Mission

At its inception in 1972, a small group of the Children’s Creative Project (CCP) volunteer artists served 200 children at Franklin Elementary School in Santa Barbara.  In 1975 the CCP acquired non-profit status and became a program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office under then-Superintendent William J. Cirone.

Now the CCP reaches more than 50,000 children annually, in 100 Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County Schools.

We are dedicated to the following:

  • To provide arts experiences for underserved children not normally exposed to the arts 

  • To include the visual and performing arts in a child's basic education

  • To collaborate with school districts, artists, and arts organizations to develop arts education programs

  • To expand work opportunities for professional artists in the schools

  • To provide workshops and performances addressing Calif. State Dept. of Education Visual & Performing Arts Content Standards

  • To provide arts experiences as a positive alternative to drugs, vandalism and violence

  • To develop funds to support arts education programs

Team

Recognition

In 1999, the CCP was among 91 nationwide model arts education programs recognized by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a report, Gaining the Arts Advantage:  Lessons from School Districts that Value Arts Education.  The report was a study by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and Arts Education Partnership.  It is the first national study to examine the success strategies of school districts in building and sustaining strong district-wide arts education programs.

In 1999, the CCP received The Creative Ticket Schools of Excellence award from the California Alliance for Arts Education, a member of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network.

The CCP & Kathy Koury received the 2015 Leadership in the Arts Award from the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission.

Board of Directors

Strategic Plan 2019-2022

 Behind every successful organization is a strategic plan that accurately reflects its vision, mission  and values;  effectively appropriates its human, physical and financial resources; and undergirds its direction, its hopes and its dreams.
Take a look at the Children’s Creative Project Strategic Plan here.