Ventura County Arts Council

The Ventura County Arts Council, an independent nonprofit 501(c )(3) public benefit organization, supports and strengthens the arts throughout Ventura County by stimulating greater understanding that the arts are necessary to a healthy community.

Description:
Ventura County Arts Council works to: increase the visibility and participation in the arts; expand funding for the arts; promote quality arts education and learning through the arts in public and private schools; and coordinate a strong, united voice for the arts on a local, regional, state and national level. In 2009 the VCAC introduced an innovative, new ARTISTS IN COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP GRANTS PROGRAM through a collaboration with the Ventura County Community Foundation ArtsLIVE in Ventura County initiative funded by The James Irvine Foundation. These projects by the artists and their non-arts community partners will focus on helping the community partner solve an organizational problem, or helping them work with their clientele, or helping address a community issue by involving several affected partners. With the backing and greater visibility of The James Irvine Foundation, the Ventura County Community Foundation, and the Ventura County Arts Council, this larger effort will make more of an impact on the community. The artists will get recognition for their community activities and the artist's skills will serve as a valuable tool for making the county more livable. The ultimate goal of this effort is to show how the arts can interact with other sectors of the community, to their mutual benefit, while at the same time using the inherent powers of the arts experience to expand the view of the arts in new populations. To show the community that artists have the skills that make them effective partners in solving the challenges that are facing them. This new grants program joins ongoing major programs of the VCAC which are: ARTIST RESIDENCY PROGRAM in Providence School at the Juvenile Justice facility on Vineyard; the ARTS-IN-THE-CLASSROOM MINI-GRANT PROGRAM - the only countywide program funding the arts in elementary schools; the ART EXHIBIT SERIES in the County Government Center Atrium Lobby Gallery the most visible art exhibit space in the county.

History:
The Ventura County Arts Council, founded in 1996, is a 501(c)(3) public benefit organization devoted to the principle that the arts are essential in preserving the quality of life in Ventura County. In 2001 to further refine our mission, the Council developed a countywide Cultural Arts Plan to determine the status and needs of arts organizations in Ventura County and develop an overarching vision to guide the arts council's development and services to the arts.

Contact person: Margaret Travers, Executive Director, (phone), (email)

Main office number: (805) 658-2213
Office fax number: (805) 658-2281

Address:

646 County Square Drive, Suite 154 Ventura, CA 93003-0436 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.venturacountyartscouncil.org

Directions:

Take Victoria Ave. exit from the 101 Freeway, following the signs to the Government Center. Cross Telephone Road and prepare to make a left turn at the next light which is Thille Street. Go one block on Thille. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: S. Victoria Ave. & Telephone Road, 5 minutes minute walk

Last updated on October 6, 2009