Contact:
David Yoshitomi, Arts and Culture Manager
David.yoshitomi@ventura.org
805-662-6706
VENTURA, CA – The County of Ventura’s Office of Arts and Culture is honored to be a recipient of a $25,000 Humanities for All grant from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This grant will support programs and projects connected to the County’s 150th Anniversary events, celebrating the theme of “Our History, Our Future, Together,” and planned by the County of Ventura, the Museum of Ventura County, and other community partners.
This funding will support a variety of 150th Anniversary activities throughout Ventura County, which will culminate at two communitywide events: the Mountain to the Sea Jubilee in Santa Paula on October 21, 2023, and the State of the County at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley on November 2, 2023. In addition to these capstone events, funding from California Humanities program will support these 150th Anniversary events:
- The Legends of Nardcore: 40 Years of Punk Rock in Ventura County – Panel Discussion, presented by the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, Oct. 13 in Oxnard.
- The Japanese American Experience in Ventura County, by Dr. Lily Anne Welty-Tamai, California State University Channel Islands, Oct. 25 in Camarillo.
- “The Ramona Story: Film Screening and Discussion,” at Rancho Camulos Museum, Oct. 28, in Piru.
- History is Now Photography Exhibit curated by Focus on the Masters, in Thousand Oaks, Now through Nov. 5, Exhibit Walkthrough, Oct. 26.
- El Bracero: A Mariachi Opera at the Fillmore Town Theatre, presented by the ÁNIMO Theatre Company, Nov. 10, in Fillmore.
- “A Celebration of the Indigenous Peoples of Ventura County for Native American Heritage Month,” at the Chumash Indian Museum, Nov. 12 in Thousand Oaks.
- “Ventura County Storytellers & Poets Fest,” at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, Nov. 1, in Simi Valley.
Other 150th Anniversary events supported by the Humanities for All Grant include youth poetry workshops hosted by Ventura County Poet Laureate Luz Maria Espinosa and Youth Poet Laureate Angelina Leaños, and pop-up events to celebrate the opening of the 150th Anniversary commemorative exhibit: Ventura County the Place We Call Home, curated by the Museum of Ventura County.
More information on all the County of Ventura’s 150th Anniversary events, including dates, times, and locations is available on the dedicated website, venturacounty150.com. On the website, visitors can also explore the full roster of 150th Anniversary events and even submit their own favorite moments in Ventura County through VC150 Memories Project.
