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California Arts Council
California nonprofits and government entities apply for grants to support arts learning programs for youth ages infancy to 25, with emphasis on justice-system-involved and at-promise youth.
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Get matched →The Creative Youth Development program supports arts learning as an essential tool for healthy human development. Projects should provide culturally responsive, meaningful arts-learning experiences for young people throughout California, including those whose lives have been impacted or interrupted by the justice system. All projects may occur during or outside traditional school hours at arts and culture venues, community centers, court/school sites, juvenile halls and camps, county-operated correctional facilities, social services agencies, and other youth-oriented settings.
California-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, municipal/county/tribal government entities, or organizations with California-based 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsors. Applicants must have a two-year history of consistent arts programming and a certificate of good standing with the California Secretary of State.
Projects should address one or more of the following: Provide social-emotional creative experiences in safe, healthy, and appropriate learning environments. Foster creative abilities of youth through culturally and linguistically responsive arts learning. Support arts programs that seek to activate youth voices, narratives, and perspectives. Utilize cultural assets of the local community to support positive self-identification and respect for diverse cultures. Empower youth through the preservation, revitalization, and/or reclamation of cultural practices. Cultivate the development of transferable life skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, leadership, and collaboration.
Every listing links to the organizer's official page. Always confirm deadlines, fees, and entry rules there before you apply.
Examples include: arts projects in early learning, daycare, or foster-care environments; projects that support the transmission of traditional arts and cultural practices; youth leadership, apprenticeship, and mentorship opportunities in arts, social service, or youth correctional settings; arts programming that supports social/emotional learning, workforce development, or entrepreneurial skills.
Three core concepts must be present in Creative Youth Development projects: Racial Equity and Social Justice, Youth Voices, and Collective Action. Beneficiaries include youth from infancy to 25 years of age. Support for system-engaged, system-impacted, and at-promise youth is an additional priority, including those dismissed from school, subjected to racial profiling, arrested or on probation, incarcerated, undocumented, unhoused, migratory, refugees, with incarcerated parent(s)/guardian(s), or who are pregnant or young parents.
Apply online at calartscouncil.smartsimple.com. Virtual office hours are available for technical assistance. Contact Arts Program Specialists Gabrielle Rosado or Natalie Peeples at [email protected]. Refer to the California Arts Council Grants Manual for all policies, procedures, and resources for applicants and grantees.
Organizations may apply for only one Arts & Youth Grant Program in 2024, which includes Creative Youth Development, Arts Education Exposure, and Arts Integration Training.