Our Artists and Creatives Grants provide financial support - generally up to $2,500 - to independent creatives (including collectives and collaborators) making or presenting creative work relating to or encouraging community engagement. We are committed to helping projects that depart from the routine and present new, distinct and imaginative possibilities. We primarily support projects taking place in Southern California, but sometimes those further afield that well match our guidelines. We especially encourage applications from those who have been historically excluded from the mainstream art world. This includes, but is not limited to, those who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Trans, Deaf, Disabled, Immigrant or Refugee, or Self-Taught.
Cindy El
2024
Letters to Palestine: A theatrical, poetic, and artistic workshop
“Letters to Palestine,” a poetry workshop by Cindy El, uses visual arts and theater to create art in relationship to Palestine. Participants will write poetic letters in relation to the news and social issues and employ cultural theatrical practices to translate their poems into spoken words and monologues. Those who prefer a visual route will create collages in unison with their poetry. At the end of the five weekly meetings, there will be a poetry performance and visual art display to showcase the community’s work.
Olissa Francisco
2024
Cheguei: Finding Home Through Movement
“Cheguei” (“I’ve arrived” in Portuguese) is a four-week AfroBrazilian dance workshop series with live traditional percussion focusing on developing the participants’ experience of themselves and their body, spirituality, lineage, and their connection with each other. Through these in-depth movement sessions, participants will be given the space and time to deeply and tangibly improve their movement quality, expression, musicality, and overall dance level and ability. Led by Olissa Francisco, the workshops will take place Sonoma County, an area that lacks adequate access to cultural art forms, particularly dance. This will be a crucial offering that diversifies the dance landscape in the area and serves an existing need in the community.
Elvira Garcia
2024
Sharing the Art of Oaxacan Pre-Hispanic Culinary Traditions
Elvira Garcia will bring the wonders of traditional Cocina de Humo (“Smoke Kitchen”) to Southern California through a partnership with Rancho los Cerritos, a traditional 1800s California homestead in Long Beach, CA. The project will enrich and broaden this cultural institution’s storytelling by highlighting pre-Hispanic cooking techniques, including building and supplying a comal (a traditional tortilla griddle) and a fogón (an ancestral clay oven). The community will learn traditional ways of cooking and how tools, such as a molcajete and a metate, are used to transform raw food into delicious recipes.
Sakina Ibrahim
2024
Beats and Betrayal: Macbeth Reimagined
“Beats and Betrayal: Macbeth Reimagined” creates a groundbreaking theatrical experience that blends the timeless themes of ambition, power, and fate from Macbeth with the energy, creativity, and cultural relevance of hip-hop. Dance scholar Sakina Ibrahim aims to create an engaging and contemporary interpretation that resonates with modern audiences through engaging multigenerational and multicultural performances. Sakina plans to use this production as a tool for education and community engagement, providing workshops and discussions on both Shakespeare and hip-hop.
Lili Razi
2024
The World’s Public Spaces: A Cultural Placemaking Mosaic
Lili Razi’s project, “The World’s Public Spaces: A Cultural Placemaking Mosaic,” aims to create a visually engaging and culturally diverse booklet that highlights public spaces across different cultures. By gathering input from various communities about their use and perception of these spaces, the booklet will showcase unique experiences of public areas worldwide, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of these environments. Online group discussions, meetings, and community interactions will allow global placemaking members to share their experiences and insights. These interactions will help to shape the final booklet, to be distributed both digitally and physically, culminating in a webinar and possibly an exhibition.
Jenna Sophia Wadsworth
2024
Integrations, Renovations, Celebrations
Jenna Sophia Wadsworth will invite a small group of local multi-disciplinary artists to collaborate on integrative new works of art, poetry, and music that will explore themes related to building community. Poets will select one of their original poems, and exchange the words with another poet, and remix the content to create new works. Improvisational music will be inspired by both words and visuals, forming an immersive extrasensory experience for the audience. The finished work will be presented during the Santa Ana Art Walk at The Healing Arts Gallery. This pilot project will hopefully lead to further collaborations that continue to build partnerships throughout the community.
Lexa Walsh
2024
Mourning Song Tea Talks
Lexa Walsh will facilitate a series of “Tea Talk” discussions with veterans and civilians centered around her exhibition “Mourning Song.” This project activates the former military guard station at Fort Mason with an installation of ceramic, textile and mixed media works resembling medals, plaques, and other military decoration. These oversized awards are impossible to wear, like the burden and weight that war creates. Gathering in intimate groupings over homemade meals, “Tea Talk” participants will discuss the complexities of war; how we find value in certain wars more than others, who is valued, and how this value can change with time.
Isabella Thorpe-Woods
2024
Little by little Brooklyn (Lxl) Residency
Co-founded by Isabella Thorpe-Woods and Simeon Beardsley, the Little by little Brooklyn (Lxl) Residency is a performer-in-residency program that is directed towards emerging, experimental, and transdisciplinary artists who may not be eligible for developing new work at larger organizations. Lxl has three offshoots: an experimental performer-in-residency program in a historic synagogue; a nomadic monthly art market; and a three-person capacity gallery in a Brooklyn cafe’s mop-closet, The Alcove, which platforms emerging and established artists across backgrounds and mediums in a modest yet impactful way. The residency provides approachable and readily available ways for the Brooklyn public to consider, encounter, and interact with interdisciplinary art and performance.
THE COOLLAB PROJECT
2024
The Coollab Project
The “Coollab” is a free open mic and jam session that has been hosted biweekly in Downtown Santa Ana for the past eight years. It is dedicated to creating cool collaborations through music and has welcomed artists of all ages and walks of life to share their craft, grow their audience, and expand their networks. Participants can expect professionally shot videos, photos, and a sound system operated by an experienced audio technician while featured artists and bands are offered paid performances. Organizer Priscilla Reyes and her fellow “Coollaborators” believe art should be accessible to everybody and that working creatives should be compensated fairly for their abilities and passions.
MEGAN CURET
2024
Cuerpos Sin Fronteras
“Cuerpos Sin Fronteras” is a communal choreographic concept that examines the complexities of the human relationship to borders. This project aims to work in community to elucidate the concept of decolonization and how it can be applied to the movement of the body. By blending two distinct styles of movement, bomba and contemporary dance, this investigation and practice will take place through community movement workshops entitled “En Ritmo.” With weekly engagements with migrants living in two border communities, artist Megan Curet will develop a distinct communal work set against the backdrop of the U.S.-Mexico border. The culmination will be a public facing presentation sharing what has been developed within their communities.
CLAUDIA Y. NAFFA
2024
Introduction to Photography - Light Painting
Created by artist Claudia Naffa, Introduction to Photography – Light Painting introduces elementary school students to the captivating world of photography and enhances their understanding of light in science and art. Through tailored workshops, students become active contributors to the artistic process, which allows them to express their creativity and unique perspectives. This educational initiative offers an engaging introduction to artistic expression that also fosters collaboration among students and promotes teamwork and communication skills. The final presentation will be a collaborative showcase of the students' imaginative creations, providing a platform for them to share their perspectives regardless of their grade level.
ALEXANDRA NEUMAN
2024
The Collective Womb
“The Collective Womb,” created by artist Alexandra Neuman, is a participatory action art performance that allows its audience to collectively tap into a speculative matriarchal world where abortion is celebrated as a natural part of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The audience participation in an outdoor space at night is intended to create the feeling of an ecstatic group ritual, enhanced by participatory gestures, matriarchal liturgy, and ritual clothing for the audience members to wear. It is in this space of communal consciousness-raising that the boundaries between fiction and reality can be blurred, and a matriarchal worldview can slip into existence.
ROSA MARIA PIZANO
2024
My Community, Family & Me Mural Initiative
Community organizer Rosa Pizano is spearheading this mural project as part of the beautification initiative for the Sullivan Street community in Santa Ana. The “My Community, Family & Me” Mural Initiative is designed to celebrate the rich tapestry of the neighborhood, portraying its history, diversity, and aspirations for the future. Incorporating community workshops and interactive elements, the project will invite participation and collaboration from local artists, volunteers, and youth. When completed, the mural will create a beautiful and lasting symbol of unity, culture, and hope for the Sullivan Street community.
SEDIMENTO COLLABORATIVE
2024
Sedimento: ensayos de cuerpo y memoria (Sediment: Studies in Movement and Memory)
Grounded in the body, both individual and collective, “Sedimento” examines the aftermath of authoritarian rule and current questions of democratic process, social fabric, dreams, and meaning-making in current-day Chile. Co-directed by David Legue, Cristóbal Racordon, and Eryn Rosenthal, the research-based dance theater work is created in collaboration with a diverse, intergenerational community of seven artist activists. “Sedimento” uses movement and the body to investigate larger questions of democracy, empathy, and community, examining how they exist in the public sphere through the connections they create with one another. Scheduled to premiere in early 2025, the work will tour throughout Latin America and the U.S. in tandem with public dialogues and workshops.
ELIZABETH SMITH
2024
Alchemy of Resilience
“Alchemy of Resilience” is a community healing art project designed to empower young people of color in the state of Florida who are committed to making a healing change in their community. Created by Elizabeth Smith, the project will include regional meetings where young advocates can engage in artistic expression as a means of healing and resilience building. Each participant will contribute a "care ofrenda" (offering) to a collective art display, symbolizing the unity and strength of their community. The meetings will include workshops on community care, resilience building, and the role of art in social justice.
AMY TANAKA
2024
Artful Abundance: Depicting Filipino Culinary Culture on Long Beach’s Westside
North Long Beach Asian-American artist Amy Tanaka will create a mural on the wall of A&F Market, a Cambodian-owned business that supports the Westside's significant Filipino population with fresh, culturally relevant foods. According to studies by the Filipino Migrant Center, the community eats a diet high in white rice, meat and fried food and desperately desire more fresh food options in their neighborhood. The mural will highlight that the market is an oasis of fresh Southeast Asian foods, provide cultural beautification on the boulevard, and deepen neighborhood engagement by inviting residents to participate in paint parties and co-design sessions.
CLARA TORO
2024
Las Familias de Wynwood
“La Familias de Wynwood” builds upon artist Clara Toro’s documentary, photographic exhibit featuring Hispanic immigrants in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. Wynwood, known for its graffiti and art scene, had never had an exhibit of and for their residents. The response to the first exhibit was very positive and more residents have asked to participate. For this second chapter, Clara will print a few hundred photos of neighbors who were not featured in the first exhibit. She plans to display them at the community center in an eclectic collection of frames that replicates the photo walls proudly displayed in neighborhood homes.
STACEY VILLALOBOS
2024
Cuentos y Cantos al Desierto
“Cuentos y Cantos al Desierto” is a culmination of cultural work and an interdisciplinary art practice by Stacey Villalobos. This three-day program is a bilingual and bicultural offering to the communities in and around Lee Vining, California who oftentimes cannot access nature-based programs in their language and/or with a framework for cultural sensitivity. Participants will be led on guided hikes, paying special attention to botany, desert adaptations, being a good guest on native land, and land relations for diaspora. Stories and songs will be shared, with the artist providing prompts for journaling, meditations on “catching songs,” and the sharing of these traditional practices to strengthen relations with land, people, and ancestors.