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

To that end, CDAC is partnering with Riverside Arts Council and Arts Connection, the arts council of San Bernardino County, 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 will reveal the results in a “state of the arts” luncheon as part of Americans for the Arts’ national campaign to promote the study findings and help public- and private-sector leaders understand the economic and social benefits that the arts bring to communities, states, and the nation.

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 is to fund unemployed and underemployed artists to create public awareness messages and projects to advance pandemic recovery and environmental, civic, and social engagement.

Statewide, the program will give $60 million in grants. Locally, a collaboration between CDAC, Riverside Arts Council, and Arts Connection, the arts council of San Bernardino County, IECF will award 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.

Look for opportunities to participate in listening sessions and local partnerships in early 2023. Artist applications will go out in mid-2023.

CDAC, Riverside Arts Council, and Arts Connection, the arts council of San Bernardino County, have created Inland Leadership for Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy, 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.