The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has awarded an $18,000 grant to the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival to create a transit-oriented scavenger hunt connecting the downtowns of Gilroy and Morgan Hill during the festival’s eight-day run in April.
The grant, part of VTA’s Transit-Oriented Communities Grant Program, is one of 14 awards totaling more than $750,000 announced Nov. 12 at the San Jose Museum of Art. The funding aims to encourage public transit use while celebrating the region’s cultural identity and unique attractions.
“VTA is proud to support the 2026 Poppy Jasper Film Festival, which will activate the walkable, transit-served downtowns of Gilroy and Morgan Hill,” said Melissa Cerezo, VTA’s Transit-Oriented Communities Program Manager. “Through transit scavenger hunts, free film screenings, mixers and artist panels, the festival will celebrate the region’s cultural identity and local storytelling while encouraging attendees to explore our communities on foot and by transit.”
The scavenger hunt will be ongoing throughout the festival’s run. Festival director Mattie Scariot said the hunt will guide participants through both cities’ downtowns, with clues tied to local history, film venues and sponsors.
“We’re really going to turn the downtowns into like a playground, where you’re bringing film, creativity, transit and community together,” Scariot said. “We’re using the venues that we’re in, our sponsors, incorporating history and film history with the downtown history, and working all that together to make the scavenger hunt.”
Participants will answer four to five location-based questions each day of the festival, take photos at designated spots, and tag the festival and VTA on social media to earn stickers and buttons. Those who complete multiple challenges will be eligible for larger prizes.
The scavenger hunt aligns with VTA’s goal of demonstrating that South County communities are accessible without a car. Most Poppy Jasper venues sit within a mile of either the Gilroy or Morgan Hill Caltrain stations, and the festival plans to extend the hunt to San Martin, Hollister and San Juan Bautista.
Students who travel by train or bus to the festival will receive day passes, with special outreach planned for students at San Jose State University and De Anza College.
For Scariot, who grew up in Gilroy, the VTA partnership represents a commitment to expanding access to the arts for everyone, something she has always felt passionately about.
“At 10 years old, I knew I wanted to make films. But growing up in a small town like Gilroy, where there were only about 12,000 people, I didn’t think I had a chance,” Scariot said during her speech at the Nov. 12 grant ceremony. “I didn’t see anyone who looked like me in the credits, and certainly no women behind the camera.”
Now, as director of a festival that showcases more than 300 films from more than 50 countries, Scariot said the VTA partnership helps break down barriers still further by making the festival accessible to everyone.
“For so many people, simply getting to the festival can be a challenge,” she said. “The VTA helps us change that, giving those who don’t have a car or can’t easily travel between cities a chance to go where they might not be able to go before.”
