Embedded Files
Welcome to the Community Arts Archive of San Bernardino County
The Arts Connection – San Bernardino County Arts Council, Community Arts Archive encapsulates an archive of its past programming with pictures of community members, artists, and cultural bearers who participated in their past programs. The Community Arts Archive Project was built by Arts Connection interns, Zuriel Garcia Ortiz and Pedro Aceves who worked on the project for three months, consulting the council on best practices for archiving and presenting archival material. Best practices which were consulted for the project was by using the Society of American Archivists, Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS). DACS is a system used by many archivists in museums and libraries. DACS facilitates consistent, appropriate, and self-explanatory description of archival materials and creators of archival materials. DACS can be applied to all types of material at all levels of description, and the rules are designed for use by any type of descriptive output. While we follow the DACS system as one of the best practices to curate material inside the google drives, ultimately, we must think of this archive not as institutional archive because for a long time, archives and history has had power over communities and individuals. The word archive describes, “The etymological roots of the term archive highlight the relationship between archives, state institutions, and public policies. The origins of modern archives are intimately linked to colonial logics of vanishing races, imperial projects of collection, and colonial nation-making strategies.”1 Our goal for this community archive is to decolonize the way in which we view archives. Archives have the power to change perceptions of communities that are marginalized and affected by policy. Not only do archives have the power to shift public perceptions of communities, but they also allow for the communities to take control of their own narratives, to tell their stories and build a narrative that they built rather than another entity. Through best practices, we were able to create an engaging archive allowing for the community members, artists, and students to access the archive. Our hope is to keep this archive alive for Arts Connection programming, being updated frequently every year with engaging material by and for artists and members of the community, to use, advocate, and preserve the history of San Bernardino County.
-- Zuriel Garcia-Ortiz, Graduate Archive Intern
1 Kimberly Christen, Relationships, Not Records: Digital Heritage and the Ethics of Sharing Indigenous Knowledge, Online.
Arts Connnection's Community Arts Archive was co-created by Pedro Aceves and Zuriel Garcia-Ortiz with mentorship by Carolyn Schutten, Director of Research and Development, during the pilot program for Creative San Bernardino County Internship Program
Banners created by Pedro Aceves. Images made ADA compliant by Pedro Aceves.
About Arts Connection - The Arts Council of San Bernardino County
MISSION
Elevating arts and culture in San Bernardino County, Arts Connection is dedicated to stimulating creative and economic vitality and enriching lives throughout the communities we serve by providing support, promotion, education, and advocacy for the arts.
VISION
Arts Connection envisions a county that invests in each of our creative communities. We work in collaboration with our city, state, and county partners to explore creative pathways for integrating the arts into the framework of the countywide vision.
OUR STORY
Arts Connection - The Arts Council of San Bernardino County originated in 1985 and was re-established in 2013 as a nonprofit corporation as a result of a two-year planning process with over 70 arts professionals providing insight and conducting research into what an arts council for the county should look like – and how it should support the development of the diverse creative communities and rich cultural history across this expansive geography.
Arts Connection was designated by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors as a state-local partner to the California Arts Council in 2015, which provides operating support. Working as a state-local partner, Arts Connection supports increased grant submissions and successful applications to the various grant programs offered annually by the state agency.
As the official local arts agency, Arts Connection provides financial support, services, and other programs to support over 200 arts and cultural organizations and agencies, individual artists, and the diverse communities of the county. Arts Connection continues to partner with dozens of regional organizations to provide a broad range of programming across the entire county, including San Bernardino City Unified School District, Victor Valley Museum, San Bernardino County Museum, Barstow and Copper Mountain Community Colleges, California State University San Bernardino, the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, the Garcia Center for the Arts, and more.
Arts Connection is an essential advocate and organizer for arts and culture professionals in the region. The council’s goal is to serve the diverse creative communities in the region and stimulate creative and economic vitality through supportive networks, mentoring, education, and advocacy. Arts Connection enhances, amplifies, and weaves together creative networks, acting as a network of networks.
The council advances artist connections, arts advocacy, knowledge and capacity, community building,and artist sponsorship. Arts Connection aims to foster more vibrant and equitable cities and communities through its strategies and programs. In 2023, Arts Connection is proudly celebrating 10 years since we began as a nonprofit organization. We look forward to many more years serving you, San Bernardino County!
COMMUNITY ARTS ARCHIVE INDEX
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