Creative San Rafael Selected by CAC

Youth in Arts Receives California Arts Council

“Creative California Communities” Grant

Youth in Arts is among 24 projects funded statewide in support of transforming communities through the arts

The California Arts Council announced it plans to award $30,000 to Youth in Arts as part of its new Creative California Communities program. This award will support Youth in Arts’ Creative San Rafael project, which will link multiple arts organizations together to revitalize San Rafael through the arts.
Projects supported by the Creative California Communities program represent a wide range of arts disciplines, and aim to revitalize neighborhoods through the arts, foster new arts engagement, stimulate tourism, create jobs for artists, invest in young people, and build relationships between local arts, business, and government entities.
“Creative San Rafael” will use arts to make downtown San Rafael a destination point. Youth in Arts, the City of San Rafael, business and arts organizations will collaborate to create a series of arts installations and events. Using quotes from famous San Rafael artists as inspiration, the city will come alive with community arts activities engaging people of all ages. Professional artists will work with children and adults to create banners and murals throughout downtown.
“We know that arts has long been a vital part of San Rafael with a deep history of artists who live, work and create here. Creative San Rafael will showcase these artists and create multiple wonderful opportunities for the community to celebrate this wonderful city,” states Youth in Arts Executive Director Miko Lee.
“The Creative California Communities program supports many significant projects in large and small communities across California, demonstrating the power of the arts to transform our state,” said Wylie Aitken, Chair of the California Arts Council. “Our Council was inspired by the overwhelming response to this program, which revealed the scope of unmet needs for the arts in our communities.”
The California Arts Council received 157 applications for this highly competitive grant program, which is supported by one-time funds from the California State Assembly. After an open application process, a peer advisory panel reviewed all grant applications, followed by a review and vote from the Council at a public meeting in Los Angeles on June 18, 2014. The twenty-four projects supported by this grant program will reach nineteen counties across California.
For a complete listing of projects supported by the Creative California Communities program, visit the California Arts Council website.
Youth in Arts is the leading arts education nonprofit in the North Bay, offering students experiences and instruction in the visual and performing arts, and enriching the community with cultural events. Programs include Artists in Schools instruction in visual, performing and new media arts; Arts Unite Us, bringing together students of differing abilities in shared arts experiences.  Youth in Arts Presents theatrical presentations and school assemblies; `Til Dawn award-winning teen a cappella and YIA Gallery, featuring one of the only children’s art galleries in California. www.youthinarts.org