SB Bowl to give $.25 of Every Ticket Sold to County Arts Commission
County Arts Commission to Expand Access to Arts and Cultural Programs
The Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission. As part of an updated lease agreement with the County of Santa Barbara, the Bowl has created an arts subsidy fund with twenty-five cents per ticket sold to every Bowl concert contributing. The much-needed funds will be used by the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission to leverage additional funding sources and community resources, eliminate barriers like materials, artist fees and transportation costs to provide cultural activities, music and art instruction to rural youth, and build beneficial partnerships and collaborations throughout Santa Barbara County.
Ginny Brush, Executive Director of the Arts Commission states “This partnership with the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation will allow the Arts Commission to reach and serve small rural communities and other areas of the County that currently have little or no access to art, and cultural activities. We intend to maximize the impact of the funds generated from this agreement by leveraging them to attract private funding support, volunteerism and increase community engagement.”
The payment for the 2011 Concert Season is to be presented to the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission by members of the Bowl Education Outreach Committee on January 11 at the Arts Commission’s monthly meeting. The initial payment will be in the amount of $30,033.75 and will be administered from the Bowl’s Education Outreach program. Brush explained “These new Art Subsidy funds will be distributed by the Arts Commission in the form of Cultural Enrichment Grants twice a year. Grant submittal forms and criteria for the first round will be available online March 15th at www.sbartscommission.org. Enrichment Grant requests can range from $500-5,000.”
This is not the first time The Santa Barbara Bowl Education Outreach and the Arts Commission have worked together. Both organizations were involved in the very popular Pianos on State Street project in November along with a number of other collaborators who joined together to make music accessible to all while promoting the annual instrument drive initiated by the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, Notes 4 Notes, Santa Barbara Education Foundation and Granada Arts Outreach.
The Education Outreach Program, in keeping with the SB Bowl Foundation’s core mission statement, provides much needed arts education outreach within the Santa Barbara community. Education Outreach focuses on presenting music and performing arts programs to local students either at the Bowl or at other local venues, schools, or after-school centers. Reaching approximately 20,000 children each year, the program is led by Bowl Board members and other dedicated volunteers working to foster partnerships, facilitate communication and create effective collaborations to leverage opportunities for arts education.
The Arts Commission, established in 1977 is a 15-member panel with three representatives appointed by each of the five County District Supervisors. The Commission, a division of the County’s Community Services Department, organizes public exhibitions in Santa Maria at the Betteravia Gallery and the Channing Peake Gallery in Santa Barbara in addition to administering the County’s Percent for Art public art program. For more information on the work of the Arts Commission visit www.sbartscommission.org.