OASIS Center International Awarded California Arts Grants
SANTA ANA, CA – Today the California Arts Council announced a grant award total of $23,125 to OASIS Center International as part of its OASIS Arts Project program.
The OASIS Arts Project provides students with instruction in a variety of arts, such as tap dance, body percussion cartooning, creative art journaling, and architectural design. To further encourage kids to embrace the arts, we invite mentoring from local professional artists, who commit to working with our students to help them discover their own amazing potential. As of May 2020, OASIS Center International has impacted nearly 17,000 students in California since inception. The OASIS Arts Project engages professional artists to provide instruction to students.
“Whenever I step out of our classrooms, I reaffirm the power of arts education. Every student has the potential to succeed through their creative expression, and we help them make a positive choice through the arts. We are honored to have the support of the California Arts Council to provide arts enrichment for our community.” – Jin Sung, Executive Director
OASIS Center International 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.”
OASIS Center International is a community development organization, working in partnership with both public and private entities to bring the arts back into the lives of our youth, with an emphasis on under-resourced youth in low-to-moderate income communities. Established in 2012, the vision of OASIS is to inspire a generation of youth to fulfill the highest level of life achievement possible through discovery and development of their inherent creative gifts. The OASIS Arts Project fulfills our mission to positively impact youth from low-to-moderate income communities through replicable arts mentoring initiatives and to enhance the skills of local artists through community engagement.
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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OASIS Center International
206 W. 4th Street, Suite 430
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