Translate

Partnership Projects

Arts Connection has partnered with dozens of artists and organizations over the years to bring innovative program to our communities. Explore our collaborations below.

The Breeze Way Art Walk

What started as an imaginary art walk and community discussion in December 2018 has evolved into a series of community supported art walks in the same space. Thanks to the support and partnership of San Bernardino Generation Now, these events are built around the needs and voices of the local arts community. We strive to make a space for community-building, dialogue and joy.

Local musicians are invited to play, artists are given space at no charge, and we collaborate with local businesses, including the LIttle Gallery of San Bernardino in order to bring more synergy to the ongoing efforts to create a gathering space in downtown San Bernardino that feels safe, inclusive, and hopeful.

Breezeway

Fallen Fruit – San Bernardino

Fallen Fruit’s project with Arts Connection and the County of San Bernardino evolved by working with community members to co-create a living artwork – a new installation of an ongoing Fallen Fruit project called the “Endless Orchard.” The Endless Orchard builds community through expanding public access to fresh fruit. Fallen Fruit San Bernardino’s main installation site is at The Garcia Center for the Arts in the City of San Bernardino where 12 citrus trees were planted along the perimeter, with additional public participatory projects hosted at The Feldheym Library.Fallen Fruit’s project with Arts Connection and the County of San Bernardino evolved by working with community members to co-create a living artwork – a new installation of an ongoing Fallen Fruit project called the “Endless Orchard.” The Endless Orchard builds community through expanding public access to fresh fruit. Fallen Fruit San Bernardino’s main installation site is at The Garcia Center for the Arts in the City of San Bernardino where 12 citrus trees were planted along the perimeter, with additional public participatory projects hosted at The Feldheym Library.

Additional public participatory events were presented at San Bernardino County Museum and included Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana. This is a self-portrait public project using oranges from the historic groves on the museum property. Fruit trees were also adopted to the public to expand the Endless Orchard. The body of works include poetry and collage workshops that creates a zine with everyone who participates (examples seen here at the show) and hand-crafted wooden picnic tables etched with community quotes installed at the Garcia Center. Local artist and printmaker Bob Hurton (aka Uncle Bacon) and Inlandia’s 2018 Poet Laureate, Nikia Chaney, worked with Fallen Fruit and community participants on the creation of the Zine. The Zine is free to download on the Arts Connection website and there are copies on view at this exhibition.

At the 3 public free fruit tree adoption events held in the City of San Bernardino over 75 community members were taught how to plant and care for their new trees. Over 100 adopted trees were then mapped online via Fallen Fruit’s Endless Orchard site. endlessorchard.com allows anyone to map, plant and share their fruit!

With the support of SoCal Gas, we were able to expand this project countywide and install additional public fruit park sites in Victorville, Lake Arrowhead, and Crestline. In November 2018, we planted two permanent public fruit

fallen-fruit
Arts Connection would like to thank the entire community for their support of this project, especially the following:
  • The Rim of the World High School – Lake Arrowhead
  • The City of Victorville
  • R.O.O.T – Revive Our Old Town – Victorville
  • The Garcia Center for the Arts
  • San Bernardino County Museum
  • The Norman F. Feldheym Central Library
A special thanks to our funding partners:
  • California Arts Council
  • City of San Bernardino – Art and Historic Preservation Commission
  • Mojave River Trailhead Fruit Park – Eva Dell Park, City of Victorville
  • Historic Victorville Fruit Park – The Fam SPOT, Old Town Victorville
  • Rim of the World Fruit Park – Rim of the World High School, Lake Arrowhead
  • The Garcia Center for the Arts – The City of San Bernardino
  • Crestline Fruit Park – Lake Gregory Regional Park, Crestline (summer 2019)
In exchange for drawing a self-portrait onto a hand-picked orange, each participant received a glass of organic hand pressed juice. Collectively the citrusy self-portraits create a group portrait of everyone that participated at the San Bernardino County Museum in March 2018. Hand-drawn expressions illustrate joy and innocence as well as wisdom and age. Portraits of participants along with their self-portraits are part of the recorded stories about the neighborhood and families of San Bernardino on the theme of … “Orange you glad…” Permanent markers and fruit become the drawing materials, and participants draw a picture of themselves without using a mirror in exchange for a glass of fresh juice. People can use the portraits on social media. These portraits and stories are included in the Fallen Fruit magazine, San Bernardino issue.

Political Cartooning

The California Arts Council, a state agency, announced it plans to award $7,290 to Arts Connection as part of its new Artists Activating Communities program. The City of San Bernardino Fine Arts Commission also awarded Arts Connection funds in the amount of $8100, which acted as a matching grant, making this programming possible.

Artists Activating Communities is a new pilot grant program which supports sustained artistic residencies in community settings, demonstrating the arts to be a central component of civic life, and artists to be vital in shaping society. Artists Activating Communities projects are artist-driven, engage community members as active participants, and activate participants to develop and express their own creativity.
This is the first time the Artists Activating Communities program has been offered. Arts Connection is one of only forty-seven grantees for this highly competitive program, which received applications from eighty-five organizations statewide.

With support from the California Arts Council and matching funds from The San Bernardino City Fine Arts Commission, Arts Connection in collaboration with artist/activist Michael Segura will offer a series of political cartooning workshops for teens and up at the Garcia Center for the Arts in San Bernardino. Workshops will engage participants in discussion around local, regional and national issues, as well as teaching fundamental cartooning techniques and materials. Guest artists, including Phil Yeh, and civic groups will be brought in for additional presentations, and participants will have the opportunity to publish work through the Inland Empire Community Newspaper, a special election issue of Uncle Jam magazine and the Arts Connection website.

“California Arts Council grants support a wide range of projects that are crafted by each community to reflect their values and needs,” said Donn K. Harris, Chair of the California Arts Council. “It is thrilling to see what artists can accomplish when working collaboratively with their communities. An increased state investment in the arts allows us to further spark powerful growth and prosperity in our communities, such as the outstanding work that will result from the deep arts engagement provided by Arts Connection and Michael Segura’s Artists Activating Communities project.”

Veterans in the Arts

Arts Connection and Mil-tree have been partnering on projects since early 2015. The first project – Plant to Paper – was multifaceted art project that took place from February through May 2016 involving hikes to pull invasive plants, followed by paper-making, 2D and 3D art and writing workshops, culminating in a formal art exhibition and spoken word performance.

In 2018, Arts Connection helped produce Moving the Memories, a two-day dance workshop with Diavolo Dance. Explore more about this project and the beautiful film about the collective performance that was produced by participants.