Community Foundation awards 17 grants
NEARLY $200,000 Awarded to Advance the Arts in Silicon Valley

At a time when budgets continue to be tight and people ask, “Why should I support the arts when there are so many critical community needs?” the Silicon Valley Community Foundation offers one answer: because the arts can act as a change-agent to engage and inspire the entire community.

Earlier this month, 17 of Silicon Valley’s diverse arts and cultural organizations were awarded grants of $10,000 to $15,000 (PDF) through the community foundation’s Advancing the Arts Initiative. The initiative is part of a three-year commitment that began in 2005 from the Community Foundation Silicon Valley, a parent organization to the new community foundation. Strengthening Silicon Valley arts organizations and building connections to the arts are the goals of the Advancing the Arts Initiative.

“Arts and culture are essential to a healthy, vital community,” said Eleanor Clement Glass, chief giving officer for Silicon Valley Community Foundation. “In a time when state and local support for the arts has been slashed, it’s important for the community to support the arts. These 17 groups represent the wide variety of small- and mid-size arts organizations that create a healthy ecosystem for the arts.”

The Advancing the Arts Initiative not only provides grants for small- and mid-sized local arts nonprofits, but also technical assistance to help the organizations improve their internal infrastructure. Through its three-year initiative, the community foundation has sought to broaden participation in arts and culture, improve the arts ecosystem, increase our own leadership in the arts and continue to build an endowment for the arts over time.

“Through the assistance of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s Arts Initiative program, the San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild was able to streamline its operations, leverage many additional grant opportunities and expand our programs to reach a larger audience base,” said Arlene Sagun, managing director of San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild and three-time award recipient.

A full list of the 17 arts organizations funded by the community foundation’s Advancing the Arts Initiative is available here (PDF).  Funding for the initiative was provided by The James Irvine Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Silicon Valley Community Foundation will continue the existing grantmaking programs of its two parent foundations for the near future as it thoughtfully evaluates and plans a comprehensive grantmaking strategy. For more information about current grantmaking programs and initiatives, please click here.

With cuts in state and local government funding for the arts, now is the time to support the arts. To find out how you can help, contact us at donorengagement@siliconvalleycf.org.  We also invite you to join our “Creating Art to Build Strong Communities” Venture Van tour on Tuesday, April 24, 8:30 – 11 a.m. as we visit two exemplary models of how art is helping unify communities and bring about change. The tours are free and they depart from an accessible location in Santa Clara County.  To reserve your space contact venturevan@siliconvalleycf.org or call 650.854.5566, ext 250.