By: Connie Martinez, SVCREATES’ Chief Executive Officer
A few years ago, I participated in a forum about the lack of funding for arts education in Silicon Valley schools. One of the panelists, who happened to be a venture capitalist, did not see it as a problem and went on to describe how his three children participate in private after school music and dance lessons. He did not think that there was a need to spend time or money on the arts in our K-12 system — implying that everyone has the same options outside of school. Don’t we wish that were true!
Several years ago, Cultural Initiatives conducted a research study and learned that 90% of Silicon Valley adults wanted their children to participate in the arts. That said, there are several segments of our community across all ages that simply do not have access. Silicon Valley’s high cost of living does not make it easy for everyone to participate in what many value and often take for granted. This is an issue of equitable access.
Hats off to Santa Clara County for working with us to create a new grant program designed to increase access to the arts for high need communities, funded by the County’s “hotel” tax. Thank you to the 32 applicants who answered our call for the SVCREATES’ Arts Access Grants.
Congratulations to the 10 arts organizations who competed with their ideas ranging from music programs for incarcerated youth to collaborative arts programs engaging the LGBTQ community.
And a special thank you to Supervisor Cindy Chavez for carrying the torch.
We’re excited for more people to connect, experience, and immerse themselves in the arts throughout Santa Clara County.
