site information sessions during the months of March and April. The 30 minute sessions will provide a brief overview of the AmeriCorps VIP program, how a VIP member can support your organization’s volunteer infrastructure and recruitment, the application process and the program year timeline.

For more information and to register, click here.

Welcome New ArtsOC Members

Arts Orange County is a membership organization. Our members help us forge innovative and effective collaborations, grow informed and active audiences and ensure that the arts are seen as essential to the emotional, physical, and economic well-being of our region. Our newest members are:

Elevate Aerial

https://www.elevateentertainment.net

https://www.elevatehb.com

Jack & Shanaz Langston Institute and Museum of California Art

www.imca.uci.edu

Moulton Museum

www.moultonmuseum.org

Yorba Linda Arts Alliance Foundation

www.artsyl.org

Autumn Thomas

https://www.elevateentertainment.net

https://www.elevatehb.com

Heba Soliman

https://flairandenigma.com

For membership information, contact Karen Ahola at kahola@artsoc.org

Nominations for 2024 OC Arts

Awards Being Accepted

Arts Orange County is now accepting nominations for the 24th OC Arts Awards. The benefit evening that recognizes and celebrates Orange County arts organizations, artists, and arts patrons will be held on September 24 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Samueli Theater.

For nomination guidelines and to submit a nominee, click here.

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