The belief that the arts enrich lives and strengthen communities, is the principle upon which San Buenaventura Foundation for the Arts (SBFA) was founded in 1999, as a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization. SBFA’s mission is to sustain and advance the arts community by increasing broad-based public support for, and access to, arts activities.

The City of Ventura has adopted the slogan "California's New Art City" to celebrate the importance of the arts in our community.  As Advocates for Ventura Arts, our programs are geared towards raising the community’s awareness of our unique cultural environment and its major impact on our economic well-being and our quality of life.

We are proud of our past and continuing programs, all of which have greatly advanced our mission. Going forward, we are formalizing our diverse advocacy initiatives under the program moniker Advocates for Ventura Arts (AVA) to provide a better understanding of our purpose. Some of our past and present initiatives include:

• Ventura Arts Online – www.venturaarts.org – launched in 1999, provides the most comprehensive, searchable calendar of cultural events throughout our County, as well as a continual flow of information about local performances and exhibitions. This 24/7 resource serves the dual function of providing valuable information to the public, while providing marketing opportunities to the arts organizations. Collaborating at the start with 11 organizations, the website now hosts over 40 regulars.
  
  
• Arts Explosion – This series of free arts events, held each year between 2003 and 2007, was designed to build new audiences and provide the public quality arts experiences, especially young families who might not otherwise be able to afford them. Created and produced by SBFA in partnership with the City of Ventura, this celebration of the arts - from dance, to music, to theater, to storytelling and puppetry – played to packed houses, with 12 to 15 professional and community arts organizations providing top-notch entertainment.
  
  
• Arts Forum – Established in 1999, the bi-annual political forum for Ventura City Council candidates is designed to give voice to the concerns of the arts community. Time and time again, the Arts Forum is by far the most well-attended of all civic forums during each election cycle.
  
  
• Arts Showcase – developed in collaboration with the Ventura Education Partnership’s Arts Collaborative, this one-day fair of presentations and information booths is designed to make educators aware of the varied and high-quality array of arts education programs available to them. For individual artists, writers, poets, and performers and for the many outstanding regional arts organizations who offer outreach programs, it is an opportunity to interface directly with decision makers in the schools.
  
  
• Rock the Arts – Two rock music festivals presented by SBFA succeeded in reaching a much broader cross section of our community and served to raise their awareness of our established arts scene. While traditional arts audiences tend to be older, Rock the Arts drew a diverse population in age demographics and introduced them to our many world-class arts organizations.
  
  
• Other Advocacy Initiatives – SBFA has commissioned several studies by respected national consulting firms, documenting the economic impact of the arts sector in Ventura and analyzing the resources it needs to flourish. In addition, several Town Hall meetings were sponsored, to gather input from stakeholders and residents. This information is used by the arts community to “make the case” for its continued financial support from local, state and federal sources. For instance, SBFA found that Ventura’s arts community created 645 full and part-time jobs and stimulated $18.6 million in spending. We also discovered that the lack of arts facilities in Ventura is hampering the growth of the sector. As a result, the City included facilities development as a major goal in its Cultural Plan.
  
  All of these reports confirm that the Arts are good for business and our quality of life.  In addition to increasing economic activity, a healthy, growing arts scene is a strong attraction to new businesses that provide high quality, high wage jobs.  It also offers motivation to creative people to become new residents and valuable contributors to our community. Finally, it develops opportunities for participation of our youth -- our legacy for insuring a promising future for our families.

We will continue to vigorously pursue our role as Advocates for Ventura Arts (AVA), as we have since our inception, and increase public awareness of the extraordinary amount of arts activity available in our community..."California's New Art City".