Inspire a kid. Make someone’s day a little more colorful. Build relationships. Make a difference in classrooms across Santa Cruz County. Join dozens of other local artists and bring your artistic talents to teachers, classrooms, and after-school programs.

The role of Arts Council Santa Cruz County is to connect teaching artists with dozens of schools and organizations across the county every year. We bring teachers and school leaders together to bring new and returning artists into their classrooms.

We pair classroom teachers with SPECTRA teaching artists to bring dance, music, theatre, and visual arts to classrooms. Together, they work to integrate the arts into subjects such as ELD, math, science, and history.

The Mariposa Arts after-school programs bring visual art, music, dance and theatre to 2,000+ students in schools that have little or no funding for the arts in classrooms during school hours.

An intergenerational model, Mariposa Arts high school students and teaching artists work together to co-teach lessons to elementary and middle school students. Mentored by professional artists, the high school students become leaders and role models. For many students, their resume starts with their Mariposa Arts job.

The program is the basis for the Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s after-school curriculum in science, physical education, and more.