Arts Council Silicon Valley continues to support artistic
endeavors in Gilroy, this year focusing on children. FIRST 5 Santa
Clara County formed a partnership with ACSV to create the FIRST 5
Arts grant.
Gilroy – Arts Council Silicon Valley continues to support artistic endeavors in Gilroy, this year focusing on children. FIRST 5 Santa Clara County formed a partnership with ACSV to create the FIRST 5 Arts grant. Go Kids, Inc.’s Los Arroyos Child Development Center became one of five pilot locations for the new program that promotes the arts among children ages 0 to 5.
During the first year, ACSV offered $250,000 total as part of the grants program to local artists, pairing them with preschool sites.
Artist Susan Dee Cummins spent six weeks this spring splattering and mixing up paint at the center. The site works with children 6 weeks to 12 years old, according to Cathy Boettcher, deputy director of Go Kids, Inc.
“Susan did everything from foot print painting with the babies to water color,” Boettcher said.
Cummins, a Santa Cruz artist, put on her smock at Los Arroyos one day a week for six to seven hours.
“We have a huge hallway in Los Arroyos and we hung up the artwork so parents and kids could see it as they were coming through the site,” Boettcher said.
Go Kids, Inc. strives to incorporate creative arts into the curriculum, but Boettcher said Cummins showed the teachers things they hadn’t thought about, such as painting on different textures and teaching kids about mixing colors.
While the FIRST 5 Arts Grants program is new, ACSV has been funding artistic works in Gilroy for years. In the last 13 years, the Arts Council has distributed nearly $8 million to Santa Clara arts and cultural organizations.
Through donations from corporations and individuals, the council increased their grants awards by 40 percent for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. The private nonprofit offers five grants programs and Gilroy organizations usually receive grants under the Community Arts Fund.
The grant program provides support to small, community-based organizations that are driven by volunteers such as the South Valley Symphony and the Theater Angels Art League.
The Theater Angels Art League works to support the arts and is the “premier arts group in Gilroy at this time,” according to Bruce Morasca, president of the league.
The group, which co-sponsors Fifth Street Live, will use the $2,600 grant they received for 2004-2005 to support the Antonio Del Buono violin program.
The South Valley Symphony will use their $1,500 to support their Christmas concert in December. Paul Kloecker, who is on the board of directors for the symphony and writes their grant proposals, said grants make up 25 to 30 percent of their income for the year.
“Grants are our primary source of income,” he said. “We’ve always gotten something (from the Arts Council) whenever we applied.”
For more information on available grants and upcoming deadlines, call 998-2787 or visit www.artscouncil.org.
Grants given
2005: Theater Angels Art League – $2,620
South Valley Symphony – $1,562
2004: Theater Angels Art League – $2,452
2003: Theater Angels Art League – $2,061
2002: South Valley Symphony – $1,188
2001: South Valley Symphony – $2,204
