When advocating for public and private resources for the arts in the Coachella Valley, we want to arm ourselves, and you, with the most current data demonstrating the economic power that the arts and culture wield in our communities.

To that end, CDAC joined with Riverside Arts Council, Arts Connection, the arts council of San Bernardino County, and Inland Empire Community Foundation as a regional partner in the Americans for the Arts’ Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 study.

The study measures the economic impact of spending by the nation’s — and the Coachella Valley’s — nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and the event-related spending by their audiences during fiscal year 2022. It also analyzes the differences in spending between local resident and cultural tourists.

CDAC was thrilled to reveal the results of the data at CAMP at Modernism Week in February 2024 and now we’re sharing it with everyone! Stay tuned for updates and workshops to continue the discussion and advocacy.

Photo: Antoni Shkraba

La Quinta Arts Foundation funded the research and development for College of the Desert’s Digital Arts and Media Certificate Program — a collaboration with the school’s Partnership and Community Education (PaCE) office, which provides professional development, workforce training, and personal enrichment opportunities. We also sponsored full scholarships for the certificate program’s first and second cohort. Now that the certificate is up and running, the certificate is now under the prevue of California Desert Arts Council.

Students in the Digital Arts and Media Certificate Program complete five essential skills workshops — Employability Skills & Career Exploration, Storytelling, Computer Basics for Digital Design, Social Media Design, and Interactive Web Design — and choose one career training program from the following:

• Adobe Certified Associate
• Digital Arts Certificate
• Digital Game Artist Certificate
• Graphic Design with Photoshop
• Marketing Design Certificate
• Multimedia Arts Certificate
• Web Design Professional

In addition to scholarships for the program, PaCE and CDAC also convened an Industry Advisory Council. Several members of that Council agreed to offer guaranteed job interviews to participants who complete their certification.

If you are a business who would like to have quality candidates to interview for your open positions or if you are an individual who would like to monetarily support this scholarship program, please contact Executive Director Kristen Dolan.

CDAC is one of three regional arts councils selected by the Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF) to administer a $4.7 million grant from the California Arts Council (CAC) for its new California Creative Corps program. The goal to fund unemployed and underemployed artists to create public awareness messages and projects to advance pandemic recovery and environmental, civic, and social engagement is underway and we are excited to show off all of the fantastic projects happening throughout the Coachella Valley and Blythe.

Statewide, the program administered $60 million in grants. Locally, a collaboration between CDAC, Riverside Arts Council, and Arts Connection, the arts council of San Bernardino County, IECF awarded grants to Coachella Valley- and Inland Empire–based artists and organizations to create public art, media, and engagement projects and campaigns to address health inequities in high-priority communities, determined by the California Healthy Places Index.

Visit the Creative Corps Inland SoCal website to see everything that’s happening!

Photo Credit: Ubaldo Lira

CDAC, Riverside Arts Council, and Arts Connection, the arts council of San Bernardino County, have created Arts Coalition of Inland Empire, a leadership consortium dedicated charged with developing a long-term direction and framework to advance the arts, culture, and creative industries in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The consortium began its work by hosting three working sessions to support actionable strategies for a draft framework for arts, culture, and the creative economy in the Inland region.

While the work was paused while there was a bit of reconstruction of the rest of the rollout, there will be a revival in the Spring of 2024. We look forward to continuing this work throughout the bi-county region and if you would like to join us in this work, contact Kristen Dolan, Executive Director of CDAC.