Key Points

• A nonprofit public charity, the Inland Empire Community Foundation helps individuals, families, and businesses achieve their dreams. The organization received a $4.7 million grant from the California Arts Council to promote California Creative Corps’s initiative. 

• More funding to nonprofits for arts and culture will positively impact the Inland Empire. As a result, AEP6, the sixth economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry in the U.S., has also been launched. Nonprofit arts and culture organizations conduct this study approximately every five years to gauge the economic impact of their spending.

The California Arts Council (CAC) granted $4.7 million in funds to the Inland Empire Community Foundation, Arts Connection – the San Bernardino County Arts Council, Riverside Arts Council, and the California Desert Arts Council on 18th October. 

New State Arts Program: Empowering and Celebrating the Artists

October is National Arts & Humanities Month. The $4.7 million grant will be used to administer funds for a new state arts program called the California Creative Corps. The CAC views this program primarily as a chance to build infrastructure and create jobs while expanding how artists participate in public work. 

California Creative Corps by CAC

California Creative Corps is a pilot program for economic and workforce rehabilitation designed by CAC. It aims to inspire safe and healthy behavior across California’s various communities by using artist-led messaging distributed through a media outreach and engagement campaign. 

This program provides grants to local, regional, and statewide organizations in all 58 counties to support underemployed artists in developing public awareness messages and projects. The artist’s messages could support civic engagement and community participation in multiple priority areas, such as pandemic recovery and environmental, civic, and social engagement. 

Through a partnership with three regional arts organizations – Arts Connection – the San Bernardino County Arts Council, Riverside Arts Council, and CA Desert Arts Council, IECF is one of 14 Administering Organizations (AOs) chosen by the California Arts Council to manage regranting funds specifically in the Inland Empire. 

Building Thriving Communities for Future Generations in the Inland Empire

With the help of funds, creative public art, media, and engagement initiatives and campaigns targeting health inequities in communities will be supported by IE-based artists and groups. 

This grant program aims to cover as much ground as possible, including all 58 counties, while prioritizing areas with the most need, as measured by the California Healthy Places Index (HPI).

In the upcoming months, artists should look for chances to participate in regional listening sessions for program design and local relationships. The call for artists will open in the middle of 2023. This program fits well with other innovative initiatives in the Inland region’s arts and cultural industry. 

Launch of Arts & Economic Prosperity 6

In collaboration with Americans for the Arts, the San Bernardino County Arts Council, Riverside Arts Council, and California Desert Arts Council are launching the Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6), a national study of the economic effects of the nonprofit arts and culture sector in the Inland Empire. 

Wrap Up!

The Inland Empire Community Foundation received a $4.7 million grant from the California Arts Council (CAC). The aim is to use the grant to manage funding for the California Creative Corps, a brand-new state arts initiative. 

The CAC sees this program as an opportunity to develop infrastructure, generate employment, and increase the involvement of artists in public work. This grant program prioritizes the neediest regions while trying to reach as many of the 58 counties as possible.