Artist Outreach Project
Artist Outreach gives experienced artists age 55 and older the opportunity to use their talents, creativity, and experience to give back to their communities.
The program supports accomplished visual, performing, and literary artists who want to share their passion and expertise with others. Selected artists create and lead a year-long project of their own design, providing educational, mentoring, or therapeutic arts experiences to people who might not otherwise have access to them.
How the Program Works
The Artist
Stipends are available to experienced literary, performing, and visual artists age 55 and older who want to use their talents and expertise to contribute to their communities.
The Stipend
Selected artists receive $15,000 to lead a 12-month arts project of their own design. Artists devote six to eight hours a week to the program, at least five of which are spent directly with participants. A separate budget may be requested for materials.
The Community Project
Artists choose the population they want to serve and develop a hands-on educational, mentoring, or therapeutic arts experience in partnership with a local nonprofit. Projects serve people who might not otherwise have access to the kind of arts experience the artist wants to provide.
Requirements & Application Details
Eligibility
Artists must be 55 or older, actively practicing in the literary, visual, or performing arts, and living in or planning to serve people in Southern California. Projects must be conceived and led by the artist and carried out in partnership with a tax-exempt nonprofit organization or nonprofit sponsor.
What We Fund
Hands-on educational, mentoring, or therapeutic arts experiences for people who might not otherwise have access to them. Past projects have included teaching ukulele to wounded veterans, leading collage workshops for unhoused children, and providing one-on-one photography experiences for children with autism.
What We Don't Fund
Performances or exhibitions of the artist's own work; school-day projects that are part of the standard curriculum; primarily lecture-based projects with little hands-on participation; projects that are primarily religious in nature; or projects initiated and led by a nonprofit or school rather than an individual artist.
Application Process
Artists are encouraged to contact the Foundation to discuss their project before applying. The written application includes a letter of support from the nonprofit partner, a resume, and references. Finalists are invited to an interview to discuss their proposed project, plans, and budget in greater depth.
2026 Application Details
The 2026 application deadline was April 17, 2026. Finalists were selected for interviews by May 15, 2026.
Artist Highlight
Expanded his ukulele program to multiple senior centers and started an advanced group.
Still volunteers weekly at the Orange County Children's Hospital, now writing a book on the project.
Expanded her Project Focus program to a second domestic violence shelter.
Continued his stage combat program with support from the hosting library.
Added youth photography workshops to his studio's permanent offerings.
Continues piano lessons and group storytelling at the shelter and children's museum that hosted her.
Secured family foundation funding to continue her piano and singing program at the Boys and Girls Club in Vista.
Now paid by the Santa Ana Police Activities League to continue teaching guitar there.
Expanded her fine art class to serve low-income adults living with AIDS-related illness.
The pottery program he built is still funded by the Boys and Girls Club, where he advises.
Her free after-school program, Mundo Lindo, gained ongoing sponsorship from the Escondido Center for the Performing Arts.
Still advises the Reader's Theater group he founded at the San Marcos Senior Center.
Continued volunteer work with patients at Scripps Hospital in Encinitas.
Her "Women on the Far Side of Fifty" show sold out an 800-seat venue in Poway.
Founded Healing America's Heroes, a nonprofit supporting rehabbing veterans through art.
Inspired an Art Club at an affordable housing community, where he still volunteers.
Her Stardust art program was recognized by the California State Assembly and San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
Founded a Vietnamese dance club and launched a radio talk show on National Vietnamese Radio.
Continues writing workshops for veterans with PTSD; published a book, Minefields of the Heart.
Hired as a paid service provider to continue her sing-along program at a skilled nursing facility.
Continues her expressive arts program for Wounded Warriors on a volunteer basis.
Her work at Joplin Detention Center led her to a seat on Orange County's Juvenile Justice Commission.
Went on to paid mural projects, including a Senior Wellness Center collaboration in San Diego.
Continues bringing music and crafts programs to underserved groups across North County San Diego.
Still leads her English/Spanish music therapy program at the Orange County Children's Therapeutic Art Center, now on staff there.