This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Ventura County Arts Council
Ventura County arts and culture
The Ventura County Arts Council was formed and incorporated as an independent 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization in 1997. Its charge was to serve all Ventura County residents with an array of arts programs. The Council was designated as the State/Local Partner, making VCAC the local arts agency designated by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to serve the county’s citizens in partnership with the California Arts Council.
Living Cultures
2021
In 2021, a grant from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grant Program will support the Ventura Art Council’s Tomol Project. A series of presentations, including a mural, a video, and a session of classes taught to native students, will introduce and highlight the significance of Chumash tomol (canoe) culture. Recent years have seen great activity around reclaiming and reintroducing the tomol, which was a major social and survival component to the Chumash people and their way of life.
2017
A 2017 Living Cultures Grant will support Zapotec weaving classes and workshops taught by master weaver Porfirio Gutiérrez to the immigrant community in Oxnard, CA. Partnering with the Mixteco Indígena Community Organizing Project and the Carnegie Art Museum, opportunities to share traditional patterns, natural dye techniques, and stories will enhance Mr. Gutierrez’ residency at the Museum where he will also set up a full loom and demonstrate his techniques for the wider public.