From the Mayor: The Arts Are Blossoming in Santa Clarita
“Art will remain the most astonishing activity of mankind born out of struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our mind.”
— Magdalena Abakanowicz
Our Santa Clarita community is teeming with talented artists in both visual and performing arts, evidence of which can be seen in our many art exhibits, on the stages at our theaters and throughout our city streets and parks in many forms of public art. We are rich in our musical heritage and all the performing arts. Santa Clarita is a hub of talent!
This blossoming arts scene is something that is being crafted and cultivated by our local arts community, our Arts Commission and your City Council. The city of Santa Clarita has made a commitment to enhance the artistic and cultural lives of our residents and visitors.
In March 2016, the Arts Master Plan was adopted. Since then, the city has increased funding for the arts grants program by 50 percent, adopted a civic art policy to increase funding for public art projects and supported the newly restored historic 540-seat Newhall Family Theater for the Performing Arts. The city has hired consultants to develop a feasibility study for a potential amphitheater and launched a website, SantaClaritaArts.com. This will serve as the portal for all the arts and cultural information for our unique community. We manage and operate an arts venue in Old Town Newhall, “The MAIN,” which is a mini-arts center. We are looking into the future for a permanent arts center to encompass the needs of our beautiful valley.
The city’s arts grant program continues to grow every year, both in the amount of funds awarded and the number of organizations applying. Since the adoption of the Arts Master Plan, 15 local organizations have received funding for arts programming. These grants have made a diverse range of art programs available to the community. We’ve given funding from stage plays to ballet. We will continue to grow our artistic resources and seek to increase the amount of funding for arts in your community. The City Council has approved over $88,000 in arts grant funding for the current year. We are far ahead of many other cities. The arts in our community help to enhance the quality of life that Santa Clarita offers. It’s time for arts to bloom in Santa Clarita!
This is an exciting time for arts and cultural opportunities. We look forward to continuing collaborative work to enhance the arts in our community. We would encourage all of you to create art, enjoy art and advocate for art in our city. We would also like to invite anyone interested to attend a monthly Arts Commission meeting, which is held on the second Thursday of each month (except August) at 6:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers at City Hall. You can contact the Arts and Events division at (661) 2503787 or by email at aeo@santa-clarita.com. We also encourage you to visit SantaClaritaArts.com to experience the talent, creativity and inspiration that our city has to offer.
Join in, help us bloom and grow into a place we would all want to visit; where historic and artistic senses are unique in California. Together we can enjoy the art where we live, work and play.
As a City Council member and mayor, I am personally committed to expanding our artistic culture.
Laurene Weste Mayor, City of Santa Clarita