San Rafael, CA — The California Arts Council has announced a grant award of $36,479 to Youth in Arts as part of its Creative Youth Development and Arts and Cultural Organizations General Operating Support programs during its 2024-25 fiscal year grant cycle. Support awarded will continue to benefit communities throughout the state until the end of the project cycle timeline in September 2025.
Thanks to support from the California Arts Council, Youth in Arts will continue to provide essential programs, including Artists in Schools (AIS) which brings professional, working artists to schools through long-term residencies; Arts Unite Us (AUU), providing on-going arts access for students with disabilities; and the Intensive Arts Mentorship (I AM) which provides paid internships for emerging youth artists. General Operating support will bolster Youth in Art’s commitment to advocating for and delivering equitable and accessible arts education that amplifies student voice, fosters community development, and forges creative pathways for systematically marginalized communities.
The CAC’s Creative Youth Development (CYD) program will advance our I AM program that offers teens mentorship and job skills training. The CYD grant will directly support mentorship sessions, public art creation and installation, teaching artists’ fees, and the student participants’ stipends, ensuring that our programs continue to provide valuable skills, opportunities, and exposure for underrepresented youth in our community.
“We are deeply grateful to the California Arts Council for their generous support, which enables Youth in Arts to continue advancing our mission of providing equitable arts education and creative empowerment,” said Youth in Arts Executive Director Taylor Buttrey.
“These grants will help us continue to expand our Intensive Arts Mentorship Program, sustain key programs in our schools, support students with disabilities through Arts Unite Us, and strengthen `Til Dawn, our teen a cappella group.”
Youth in Arts was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council of more than 800 grant awards totaling close to $19.5 million in overall projected investments for operational and project support to nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state of California.
The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. The Arts Council is California’s leading public arts grants provider with funding accessible to every county in California.
“Art makes us who we are in California,” said California Arts Council Executive Director Danielle Brazell. “We are defined by our creative workforce, and our everyday lives are informed, enriched, and uplifted by the artists and cultural workers across our state. On behalf of the CAC, I offer my sincere congratulations – and my gratitude – to each of our award recipients for this grant cycle.”
“We pledged fealty to our comprehensive and field – informed Strategic Framework in our decision making for funding for this fiscal year,” said Council Chair Roxanne Messina Captor. “Council made every effort to make each dollar in our budget go its furthest toward our most important aspirations for our agency, our governor, and our Legislature alike: to create a California for all, where the arts are accessible to all.”
Organizations were awarded grants across nine different program areas designed to benefit the whole of California’s arts and culture ecosystem, including a second year of funding for two-year programs awarded in the previous fiscal year. Award funds prioritize many of the aspirations articulated in the agency’s Strategic Framework, specifically increasing opportunities for general operating and multiyear grants, geographic equity, individual artists, small organizations, and state-local partner funding and capacity building.
Read the full announcement by the California Arts Council for more details and to view a complete listing of all 2024-25 CAC grantees by county, alphabetically by organization, and by program.
###
Youth in Arts builds visual and performing arts skills through innovative and in-depth programs that foster confidence, compassion and resilience in students of all abilities. We develop capacity among educators and teaching artists, advocate for equitable access to arts education and offer opportunities for youth to share their creative voices.
###
CAC Media Inquiries Only:
Kimberly Brown
California Arts Council
Public Affairs Specialist
kimberly.brown@arts.ca.gov
The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. It supports local arts infrastructure and programming statewide through grants, initiatives, and services. The California Arts Council envisions a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts.
Members of the California Arts Council include: Roxanne Messina Captor, Chair; Leah Goodwin, Vice Chair; Gerald Clarke; Caleb Duarte; Vicki Estrada; Roy Hirabayashi; Alex Israel; Dorka Keehn; Phil Mercado; Nicola Miner. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.