California Arts Council announced a grant award of $20,000 to Redlands Symphony as part of its Arts Education Exposure program. The grant will help support the Symphony’s OrKIDstra program, which provides free music education activities for K-12 students throughout the region. The grant will help fund the Symphony’s youth concert series, in-school ensemble performances and free tickets to season concerts for high school students. OrKIDstra works with the Redlands, Yucaipa-Calimesa, Banning and Beaumont School Districts providing access to musical activities for young people. More than 110,000 students have participated in OrKIDstra activities since its launch in 1998. The $20,000 award was the maximum amount available for arts education programs through this grant program and will fund the Symphony’s OrKIDstra activities during the 2020-2021 school year. Last year the Symphony received a $16,200 grant for OrKIDstra from the California Arts Council. “We are honored to be recognized by the California Arts council for our work in music education,” said Marilyn Solter, Chair of the Symphony board when she heard the news, “Music education is an important part of our mission and we are extremely proud of our OrKIDstra programs. We know the Council reviews many worthy programs during their process and we’re very happy that they selected Redlands Symphony for funding.” Redlands Symphony was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council of more than 1,500 grants awarded to nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state for their work in support of the agency’s mission to strengthen arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. The investment of nearly $30 million marks a more than $5 million increase over the previous fiscal year, and the largest in California Arts Council history. Organizations were awarded grants across 15 different program areas addressing access, equity, and inclusion; community vibrancy; and arts learning and engagement; and directly benefiting our state's communities, with youth, veterans, returned citizens, and California's historically marginalized communities key among them. Successful projects aligned closely with the agency's vision of a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Arts Council recognizes that some grantees may need to postpone, modify, or cancel their planned activities supported by CAC funds, due to state and local public health guidelines. The state arts agency is prioritizing flexibility in addressing these changes and supporting appropriate solutions for grantees. "Creativity sits at the very heart of our identity as Californians and as a people. In this unprecedented moment, the need to understand, endure, and transcend our lived experiences through arts and culture is all the more relevant for each of us,” said Nashormeh Lindo, Chair of the California Arts Council. “The California Arts Council is proud to be able to offer more support through our grant programs than ever before, at a time when our communities’ need is perhaps greater than ever before. These grants will support immediate and lasting community impact by investing in arts businesses and cultural workers across the state.” For more local news and information click here.

California Arts Council Arts Education Exposure Grant