State funds support General Operating Expenses
Date: Tuesday, November 18th, 2025
San Diego, CA – The California Arts Council has announced a grant award of $15,300 to Write Out Loud as a part of its General Operating Expenses Grants for its 2025-26 fiscal year grant cycle. Write Out Loud is an organization founded in 2007 with a commitment to inspire, challenge and entertain by reading literature aloud for a live audience.
Write Out Loud was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council of a total of 679 awards for nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout California that will be disbursed across seven different programs, including a second year of funding for the State-Local Partners program awarded in the previous fiscal year. These grants comprise an investment of more than $19.5 million in support for the state’s arts and cultural landscape and creative workforce.
“Arts and culture are a powerful tool for community connection, well-being and a critical pillar of our state’s creative economy,” said California Arts Council Executive Director Danielle Brazell. “This year’s investment of $19.5 million in grant funding is provided in every corner of the state. Funding to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations ensures the public has access to high-quality artistic and cultural programming reflective of the people of California. This funding is a vital investment in the state’s creative workforce, furthering that the power of art and creative expression can continue telling the stories of our communities. Congratulations to all grantees!“
“On behalf of the Council, I would like to thank Governor Newsom and the Legislature for this critical funding, ensuring the arts remain an important force in sustaining our democracy,” Council Chair Roxanne Messina Captor said. “The Council is often faced with the difficult task of balancing the overwhelming need for arts funding with the total amount allocated to fund, but we are incredibly proud of our collective work to assert and support priorities that expand our resources as far as we can. As we look ahead to the CAC’s 50th anniversary in 2026, this robust investment sets the foundation for another five decades of cultural growth, civic engagement, and artistic excellence across California.”
Grant awards and outreach for the season emphasized the Council’s three previously identified priorities for 2025-26 local assistance funding: organizations serving historically and systemically underserved communities located in the lower two quartiles of the Healthy Places Index (HPI); first-time CAC grantees; and small organizations with total revenues of $250,000 or less.
Veronica Murphy, Write Out Loud Artistic Director shared “As a small arts organization, this general operating support from the California Arts Council has a huge impact on our ability to continue to serve our community. Our literature based programming inspires a love of reading and stories for all ages in San Diego County, at schools, libraries, museums, theatres and with other partner organizations.”
Read the full announcement by the California Arts Council for more details and complete listings of all 2025-26 CAC grantees.
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Write Out Loud serves over 30,000 people annually with their core programs: In their six show season of Story Concerts, Poefest – a celebration of Edgar Allan Poe and writers of the macabre, Kamishibai StoryBox – for elementary students; Poetry Out Loud for high school students; Read Imagine Create for teens; Let Your Voice Be Heard – Student Poetry Initiative, Ripples From Walden Pond – a one-man play about Henry David Thoreau; and Stories for Seniors.
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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; Rick Stein. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.
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