Community Engagement Inc

Our mission is to utilize the transformative power of art in fostering community. We support artists and art programs that reimagine our shared spaces, stimulate social engagement, creative expression and collective empowerment.

Community Engagement was founded in 2015 by members of the Affordable Housing Industry and the Social Practice Art Community with the initial goal of bringing creatives into low-income housing communities to impact positive change through meaningful community engaged programming. Our vision has grown over the years to also include: (1) grants to a diverse group artists and creatives and their community-engaged projects; (2) free community arts programming that expands access in marginalized communities; and (3) international artist exchange programs that foster collaboration and connection between artists and the local community.

Community Engagement is a small nonprofit organization with a huge passion and wide-ranging demographic. From 2015 to 2023, we have:

• Awarded $835,755 in grants to 205 unduplicated artists and creatives.
• Awarded $550,730 in grants for free community arts programming.
• Impacted more than 14,000 individuals through Community Engagement programs in eight low-income housing communities in three states.
• Received the 2019 “Outstanding Contribution to the Arts” award by the City of Santa Ana, California.

Community Engagement is dedicated to supporting artists and engaging communities through improved and equal access to the arts. Our five most pressing needs are:

1. Artists and Creatives Grants ($50,000-$75,000/year) – provides small grants to independent creatives making or presenting creative work relating to or encouraging community engagement. We especially encourage applications from those who have been historically excluded from the mainstream art world.

2. Creatives-in-Residence ($60,000) - invites residents living in affordable apartment communities to participate in creative placemaking collaborations with artists, families and neighbors. Community Engagement supports the growth of this movement by providing training and funding to our Creatives as we work together to develop place-based programming.

3. Capacity Building ($50,000/year) – Community Engagement operates primarily through a volunteer board and in-kind staff support. For specific needs, we employ a variety of contracted artist/educators and administrative staff, including a marketing consultant and a webmaster. As our organization, programs, and outreach has grown over the past nine years, so has the need for a paid, part-time Executive Director. We anticipate an annual salary of $50,000 for this position for a minimum of two years.

4. International Artist Exchanges ($25,000/year) – funds residencies for U.S. artists to participate in the Akumal Arts Festival in Mexico and Casa Regis Center for Culture and Contemporary Art in Mosso, Italy. Our Santa Ana Art Exchange brings artists from around the world to Santa Ana, CA to create murals and engage with the local art community.

5. The Art Space OC ($5,000/year) – is a joint venture between Community Engagement and Casa Bloom Studios in Santa Ana that showcases and highlights one local artist a month through a pop-up gallery experience. The exhibitions are open to the public and coincide with DTSA First Saturday Artwalk, a free, all-ages, community-based arts showcase that takes place throughout Downtown Santa Ana on the first Saturday of each month.

Primarily Southern California.

Community Engagement fills a unique space among Southern California arts nonprofits. We provide support in the form of small grants to individual artists and art groups working in any media who are seeking to foster cohesion and understanding among diverse communities and connecting those communities to a wider audience. Our grants have supported permanent installations, murals, and transient performances. Emerging artists have been given perhaps their first opportunity to introduce their art and their community to the community at large, providing a jump start to their careers. We value diversity in people and ideas and take delight in the sense of fun that meaningful social practice art can offer.

Our all-volunteer governing board members are passionate and give freely of their time, but to grow the organization we need additional leadership and staff. If you are interested in participating, whether as a volunteer or a financial backer, you will have the opportunity to meet new and emerging artists and make a significant contribution to their lives and careers.