We Are Awarded The Grant from California Arts Council!

 

Press Release

　Contact: Olga Vlasova classicalunderground@yahoo.com (310) 710 - 7845
　
Date: December 15, 2018

Artward Initiative Awarded California Arts Council "Cultural Pathways" Grant

State funds support arts programs rooted in communities of color, recent immigrant and refugee communities, or tribal groups

[Carson, CA] – The California Arts Council announced its plans to award $8,400 to Artward Initiative as part of its Cultural Pathways program.

The Cultural Pathways program is rooted in the California Arts Council’s commitment to serving the needs of an increasingly demographically complex California, and the belief that a healthy arts ecosystem reflects contributions from all of California’s diverse populations. The program provides two years of operating support and a host of technical assistance and professional development activities to small, new and emerging organizations rooted in communities of color, recent immigrant and refugee communities, and tribal or indigenous groups.

　


Artward Initiative supports culturally engaged projects, public art and social interaction programs in underserved communities of color that promote cultural diversity and change the perception of the community through art. Our goal is to focus on art and culture as tool of community turn-around. Our projects include organizing and promotion of free and low cost classical music concerts that reach out to people of all backgrounds to ensure classical music is accessible to all. We conduct "Love My Neighbor" free public art projects in the disadvantaged communities in the City of Carson and established a non-profit "Artward! Gallery at "Scottsdale" neighborhood. We provide free art consultation and education to youth at risk as part of our art outreach and Gang Diversion program. We provide local minority groups with free art education programs.

"With the critical support of CAC Pathway grant Artward Initiative will be able to substantially advance the organizational capacity for our Love My Neighbor project. We now will be able to expand our programing by deeper engaging our program partners. We will be able to bring our program to new audiences in need and to bring new participants into our program. We will substantially increas our ability to provide the program and critical reliability of our planing by the ability to hire additional staff," said Artward Initiative President Olga Vlasova.


Artward Initiative is one of 56 grantees chosen for the Cultural Pathways program. The award was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council.

"California’s cultural diversity is its greatest creative asset," said Nashormeh Lindo, California Arts Council Chair. "We are proud to support the work of Artward Initiative in celebration of that unique and cherished identity."

To view a complete listing of all Cultural Pathways grantees, visit http://arts.ca.gov/programs/files/FY1718_ProjectDescriptions_CP.pdf.

　

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Artward Initiative is formed to strengthen Southern California local communities through its charitable cultural activities. Our goal is to provide the economically disadvantage people and indigents in the local communities with improvement of professional skills and other educational resources they may need. Our events and projects are centered around community development and revitalization, enhance community's quality of life through art, cultural and educational projects. We support projects, public art and social action programs in underserved communities of color that promote cultural diversity and encourage greater understanding among different cultures including community beautification, civic leadership, citizen education as well as arts education initiatives that contribute to the positive development of young people and young people at risk. We support public art and social action programs that reflect our goals and focus on art as a tool of community turn-around.

The mission of the California Arts Council, a state agency, is to advance California through the arts and creativity. The Council is committed to building public will and resources for the arts; fostering accessible arts initiatives that reflect contributions from all of California's diverse populations; serving as a thought leader and champion for the arts; and providing effective and relevant programs and services.

Members of the California Arts Council include: Chair Nashormeh Lindo, Vice Chair Larry Baza, Phoebe Beasley, Christopher Coppola, Juan Devis, Kathleen Gallegos, Jaime Galli, Donn K. Harris, Louise McGuinness, Steven Oliver, and Rosalind Wyman. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.

"El Rey Trabajador" will be unveiled June 27, 6pm at the new Artward! Gallery in "Scottsdale" Carson

Unveiling of My New Painting 

  

"El Rey Trabajador" oil 72" x 48"

from "My Neighbor Series"

at 

our newly founded

in the "Scottsdale" neighborhood of Carson, Ca

ARTWARD!  

gallery

dedicated to showcasing my 

public art project in the city of Carson 

"Love My Neighbor" 

and

run by the 501 (c) 3 non-profit 

Artward Initiative

Tuesday, June 27, 2017 

6:00 - 8:30 pm

23400 Avalon Blvd, Carson, Ca 90745

 
El Rey Trabajador" from "My Neighbor Series" 
oil on canvas, 72" x 48

Art can lift aspirations and give us all an important common ground in today’s divisive times. I believe that as we are continuously exposed to the stream of escalating negative news we need to focus on people in communities that inspire us in positive ways. I take inspiration for this series from my community that overcomes adversity. 

   

The Study of Cirilo   

sepia on fabriano paper  

Every street and every neighborhood has its own widely loved neighbors. What I want to capture through My Neighbors is the unique, iconic and deeply human qualities that make ordinary people the true bedrock of our communities and who give us something meaningful, true and solid to hold onto in times of trouble, which is especially important in neighborhoods like Scottsdale. At the kind of times that we live in I want ART to help people fill what I call The Dignity Gap.

I was honored to be awarded  Carson Cultural Arts Commission grant for 2016/17 to continue working on "My Neighbor Series" in collaboration with The City of Carson. The additional grant was provided by the Wells Fargo Bank.

 

I believe that strengthening community bonds by getting to know and love one’s neighbors is an answer to many of the difficult issues facing society today. I hope that My Neighbors will encourage visitors to see their own neighbors from a new perspective and take the message of love for one’s neighbor back to their own streets.

I want to capture people in these painting who you cannot help but love. Through the Love My Neighbor public art project, I want to encourage other people to notice and embrace human beacons in their own neighborhoods. These are the overlooked heroes of our society. 

The focus of my attention this year is the notorious Carson neighborhood called quite ironically "Scottsdale". Following my concept that special neighbors exist in every condition I was fortunate to find a remarkable and inspiring character in Cirilo Campos, a beloved 75 year old gardener who

has been working in "Scottsdale" Carson for 31 years and would not quit, a true local hero and the icon of serving community. 

Cirilo's noble values, the dignity and pride of his hard work stand in stark contrast to a morally bankrupt "greed is good" creed that is shoved at us from every corner and which had ripped the very fabric of our society, bringing us to the edge of loosing the very treasured system that gave us all that we enjoy. It is the inspiration from true people like Cirilo that will help us persevere. I decided to paint an epic life-size painting celebrating human dignity shining bright in the world of adversity. 

I decided to use the very process of art making as a community engagement tool and executed this large canvas entirely on-site in the series of over 40 live sessions each open to the public. To showcase works of My Neighbor Series to the local community and use the Love My Neighbor project as a tool of continuous community building, I established a permanent on-site Artward Gallery.

 

 

 

It was the most remarkable and rewarding project out of everything I have done so far.

 Affecting society where it is needed most is what my father believed ART suppose to do and I learned this belief from him.

 
Larga vida al rey!

First Public Live-Painting Session in "Scottsdale," Carson

Scottsdale is a neighborhood, but a lot of communal ties are broken there. It cannot be called a "community" in the full sense of the word. There are people who spend most of their lives there, love it and call it “home” proudly while working hard to make it a better place. There are a lot of people who don’t interact much with each other. There are many who live with sensible fear. There are some who cause that fear.

It was great to have a first live-painting session open to the public to show how such work is made right there, in Scottsdale. Was awesome to have Cirillo’s beautiful family stopping by, his daughters born and raised in Scottsdale. Was great to see some folks form The City of Carson who helped so much throughout the process of making this remarkable project happen.

Scottsdale is a perfect stratified sample representing a large and important urban problem in the contemporary United States. If we can do it in “Scottsdale” – we can do it anywhere.  

 

 

Big thanks to Kelvin Brown, Sr of Hitman Photography and to Matthew Vreeke for great shots