Inside the Santa Ynez Valley Program Bringing Arts Education to Kids

In 1980, a group of Santa Ynez Valley artists were gutted by the massive budget cuts happening to arts programs in schools across the country. They knew something had to be done, so they founded Arts Outreach, a grassroots organization dedicated to ensuring that children would still have access to meaningful arts education, even when their schools could no longer afford dedicated art teachers. 

“They saw this opportunity to create a program that helped local artists and the schools,” said Executive Director Megan Linton. 

While we don’t know the names of the program’s founders, something Linton is on a mission to uncover, the program operates on the same foundation that the founders adopted decades ago: a simple love for the arts. 

Today, Arts Outreach offers a continuum of arts opportunities that surround students with creative experiences throughout the year. At its core are in-school workshops, where professional artists visit classrooms for multi-week residencies to teach visual and performing arts, giving students sustained, hands-on instruction rather than one-off activities.

The program also runs after-school classes that let students dive deeper into their interests, as well as artist residencies that place individual artists on campus for longer stretches to help embed the arts into school culture. 

Beyond the regular school day, Arts Outreach produces two youth theater productions each summer, offers music opportunities such as the Valley Glee vocal program, and hosts a summer arts camp. 

Linton, who grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley, got her start at Arts Outreach, first as a student and then as a teacher. It was in the program, she says, where she discovered the possibilities of the arts as a career. “My first creative experiences were through classes that I took at school from Arts Outreach instructors,” she recalls, “and it really stuck with me.” 

Unsurprisingly, when I ask Linton what some of the biggest challenges facing the Arts Outreach program are, funding is at the forefront. “We are able to do what we do through the support of our community,” said Linton. 

On May 8, pop singer P!nk (Alecia Beth Moore) hosted Voices of the Valley, a benefit for the arts in the Santa Ynez Valley. There, she spoke about her daughter, Willow Sage Hart, and how she benefited from the Arts Outreach Program. 

“I mean … I’m still kind of blown away by her generosity,” said Linton of Moore’s involvement in the fundraiser, “and she’s just so passionate about kids having access to programs like this that she really went above and beyond to help us put that together.” 

Aside from funding the many programs Arts Outreach offers, a portion of the community’s proceeds is put toward the program’s scholarships, as they believe cost should never be a barrier to participation in the arts. “The thing that’s really important to us as an organization is accessibility,” said Linton.

Scholarships are available whenever a family needs help, supported by funding that the program receives through various grants specifically for helping those in need. If parents can’t get their kids to extra programs, Arts Outreach still “meets them where they are” by bringing arts directly into schools, ensuring that children can access arts education regardless of financial or logistical constraints. 

As executive director, Linton has borne witness to the program’s impact. She recalls seeing students come to their theater camp, some barely able to say their name in front of others, and, by the end, they’re performing on stage. “I get teary just even talking about it,” she said, “because it shows it’s really important — the work that we do.” 

For more information about Arts Outreach, seeartsoutreach.org.