18th Street Arts Center Launches Innovative Statewide Arts Project to Advance the Well-being of California Communities
18th Street Arts Center (18SAC) has been awarded $3.3 million by the California Arts Council as one of 14 administering agencies for its California Creative Corps (CCC) program. The 35 year-old Santa Monica organization is one of only three agencies chosen to conduct CCC projects statewide.
The project design leverages the organization’s decades-long experience in activating place-based arts and cultural strategies as exemplified in its Culture Mapping 90404 project, which documented the rich history and culture assets of the 90404 ZIP code in Santa Monica.
With 90404, 18SAC commissioned artists to create work informed by the culture map; resulting in performances, exhibitions, murals and public art, a film, walking tours and a local artisan collective. The iconic neighborhood project demonstrates how applying place-based arts practices drive community cohesion and inform public policy.
“Our experience in empowering artists to do creative civic engagement work in the communities in which they live is that they have a unique ability to create trust among neighbors—a sense of belonging where people become oriented toward the common good. It’s hard for government agencies to achieve the same results,” said Jan Williamson, 18th Street Arts Center Executive Director.
18th Street Arts Center California Creative Corps Project is now calling for applications from California artists and culture bearers interested in developing meaningful arts and culture projects in communities located within Quartile 1 ZIP codes of the California Healthy Places Index (HPI).
Forty artists from across the state will be selected for further project refinement and will receive professional coaching to compose their full project concept and budget, along with a $1,000 stipend. Eighteen projects will be selected for support and funding.
Each of the final eighteen artists will receive a year-long salary of $65,000, medical and dental insurance, the option to join 18th Street Art Center’s SIMPLE IRA plan with employer match and production costs for their community art project from July 2023 – July 2024.
In addition to fostering community well-being, the selected artists will generate knowledge and media assets to contribute to a statewide California Culture Map. The culture map generated by 18th Street Arts Center California Creative Corps will provide the context to inform public policy and accelerate solutions to community needs. 18th Street Arts Center believes culture mapping is essential infrastructure for successful collaboration between arts and culture producers and community leaders seeking to foster well-being.
Artists interested in further details and applying should visit: 18thstreet.org/californiacreativecorps.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
