SCOPE of work

The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture is a Division of the County’s Community Services Department; it serves as the local governmental umbrella for all arts and culture projects and programs within Santa Barbara County. The Office aims to nurture a sustainable arts and culture sector, promote equitable access for all, and empower the creative communities to innovate, collaborate, and thrive.

The Office of Arts & Culture represents a remarkable longstanding partnership between the County of Santa Barbara and the City of Santa Barbara. For more than 35 years, both governments have shared resources and staff to maximize support for arts and culture institutions, practitioners, programs, initiatives, and projects.

As the regional community and cultural development agency, the Office serves as a State-Local Partner of the California Arts Council. This collaboration includes funding, information exchange, cooperative activities, and leadership. The Office is involved with numerous City, County, State, and Federal arts and culture advocacy initiatives, representing the arts sector in regional economic planning, including the Arts and Economic Prosperity longitudinal study.

Coordination of countywide and regional Cultural Planning programs, initiatives, and cross-jurisdictional policy recommendations is a major focus; one current effort represents a collaboration between countywide arts public bodies and forums, the Santa Barbara Foundation, and community leaders and stakeholders.

The Office of Arts & Culture serves as a Local Arts Agency affiliate of the National Endowment for the Arts. As a unit of government, the Office is able to able to coordinate with local, state, and federal first responders and museums, theaters, and concert venues to develop emergency response plans and artifact/art protection measures.

The staff provides administrative support for the following publicly-appointed government advisory bodies: the County Arts Commission, the City of Santa Barbara Arts Advisory Committee, and the City of Santa Barbara Events & Festivals Committee. In collaboration with these groups and local government, the Office administers four separate grant programs: Arts Making Impact, Community Arts, Events & Festivals, and Organizational Development. The Office also partners with the California Arts Council to produce and facilitate responsive grants on an ongoing basis.

With the Arts Commission and County Arts in Public Places Committee, the Office administers the County Percent for Arts Program. Maintenance of the Barry Berkus and Family Art Collection, the Colin Campbell Cooper Collection, the Anne & Walon Green Collection, the Michael and Nancy Gifford Collection, and Ray Strong artwork falls under the Office’s purview.

In concert with public arts advisory bodies, the staff curates exhibitions in public spaces such as the Channing Peake Gallery, the Santa Barbara City Hall Gallery, and the Joseph A. Centeno Betteravia Gallery; the staff also facilitates public art commissions and produces art installations at outdoor public sites countywide, including Santa Barbara’s State St. corridor. Additional esponsibilities include the construction, installation, and conservation of arts capital projects.

Arts education support includes the facilitation of the countywide pK-12 arts education blueprint in partnership with the County Alliance for Arts Education, as well as work with colleges and universities to implement mentorship programs for students. Staff coordinate with the carceral system to offer arts education programs aimed at reducing recidivism. Public poetry programs include the Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, County Youth Poet Laureate, and Poetry Out Loud.

Finally, the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture partners with local government, community leaders and civic organizations to host community roundtables for shared discourse and collective ideation. Included in this programming are Arts Symposia events and Arts Talks. Staff also produce business proficiency workshops for artists and nonprofits.

Through robust public-private partnerships, the Office seeks to support and catalyze art, culture, and creative expression, inspire local identity and belonging, bridge across differences, strengthen equitable and resilient communities, reflect our shared humanity, and help us to reimagine a better future.