Arts Council for Monterey County

The Arts Council for Monterey County improves the quality of life for everyone in its region by strengthening arts organizations, supporting individual artists, and providing arts education to thousands of students each year. The Community Arts program, formerly known as the Cultural Arts Grant program, provides technical and financial support to individual artists and small arts organizations that serve Monterey County communities in which the need is greatest.

The Arts Council for Monterey County strengthens arts organizations and supports individual artists by providing technical assistance programs, collaborative marketing efforts, and grants. Its arts education programs support teaching artists and provide services for nearly 4,000 students across Monterey County. Funding for a new Cultural Arts Grants program will enable the organization to provide increased technical and financial support to small arts and cultural groups located in the underserved parts of the county.

The Arts Council for Monterey County supports and promotes artists and arts organizations that serve the county’s 415,000 residents and 8.1 million visitors. The Arts Council centralizes and promotes arts information through its web site, provides grants (funded by the county’s tourism and occupancy tax), facilitates workshops on trends and best practices in the arts, and convenes its constituents around areas of common interest. In addition, the Arts Council places professional artists in schools and provides after-school and out-of-school arts workshops for youth and families throughout Monterey County. A presidential discretionary grant would enable the Arts Council to develop an operational plan for a new arts center in the City of Greenfield that has the potential to serve thousands of residents each year.