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The Arts are the Seeds of Innovation

Arts Connection is dedicated to stimulating creative and economic vitality and enriching lives throughout the communities we serve by providing support, promotion, education, and advocacy for the arts.

Community Building

Fostering cross sector partnerships that engage the arts as a vehicle for community building, economic empowerment, and narrative change.

Career Support

Connecting artists and arts organizations to financial resources, local networks, and professional consultants and opportunities that enhance their creative endeavors, events and projects.

Creative Network

Building the creative capacity and network of every artist, arts leader, arts organization and cultural institution across the county to advance the cultural, social and economic life of our communities.

Arts Advocacy

Serving as a central advocate, voice, and resource for how to utilize creative strategies and approaches to solve some of the most pressing county wide priorities.

We believe your voice will shape a more equitable, creative future

We provide support, services, and programs to help develop your artistic practice, find opportunities and meet other artists and organizations to work and collaborate with.

Grant
Writing

We offer low-cost grant writing workshops on a regular basis and customized grant writing and program development support services for all of our partner artists and organizations.

Fiscal
Sponsorship

Arts Connection provides this service to artists, projects, and other organizations looking to expand their ability to fundraise and meet grant requirements. An application is required.

Micro
Grants

This grant program awards $500 and $1,000 grants to individual artists living and working in San Bernardino County. Applications open every year in January.

Professional Development

Every year we offer in-depth professional development workshops and networking events, for both artists and organizational leadership on a wide range of topics, from public art to marketing.

We believe your voice will shape a more equitable, creative future.

We provide support, services, and programs to help develop your artistic practice, find opportunities and meet other artists and organizations to work and collaborate with.

Grant
Writing

We offer low cost grant writing workshops on a regular basis and customized grant writing and program development support services for all of our partner artists and organizations.

Fiscal Sponsorships

Arts Connection provides this service to artists, projects, and other organizations looking to expand their ability to fundraise and meet grant requirements. An application is required.

Micro Grants

This grant program awards $500 grants to individual artists living and working in San Bernardino County. Applications open every year in January.

Professional Development

Every year Arts Connection offers in-depth professional development workshops and networking events, for both artists and organizational leadership on a wide range of topics, from public art to media and marketing.

Our Impact

$1.6 million

Funding we’ve helped arts organizations in San Bernardino County receive  to date

375

Artists we’ve helped find jobs or hired to date

125

Organizations we’ve helped
increase capacity

Arts Advocacy Leadership

Join our region wide leadership group today. Learn about our regional platform and approach and find out when our upcoming meets are.

Learn more current funding opportunities today!

Bookmark our grant funding page to stay up to date on emerging opportunities for regional, state and national funding sources. This document is an open source Google Doc you can access anytime.

Research and Publications

We keep an extensive library of past and current reports and publications relevant to the field. Take some time and explore the collection here.

Upcoming Events

DV8
19
April
4:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Santa Fe Trading Co. 15464 7th St, Victorville, CA 92395
Victorville, CA

DV8 Art Walk

Support your local artists! Every third Friday, 4-9pm. Did ...

DV8
17
May
4:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Santa Fe Trading Co. 15464 7th St, Victorville, CA 92395
Victorville, CA

DV8 Art Walk

Support your local artists! Every third Friday, 4-9pm. Did ...

No event found!

Hear What Our Partners Have to Say

Thanks to your workshop, encouragement and help, I was able to complete a grant request to the CA Arts Council for $5000 to redesign CCMA’s website. Regardless of whether it is successful, I learned a lot going through the grant application process. I discovered it is less fearsome than I anticipated, and very friendly toward amateur grant writers like me. It was your urging that made me listen to the CAC webinar on this year’s grant opportunities. It was your coaching at the workshop that spurred me to apply. It was your answer to my e-mail that made me try again after the first failure.` If CCMA is successful, it will be fully due to your personal support and tips for success.
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Nancy DeDiemar
Chaffey Community Museum of Art
Mil-tree brings veterans, active duty, and civilians together through arts and dialogue to help transform the wounds of war. Arts Connection helped put Mil-tree on the map by collaborating on 4 successful California Arts Council, Veterans Initiative in the Arts grants — Joining Forces: Plant to Paper Project, The Sanctuary Project, and Moving the Memories: A Movement Workshop lead by Diavolo Dance Theater, and a retreat called, “The Art of Resilience”, that brought together vets transitioning from military service to civilian life, with other community members to share their stories through dialogue, writing and performative storytelling.
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Cheryl Montelle
Founder and Executive Director of Mil-tree
On behalf of the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council, I would like to highly compliment the organizers from Arts Connection for putting together grants 'how-to' presentations at their offices at the Garcia Center in the city of San Bernardino, hosting grant application workshops locally in the Morongo Basin, and having in depth seminars in applying for grants at their annual conference. In addition the Arts Connection staff is always available to answer questions via email. For most of us, grant writing is very intimidating and complex. Without their help, many local arts organizations would not know where to start, let alone complete a successful grant application.
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Marcia Geiger
President (Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council)

Steve Thomas Tribute

Steve Thomas (1950-2022) passed peacefully on November 24, 2022. During his incredible life, he shared his passion for people and photography during a long professional career in the arts. With over 30 years of teaching, curating and exhibiting in Southern California, Steve was also a generous mentor and volunteer for causes he deeply cared about.

Steve worked as the Curator of Collections at the UCR/California Museum of Photography at the University of California Riverside (1995-2006). In 2006 after retirement from UCR, Steve accepted the position of Curator of Education at the Riverside Art Museum and in 2007 he jumped at the opportunity to become a hometown Museum Curator at the Ontario Museum of History and Art. Steve was a long-standing board member for Arts Connection, helping to found the Arts Innovator Micro Grant program, in addition to dedicated efforts to be an ambassador for the arts in the entire region. He faihfully attended almost every event and rolled up his sleeves to help hang shows, staple info packets and, most importantly, build bridges.

As a board member for Chaffey Community Museum of Art, he also sat on the steering committee for the City of Ontario Community Life and Culture Agency. Steve was one of the many organizers for the inaugural 2018 Ontario Arts Festival. He co-lead the effort to re-establish art exhibitions at Ontario International Airport, displaying artwork by artists who live and work within the region that is served by airport. He also founded the popular First Artist program, giving regional artists a way to connect during COVID and beyond. We will miss Steve deeply and are incredibly grateful to his guidance and support of our work for close to 5 years.

 

Funding Partners

Network Partners

Native Land Acknowledgement

Arts Connection acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva, Serrano, Chemehuevi, Vanyume, Cahuilla, Halchidoma, and Mojave peoples as the traditional land caretakers of various parts of the region. As an arts and culture serving organization, we pay our respects to the ancestors, elders, and our relatives/relations past, present, and emerging. If you have more information, history, and/or stories to share for us to include in this section of our site, please email the office directly at info@artsconnectionnetwork.org

Stay Connected With Us

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OFFICE ADDRESS

The Garcia Center for the Arts
536 W. 11th Street
San Bernardino, CA 92410

MAILING ADDRESS

P.O. Box 1181
San Bernardino, CA 92402

Arts Connection is a state-local partner to the California Arts Council, designated by the county board of supervisors to serve the county’s citizens. As the local arts agency, we are officially designated to provide financial support, services, or other programs to a variety of cultural arts organizations, individual artists, and the diverse communities of the county.

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