LOS ANGELES, CA – The California Arts Council has announced one award of the more than $19 million allocated to more than 800 grant awards to Woodcraft Rangers as part of its Mariachi Academies program during its 2024-25 fiscal year grant cycle. Support awarded will continue to benefit communities throughout the state until the end of the project cycle timeline in September 2025.
Woodcraft Rangers’ Mariachi Academies program is one of the agency’s range of specialty enrichment experiences that can enhance existing afterschool programs. Woodcraft programs are anchored in a whole-child educational framework encompassing the academic, physical, and social-emotional development of TK-12 young people. Programs are designed in collaboration with school administrators, parents, and youth, who all guide our program design and curation. Youth-led interests, inclusivity, and local community cultural awareness are at the center of our program design.
Woodcraft Rangers was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council of more than 800 grant awards totaling close to $19.5 million in overall projected investments for operational and project support to nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state of California.
The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. The Arts Council is California’s leading public arts grants provider with funding accessible to every county in California.
“Art makes us who we are in California,” said California Arts Council Executive Director Danielle Brazell. “We are defined by our creative workforce and our everyday lives are informed, enriched, and uplifted by the artists and cultural workers across our state. On behalf of the CAC, I offer my sincere congratulations – and my gratitude – to each of our award recipients for this grant cycle.”
“We pledged fealty to our comprehensive and field-informed Strategic Framework in our decision-making for funding for this fiscal year,” said Council Chair Roxanne Messina Captor. “Council made every effort to make each dollar in our budget go its furthest toward our most important aspirations for our agency, our governor, and our Legislature alike: to create a California for all, where the arts are accessible to all.”
Organizations were awarded grants across nine different program areas designed to benefit the whole of California’s arts and culture ecosystem, including a second year of funding for two-year programs awarded in the previous fiscal year. Award funds prioritize many of the aspirations articulated in the agency’s Strategic Framework, specifically increasing opportunities for general operating and multiyear grants, geographic equity, individual artists, small organizations, and state-local partner funding and capacity building.
Read the full announcement by the California Arts Council for more details and to view a complete listing of all 2024-25 CAC grantees by county, alphabetically by organization, and by program.
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About Woodcraft Rangers
Woodcraft Rangers is a leader in expanded learning, supporting 25,000 youth at over 110 Title I schools throughout Los Angeles County, with before and after school enrichment and summer day and sleepaway camp programs. In 1922, Woodcraft Rangers opened its doors in Los Angeles and began its mission of guiding young people as they explore pathways to purposeful lives. Always committed to access and inclusion, all youth, regardless of their background, were invited to participate and guided to develop a holistic sense of self through the “Woodcraft Way,” a fourfold path of body, mind, spirit, and service, and a precursor to the whole development model.
Today, Woodcraft Rangers serves students ages 4-18 in tailor-made programs to meet the specific needs of each school, neighborhood, or community. Additionally, Woodcraft boasts a robust and extensive catalog that offers over 100 different enrichment options encompassing arts, sports and wellness, STEM, leadership, and outdoor education with developmentally appropriate activities for all ages.
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CAC Media Inquiries Only:
Kimberly Brown
California Arts Council
Public Affairs Specialist
kimberly.brown@arts.ca.gov
The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. It supports local arts infrastructure and programming statewide through grants, initiatives, and services. The California Arts Council envisions a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts.
Members of the California Arts Council include: Roxanne Messina Captor, Chair; Leah Goodwin, Vice Chair; Gerald Clarke; Caleb Duarte; Vicki Estrada; Roy Hirabayashi; Alex Israel; Dorka Keehn; Phil Mercado; Nicola Miner. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.