Near & Arnold’s School of Performing Arts & Cultural Education (SPACE) Awarded four California Arts Council Grants State funds support four projects
Professional Development, Youth Arts Action, Local Impact and Artists in Communities
Press Release
Ukiah, CA– On May 4, 2020 the California Arts Council announced a grant award of a total of $59,995 for SPACE to support its four programs including Professional Development, Youth Arts Action, Local Impact and Artists in Communities.
SPACE awards include the following:
Professional Development With support from the California Arts Council, SPACE will build organizational capacity by providing: (a) Grace Magruder Farmer, SPACE’s singing instructor, continuing education to deepen her skills and expand her repertoire to work with a wide age range of ages and (b) Amanda Rosenberg-Gutierrez, SPACE’s Street Dance Fusion Department Chair, continuing education to improve her dance pedagogy. These trainings will enhance SPACE’s sustainability and success as it matures into its 26th year.
Youth Arts Action SPACE will implement DanceOn!,which will provide youth in the greater Ukiah area access to an array of after-school class offerings that will culminate in fully produced dance theater performances.. Performances will incorporate 70-100 students, whose roles in the creative script-writing and choreographic process will deepen and become more complex the older they are. Theme-based productions will be led by SPACE’s creative team which includes Amanda Rosenberg, Aisha Walls, Kira Gibson, Xanta Diamond and Laurel Near.
Local Impact SPACE will produce El Grito 2020, a Mexican Independence Day Celebration that includes honoring the 50-year legacy of local Latinx activism. El Grito will be created, produced and performed by Latinx artists and community members whose connections with SPACE have been growing and deepening since the early 1990s. El Grito is part of SPACE’s ongoing Viva la Cultura project. Creative Team includes Ignacio Ayala, Carlos Jacinto, Vicki Patterson Alexa Armenta, Juvenal Vasquez, Lydia Lopez, Juan & Jackeline Orozco and Juan Ramon Gonzales.
Artists in Communities With support from the California Arts Council SPACE will support Evan Gaustad to create HIGH ANXIETY, a comedic multi-media play created by and featuring 15 teens in rural Mendocino County. The play will push teens to use comedy and positivity to confront anxieties such as immigration status, school shootings, fire evacuations, gender identity etc. Project participation will be free as will tickets to the final show in June, 2021.
SPACE 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.”
SPACE (Near & Arnold’s School of Performing Arts & Cultural Education) is an acclaimed afterschool performing arts program serving youth ages infant through 18. SPACE, located near downtown Ukiah at 508 West Perkins, offers an innovative year-round program that has become a vital beacon for hundreds of children and their families. Our program emphasizes exemplary training in the arts as well as a teen intern program, offsite programs and cross-cultural arts.
In 1999, SPACE acquired the 1920s Mission style former St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church and renovated it into a 200-seat theatre for youth performances and community events. The SPACE capital campaign with the community raised over $8 million to realize this goal and in December 2017, the construction project was finally completed. The former church is now a state-of-the-art theater devoted to youth and families, one of a kind in California. SPACE has been awarded and recognized by statewide foundations and is a living example of the power of art to affect individuals and is one of Mendocino County’s cultural arts treasures.
A priority of SPACE is the Scholarship Program, which provides access for all eligible youth. Forty percent of families receive some financial assistance for tuition. Before the COVID 19 pandemic more families without means than ever were requesting scholarships to participate in SPACE’s classes, which provide a sanctuary of safety and connection for countless area families. Families are extremely stressed: 75% of UUSD students are living below the federal poverty line; depression affects an estimated 1 in 8 teens; technology has replaced much of human interaction; and middle and low-income families are struggling just to maintain their standard of living. The ubiquitous drug culture and the economic struggles of Mendocino County families impact children greatly as reflected, for example, in our County’s rate of child abuse, which, at 20/1,000 is more than twice the statewide rate of 9.4/1,000. All of these problems result in adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), also known as traumas.
SPACE is compelled and equipped to respond to these alarming and pressing issues. The programs offered through SPACE--the content of productions, and the teaching methodology used—are preventive in nature. They aim to increase resiliency in children and youth (e.g., their ability to rebound in the face of adversity—by providing opportunities for them to build developmental assets—i.e., experiences and qualities that positively influence the choices they make and help them become caring, responsible adults. By providing safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments that are essential in building trust, SPACE’s program counters the harm caused by ACEs by developing resiliency factors in students. SPACE’s classes promote relationships and environments that help children grow up to be healthy and productive citizens so that they, in turn, can build stronger and safer families and communities for their children. Because of its excellent work that directly addresses the effects of ACEs, SPACE has been contracting with Mendocino County Health and Human Services to provide classes for children of parents in the Family Dependency Drug Court (FDDC) as well as parenting classes for FDDC parents.
In the Fall, with approval of Public Health Officer and State of California, SPACE intends to open with a full schedule of programs
SPACE's mission is to empower our youth to discover and trust in their innate ability to be creative, responsible and compassionate individuals through effective training in dance, theater, music and cultural education.
The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. It supports local arts infrastructure and programming statewide through grants, initiatives, and services. The California Arts Council envisions a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts.
Members of the California Arts Council include: Chair Nashormeh Lindo, Vice Chair Jaime Galli, Larry Baza, Lilia Gonzales Chavez, Jodie Evans, Kathleen Gallegos, Stanlee Gatti, Donn K. Harris, Alex Israel, Consuelo Montoya, and Jonathan Moscone. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.
The California Arts Council is committed to increasing the accessibility of its online content. For language and accessibility assistance, visit http://arts.ca.gov/aboutus/language.php.
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Contact: Laurel Near, laureln@spaceperformingarts.org / 707-462-9370
