Arts grants for three Valley youth programs

Three Sonoma Valley nonprofits are among 15 recipients of Arts Education Innovation Grants totaling $88,000 to fund innovative arts education programs serving students in the County who may have limited access to arts training.

The grants are being provided in a partnership between Community Foundation Sonoma County and Creative Sonoma, a division of the Economic Development Board of Sonoma County.

Local recipients include Art Escape, for the “Teen Art Lounge,” a Friday evening art party. With guidance from teaching artists, the teens explore materials and techniques, develop art skills, socialize, and learn transferable skills such as perseverance, flexibility, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and using constructive feedback.

With its funding, The Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley will present “The Art of Filmmaking,” a series of workshops, for 75 youth, grades 4-5. In partnership with the Sonoma International Film Festival, youth are guided through the processes of making a movie while utilizing professional filmmaking techniques and equipment while developing creative and technological hard and additional soft skills in collaboration, creative thinking, and problem solving.

The Sonoma Valley Education Foundation also received a grant for the Valley Vibes Youth Orchestra. The program provides socio-economically disadvantaged students with the opportunity to participate in an El Sistema based youth-development orchestral music program with a mission to change lives through music. Students receive intense daily after-school music instruction, creating skilled musicians and student leaders.

Additionally, Sonoma County Parks was granted funds for the“YES-Coast” program, in which underserved Sonoma County youth learn the art of photography and exhibit photographs they create using PhotoVoice, a process that helps the teens represent themselves and tell their own stories. This innovative program combines the arts with exploration of the natural world, helping the youth interpret their coastal experience through a lens of culturally relevancy.

“These grants reflect the value our community places on the arts being available to students all across our County,” said Chair of the Board of Supervisor James Gore. “Outstanding arts programs such as these develop 21st century skills necessary to navigate the ever-changing workforce.”

The programs will occur between now and June 2019 on school campuses, and in community centers, parks, and other venues across the County.

“Investing today in the creativity of our young people will provide benefits to our community’s vitality long into the future,” said Elizabeth Brown, CEO of Community Foundation Sonoma County. “We are pleased to support the innovative and engaging arts education programs being provided by the organizations.”

Creative Sonoma, a division of the Economic Development Board, supports and advances the creative commmunity of Sonoma County.