Apply for an Arts Grant

Our Creative Connections Fund is accepting applications from small and midsize California arts organizations for project grants up to $50,000. Information sessions will be held in late January and early February in locations around the state. Applications are due March 5. The last round of 2009 grants went to 34 arts organizations across California.

Irvine Awards $7 Million in Grants for People of California

In December, the board of the Irvine Foundation approved 23 grants totaling more than $7 million in support of the Foundation’s mission of expanding opportunity for the people of California. The grants include $1.2 million to the Institute for Local Government to develop civic-engagement practices among local public officials.

Grants to Strengthen Nonprofits in Diverse Communities

Irvine, along with the Packard and Hewlett foundations, awarded an additional $4.25 million in grants aimed at strengthening nonprofit organizations that serve people of color and low-income communities in California. The grants — the second round by the Community Leadership Project — were made to 18 intermediary organizations.

Comings and Goings at Irvine

We are pleased to welcome two new members to the Irvine community: Josephine Ramirez, until recently vice president of programming and planning for the Los Angeles Music Center, is joining the staff as Program Director for the Arts, effective January 25. She will be based in the Foundation’s Los Angeles office. And Virgil Roberts, managing partner and cofounder of the entertainment industry law firm Bobbitt & Roberts, has joined Irvine’s Board of Directors. Roberts is a former civil rights attorney who has held a wide range of community leadership roles in the Los Angeles region.

Finally, though he is hardly new to Irvine, we are pleased to note that Peter J. Taylor, executive vice president and chief financial officer of the University of California, was elected as the Foundation’s new board chair. He succeeds Gary B. Pruitt, president, CEO and chairman of the McClatchy Company, who retired after 11 years on the board, including the past four years as chair.