SUCCESS STORIES
Creative Arts * Creative Education * Creative Therapies
Santa Ana Utility Box Art Project to Kick Off
California’s Reopening with “Springtime”!
June 2021
After a year of pandemic lockdown, our community was reaching their breaking point regarding the fatigue from sheltering in place. With the end of a school year, a much-anticipated high school graduation, and California’s June 15th reopening, we timed our Utility Box Rehabilitation project to coincide with these milestone events.
OCCTAC and Corbin Family Resource Center wanted to celebrate the reopening with a chance to express our creativity and spread optimism with our “Springtime” visual art, designed by Marilyn De La Cruz, a design that was handpicked and voted on by the Corbin participants.
This free flow of creativity was our chance to welcome summer and essentially our “new normal.” With PPE in place, we came together to beautify a city corner with the artwork that exemplifies our community and our children’s resilience.
Thank you to Corbin FRC staff Ruby Godinez and Esme Silva from Children’s Bureau and to OCCTAC Artist Jose Lozano for mentoring the kids in creating a beautiful project.
Special Thanks to our emerging young artists: Marilyn De la Cruz (original artist), Brianna Ayala, Maria Serrano, Hayley Marino, and Daniel Cabral.
California Arts Council Awards OCCTAC $38,000 for
Education & Artists in Schools & Youth Arts Action Grants
May 2020
On May 5, 2020, the California Arts Council announced grant awards of $19,000 to Orange County Children’s Therapeutic Arts Center (OCCTAC) as part of its Arts Education/Artists in Schools program and another $19,000 as part of its Youth Arts Action program.
OCCTAC was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council of more than 1,500 grants awarded to nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state for their work in support of the agency’s mission to strengthen arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. The investment of nearly $30 million marks a more than $5 million increase over the previous fiscal year, and the largest in California Arts Council history.
Organizations were awarded grants across 15 different program areas addressing access, equity, and inclusion; community vibrancy; and arts learning and engagement; and directly benefiting our state's communities, with youth, veterans, returned citizens, and California's historically marginalized communities key among them. Successful projects aligned closely with the agency's vision of a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts.
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. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov
OCCTAC Director of Arts Education Exhibits at International Art Fair
February 2020
