Arts Council Santa Cruz County is proud to generate creativity in our county through our grants program. This month, 29 Summer Grants totaling $40,199 will be awarded to individuals and organizations across Santa Cruz County.

The Arts Council brings funding in from a variety of federal and local sources, including private foundations and government agencies, and then distributes more than $200,000 annually throughout the community, benefiting local students, arts educators, artists, at-risk youth, underserved populations, and the Santa Cruz community at large.

Here are a few projects from first-time grantees we’re excited about:

• White Hawk Indian Council’s “Xilonen,” ceremony of tender corn, is a full two-day aztec dance and rites of passage ceremony for young women that dates back thousands of years before the Spanish invasion.
• “Finding Marla” is a collaboration between Paloma Medina, Jessica Kendall-Bar and Diversity Center youth to write, illustrate, and publish a children’s book that re-imagines the story of Finding Nemo through a queer ecological lens.
• Sahar El Khatib’s Drumskull Drums event at the MAH will promote and celebrate West African drum and dance and the art of drum-making.

To see the full list of 2018 grantees, click here and read our full press release here.