Santa Barbara County awarded arts grants to 12 nonprofits on June 16, providing more than $50,000 to support community development through arts and culture.
For the 2025-26 Arts Making Impact (AMI) program, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors selected a dozen organizations to receive grants of up to $5,000 funded by the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation. The money will support free art classes for kids in Carpinteria and Santa Maria, storytelling workshops in Lompoc, and dance programs for seniors in Santa Barbara.
The Alcazar Theatre, the Boxtales Theatre Company, the Carpinteria Skate Foundation, the Grace Fisher Foundation, the Lompoc Theatre Project, Move with Purpose, Pianos on State Masq(p)arade!, the Santa Barbara Black Culture House, the Santa Barbara Dance Institute, the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society, Youth Arts Alive, and the Solvang Danish Days Foundation will all receive grants.
The Lompoc Theatre Project will use the money to present Telling Our Stories, a free, six-week storytelling workshop for adults emphasizing inclusion and cultural representation. Professional storytellers will guide participants through creating and performing personal narratives.
“The AMI Grant program highlights the creativity and dedication of local artists and organizations in Santa Barbara County,” County Arts Commission Chair Robert Dickerson said in press materials. “Each year, while reviewing applications, the commission is inspired by the transformative ways they bring arts and culture to our communities.”
This article appears in Jul 3-10, 2025.