| Contra Costa County, CA Official Website

The Arts and Culture Commission would like to thank the arts community for their support at the July 28th Measure X meeting! Measure X is Contra Costa’s new countywide half-cent sales tax. The Measure X Community Advisory Board was formed to identify unmet community needs and recommend spending priorities to the county Board of Supervisors.

The Advisory Board meets 5:00 pm every Wednesday via Zoom:

https://cccounty-us.zoom.us/j/81176769191

Community members are welcome to provide public comment verbally after each panel presentation.

Summary:

Contra Costa County has the 3rd largest population in Bay Area with lowest arts budget at $.12 per person.
California Arts Council no longer funds the ABOUTFACE Veteran self-portrait program.

Transformational ideas:

District Public Art Program: Let's build Contra Costa County’s first public art program following best practices of other Bay Counties.
Youth Advisor in each District: We want to expand equity and opportunity to every District!
Arts Connection: We want to connect artists and art organizations for quarterly meetings for advocacy, opportunities, and data collection.
Community Art Fund: Support up to 5 community art projects a year!
AIRS (Artist-in-Residency in the School) pilot program: Place teaching artists in CCC schools to work with students to create an art project.
Build Structures: Community creates policy for new and signature programs based on equity!

Ask: $625,000 at $.54 per resident!

Let’s build an arts foundation for Contra Costa County!

Arts and Culture Prospectus

of Contra Costa County

In a time of a historical pandemic, calls for racial equity and social justice highlight the need to recalibrate our focus, shift strategies and invest in projects that will have more direct impact on our diverse communities. Requests for district art projects along with Contra Costa County government and community organization collaborations have increased. Therefore, the Arts and Culture Commission recently requested the re-budget of the venture capital for FY 2021-22 to create an updated Arts & Culture Prospectus of Contra Costa County which will act as a community action plan and identify art projects that are specific to the unique needs of a supervisorial district in the County.

In May 2021, the County Board of Supervisors approved the development of an updated Arts and Culture Prospectus of Contra Costa County. From July 2021 to June 2022, the Arts and Culture Commission proposes to identify community stakeholders, facilitate two workshops, and present an updated Arts & Culture Prospectus for Contra Costa County with a District Art Projects proposal to the Board of Supervisors. The overall guiding principles for the Prospectus will be to increase engagement, outreach, community awareness, highlight art resources, and conduct a community evaluation.

The Arts and Culture Commission and community stakeholders will be working together towards collective arts and cultural goals.

Here’s our plan!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2TADmDF_QU

The Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County in partnership with the California Arts Council, National Endowments for the Arts, and Poetry Foundation proudly supports Poetry Out Loud (POL), a national recitation contest open to high school students. Poetry Out Loud generates a love of poetry, helps students master public speaking, and builds self-confidence.

The program is open to all Contra Costa County high schools and organizations that work with grades 9-12 (homeschoolers can also participate).

CONGRATULATIONS

2020-21 LACOG GRANTEES!

EAST BAY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

RICHMOND ART CENTER

RYSE CENTER

THE QUINAN STREET PROJECT

About LACOG: In partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the California Arts Council (CAC) awarded the Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County a grant as part of the 2020 State-Local Partner Cares Relief Fund. The Commission will administer a sub-grant program (LACOG) to fund general operating support, and/or project-based support to local arts and cultural organizations serving communities of color disproportionately affected by COVID-19. LACOG awardees are paired with commissioners to receive one-on-one guidance and support.