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Arts commission hears reports on school district programs, art crawl, youth juried show and mural roster
Summary
Newport‑Mesa Unified School District and city arts staff updated commissioners on upcoming showcases, a district musical tour, the May 24 art crawl, the youth art application (deadline May 5) and plans for a publicly funded mural-artist roster; commissioners agreed to review grant guidelines next month.
Representatives from Newport‑Mesa Unified School District and Costa Mesa arts staff presented program updates and event schedules to the Arts Commission on March 6.
A district representative reported on a range of K–12 arts activities across Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, including a senior art showcase scheduled to open April 24 (the presenter said it will be exhibited after the opening) and a district art showcase at Orange Coast College’s Doyle Pavilion. The presenter said two elementary art teachers travel between multiple schools and are delivering ceramics and acrylic painting to TK–6 students; dance partnerships and assemblies were also described, including work with Backhouse Dance and Contempo Ballet. The presenter said the Costa Mesa High School theater was renamed the Gilbo Lindforest Performing Arts Center to honor two retired music educators and that high school music programs have begun a musical-tour series visiting elementary schools in March.
City arts staff (Arts Specialist Ms. Gardner) said the city’s fourth Art Crawl is scheduled for May 24, 2025, with three confirmed stops (Seventeenth Street Recording Studio, the Wayfarer and Segerstrom Center-related programming). The staff report noted nine applications have been submitted so far for the current arts grant cycle (application period closes Monday following the meeting) and that the youth art (Art Venture) application is live with a May 5 deadline and one application on file. The adult juried exhibition application opens in June and closes July 14.
Staff also described a plan to create a three‑year mural artist roster (25–40 artists) selected by a review panel including commissioners and community members; artists on the roster would be invited to propose publicly funded projects when funds become available. Commissioners asked whether grant guidelines should bar immediate reapplication by prior grantees; staff said the current guidelines do not include that restriction but that the commission could direct staff to bring back a revised guideline for future cycles. Commissioners instructed staff to return next month with recommended edits to the grant guidelines if the commission wanted to consider limits on repeat grantees.
Ms. Gardner announced that Chair Ochoa and Vice Chair Duderian will present the city’s new poet laureate, Danielle Hanson, at the April 1 City Council meeting.
