Most educators know that when times are tough, budget cuts tend to target the arts. Yet time and again, evidence has suggested that arts education actually helps students by building self-esteem, encouraging self-expression and cooperation with others, and developing critical thinking skills. Fortunately for students in the Orcutt School District, one organization is committed to keeping arts education going in good times and bad.
The Orcutt Children’s Art Foundation started in 2002 to bring together resources to provide opportunities for children in the district to experience visual and performing arts. It began in anticipation of budget cuts in the arts—and with more cuts expected, OCAF is more committed than ever.
The foundation’s president is a man with an M.B.A. in finance and a career in the banking industry. Other people with such credentials would likely have more interest in numbers than paintbrushes, but Mike Gibson is a strong believer in community involvement. He served on the Orcutt School Board from 1994 to 2002, when OCAF was established.
“We saw storm signals on the horizon,” he said. “The first place they cut back is the arts. Indeed, when we got the 2003-2004 state budget, they cut back on arts programs.”
Installed as president of Orcutt Children’s Art Foundation in June 2008, Gibson is now helping OCAF meet its mission in a variety of ways, including through fundraising galas that bring in much of the dollars needed to support some of the district’s learning opportunities in the arts.
As foundation volunteers readied for the group’s annual fundraising gala, Gibson shared his thoughts about the impacts of art on children in the community. He said art provides students with a well-rounded education. It teaches students multiple perspectives, complex forms of problem solving, and how to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.
This year’s gala honors local special-effects powerhouse Café FX, which Gibson said is the ultimate example of how an investment in the arts can yield a successful future.
Gibson said the fundraising event raises between $30,000 and $50,000 a year, with 75 percent of the money funding art programs and 25 percent going toward the group’s goal of building a performing arts center in Orcutt, similar to the Clark Center in Arroyo Grande.
The foundation’s fundraising efforts provide for artist-in-residence lessons in drama, visual arts, and dance each year on a rotating basis for every student in the district attending kindergarten through sixth grade. The program is one of the foundation’s main projects, bringing artists directly to the classroom to teach children a specific subject. OCAF also funds a PCPA trip for junior high students and offers a series of mini grants to fund teachers’ unique requests for specific projects in the arts, which can run $200 to $300 a piece.
“That’s a big help in the classroom for the teacher,” Gibson said.
The foundation president explained that OCAF gets lots of support not just from parents, but from the community as a whole.
“People recognize that it’s important, and especially with what’s going on economically in the state,” he said. “We have a role. We have a void to fill.” m
Arts Editor Shelly Cone sees things from multiple perspectives. Contact her at scone@santa mariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 19-26, 2009.
