THE FUTURE IS CREATIVE
To promote and fund the arts in the City of Stockton, including grants to arts organizations and individuals, and to be a provide oversight to the Stockton Arts Commission as a fiscal sponsor.
BACKGROUND OF THE ENDOWMENT
$1.3 million — gone. Lost in the Stockton bankruptcy. In 2001, the city sold a landfill and established two endowments of a million each for the library and the arts. The library had a ready foundation to take the money and begin investing and managing its fund.
Leaders in various financial capacities came together and started the Stockton Arts Foundation to receive the arts money. Politics got in the way and the recession did the rest. The Arts Endowment was never transferred to the legitimate nonprofit foundation created to manage the funds in perpetuity for Stockton arts and culture.
Water under the bridge, some might say. We say, let’s start again. The Stockton Arts Foundation still exists and has some funds to maintain its nonprofit status. If we start at the grassroots level and show the city the people’s support, perhaps we can grow the endowment with the sale of another city asset or make annual contributions from the general fund. But we’re not there yet; we’re imagining the support we could be providing artists and arts organizations during this crisis if we had an Arts Endowment.
Starting over is never easy, but it looks like we’ll all be starting over in many ways–together.
BACKGROUND OF THIS EFFORT
The Stockton Arts Foundation is looking to revive the Stockton Arts Endowment in 2020. As Stockton grows and momentum in the art scene builds, a gap in foundational support regularly available to local artists and organizations is becoming increasingly apparent.
Few funding opportunities cause local groups to compete for sustainability instead of working together to curate high quality events, community centers, products and services.
Given these conditions, we are uniting to rebuild the Arts Endowment to provide a consistent source of funding through grants available to existing and emerging local artists and organizations.
