The city of Santa Clarita issued its 2017 Arts Grants to various community organizations that will fund different community arts projects and arts services within the city of Santa Clarita.

The following organizations and projects were recipients of the grants, split into two groups:

Community Arts & Santa Clarita Presents Subcategories
Canyon Theatre Guild, “Broadway Musical” (Santa Clarita Presents): $7,500.
Escape Theatre, “Shrek, The Musical” (Santa Clarita Presents): $7,500
Grandeza Mexican Folk Ballet Co., “Deciembre Mexico” (Santa Clarita Presents): $7,500
Major Impact Theater audio visual equipment for live performances: $3,106
Santa Clarita Artists Association, Inc. Santa Clarita Arts Enrichment Programs: $5,000
Santa Clarita Ballet Company Co., “Alice in Wonderland/Contemporary Ballet” production (Santa Clarita Presents): $7,500
Santa Clarita Master Chorale, Inc. 2016-17 Concert Series (Santa Clarita Presents): $7,500
Santa Clarita Philharmonic 2017-18 Concert Season: $5,000
Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival bilingual fairy tale touring local title 1 schools: $5,000
Santa Clarita Valley Council PTA SCV PTA Reflections Program: $2,084
Spotlight Arts Summer Performing Arts Camps: $5,000

Arts Organization Capacity Subcategory
ARTree Community Arts Center, for office support and internet connection: $4,760
Forge Ahead Arts, for QuickBooks and web design: $2,550
Santa Clarita Artists Association, Inc. for sustaining the SCAA Art Gallery and Newhall arts community: $5,000
Santa Clarita Master Chorale, Inc. music video and commissioned work: $5,000
Santa Clarita Philharmonic, for marketing and outreach programs: $5,000
Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival, for marketing and increased visibility for LA SummerFEST: $5,000

The grants totaled to be $90,000.

The city of Santa Clarita (City) has provided funds for community organizations through the Community Services and Arts Grants program for approximately 27 years. Each year, a Grant Committee is assembled to determine funding categories, review and rate applications, and make final funding recommendations for community service and arts projects throughout Santa Clarita. This year’s Grant Committee for the Community Services and Arts Grants included Councilmember Bob Kellar, Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Commission Chair Michael Cruz, Arts Commission Chair Patti Rasmussen, and a City staff member from the Community Development department, Administrative Services department, and the Economic Development division.

The Grant Committee selected Community Benefit as the priority funding focus area for this year’s Community Services and Arts Grant program, a funding limit of up to $5,000 for the Community Arts and the Arts Organizational Capacity subcategories and $7,500 for the Santa Clarita Presents subcategory.

With the adoption of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016-17 budget, the City Council approved a budget for the Arts Grants program of $90,000. This year’s Arts Grants budget reflects the additional $30,000 approved by City Council in the 2016-17 budget.

Due to the additional $30,000, the Grant Committee added a new subcategory to the Arts Grants program titled Arts Organization Capacity and continued the two previous subcategories, Santa Clarita Presents and Community Arts. Twenty-two Arts Grants applications were received, with grant requests totaling $112,530. The breakdown of the Arts Grants applications received were six (6) in the Santa Clarita Presents subcategory, nine (9) in the Community Arts subcategory, and seven (7) in the new Arts Organization Capacity subcategory. This year’s Arts Grants program funded 17 applicants totaling $90,000. Attached is a list of the 17 agencies and
programs that were funded by the City Council at the January 24, 2017, meeting.

As part of the process to select grant recipients, the Grant Committee used a combination of rankings and discussions to select the final proposed recipients. Grant Committee members felt it was important to recommend funding for as many proposals as possible. Consequently, they were able to recommend funding for several additional grants in both the Community Services and Arts categories by distributing funds at a lower value than requested, ensuring a broader reach into the community.