Improve the financial sustainability, management, governance and growth capacity of leading arts organizations outside of the cities of Los Angeles,
San Francisco and San Diego.

Irvine’s working paper, “Critical Issues Facing the Arts in California,” pointed out that the nonprofit arts and cultural sector is facing major structural changes brought on by technological advances, demographic changes, funding fluctuations and shifting consumer behaviors. Created in 2006, the Arts Regional Initiative (ARI) enables regional arts organizations to respond to these environmental changes by building their operating capacity, improving financial sustainability, refining artistic products, diversifying audiences and strengthening management and board governance.

This initiative supports leading organizations that occupy an important role in communities outside of California’s largest metropolitan areas. These organizations are critical to providing quality and publicly accessible programming, fostering the careers of emerging artists, and contributing to community development. The initiative funds
capacity-building activities that strengthen an organization and help it better achieve its mission. Capacity building can occur in every aspect of an organization, including programs, operations, technology, finance, marketing, audiences and leadership.

Irvine has identified the following regions as priorities for this initiative:

2006 – Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties
2007 – Central Valley (from Kern County to Sacramento County)
2008 – Central Coast (from Ventura County to Santa Cruz County)

Competitive organizations in this initiative will:

• Have an annual operating budget size of $500,000 or more
• Offer a compelling artistic vision statement
• Demonstrate a track record of excellence in programming and artistic initiatives
• Be committed to reflecting the changing regional demographics in their programming and organizational structures
• Have a track record of sound fiscal management
• Demonstrate critical capacity development needs and how, if addressed, the organization will become more sustainable
• Have a high willingness and ability to engage in capacity building

While we accept unsolicited inquiries from grantseekers, we are able to fund very few of them. Please click here if you would like to learn more about submitting a letter of inquiry. Full proposals are accepted by invitation only.

Profile of an illustrative grant:

The following grantee profile is illustrative of the type of work the Arts program seeks to fund through its Arts Leadership priority:

• Riverside Art Museum