General Resources
Tools and Opportunities
Explore resources for artists, including professional development, funding opportunities, and artist directories.
SOCIAL MEDIA & SELF-PROMOTION
- Reels for Social Media with Anna Cummins (video | 2026)
- Art Event Application Workshop (video | 2026)
- Story Telling for Self Promotion (video | 2026)
- Instagram Basics with Bree Karpavage (video | 2024)
- Open Studios Artist Postcard Tips (PDF | 2025)
ARTWORK IMAGES
- Reproduction Basics with Melinda Vahradian (video | 2022)
- Sizing Images for Digital Upload with David Reese and Mickey Singer (video | 2022)
- Sizing Images on a Mac using Preview (PDF | 2022)
- Resizing a Digital Image on a PC in Paint (PDF | 2022)
- Photographing Art at home with Aaron Johnson (2D) and Liz Crain (3D) (video | 2022)
PRICING
- Pricing with Fanne Fernow & April Zilber (video | 2022)
- Ann Ostermann’s take on pricing your art (PDF)
- Six Tips for ease of selling from Ann Hazels (PDF | 2023)
- Selling Art Presentation from Dawn Teall (PDF | 2017)
DISPLAYING ARTWORK
- Easy Display Ideas (PDF | 2018)
- Preparation & Display Supplies (PDF | 2018)
- Tips & Tricks from past Open Studios Artists (PDF | 2024)
SMALL BUSINESS SUPPORT
- Tax Workshop (video | 2025)
Note: Many of the resources listed below are hosted by external organizations. We encourage artists to explore them independently, as content and availability may change.
Professional Development
- Arts Council Santa Cruz County - Opportunities & Resources: The main landing page to find out about our own professional development opportunities and other resources.
- Americans for the Arts: National arts advocacy organization offering a ton of resources; check out their Virtual Engagement Hub for their upcoming webinars and virtual community conversations (usually free).
- California Lawyers for the Arts: Educational workshops, seminars and special events throughout the state on a variety of legal and business topics; Lawyer referral and information services; arts arbitration and mediation services; and a Video On Demand library featuring a growing selection of titles that are relevant to a wide array of artistic professions.
- Center for Nonprofit Excellence: Part of the Community Foundation for Monterey County, offers workshops, a nonprofit consultant directory, and the LEAD Institute - a year-long leadership development program for nonprofit managers aspiring to greater leadership.
- Race Forward: Leading racial equity organization offering multiple great training options—such as their Racial Equity Training series, designed to meet the user where they are—as well as reports and downloadable toolkits.
- SVCreates: Primarily focused on support for the arts in Santa Clara County, but often offers online workshops and webinars open to all.
- Creative Capital Curriculum: Free online, self-paced professional development courses for artists.
- Intersection for the Arts: A Bay Area organization dedicated to helping artists grow. Offers and in-depth artist empowerment programs such as Thrive: A BIPOC Arts Leadership Program; vetted coaches, consultants and grant writers.
- Santa Cruz Small Business Development Center (SBDC): Virtual and in-person trainings and workshops designed for business development on a variety of key topics, plus free advising for small businesses (including artists!).
- Springboard for the Arts: Offers professional development opportunities for artists including their Work of Art: Business Skills for Artists workshop curriculum and a wide range of workshops in business and career planning, grant writing, legal affairs and much more. Also offers consulting and plentiful other resources for artists.
- SCORE Central Coast: Offers free small business assistance, including mentors available to work one-on-one, as well as webinars, templates, and other resources.
- Arts Council Santa Cruz County Summer Arts Education Institute: Annual week-long training for classroom teachers, teaching artists, and school administrators from across the region to promote social emotional learning, academic achievement and equity through arts integration strategies. Participants can continue on all year with a monthly community of practice.
- Luna Dance and Creativity: Provide year round professional development training for teaching artists and classroom teachers in child development, creativity, and learning theories, and discover how to teach dance through an inclusive and culturally responsive lens.
- Studio Pathways: Professional development and strategic design for educators and arts organizations focused on equity, creativity, and culturally responsive teaching through the arts.
- National Guild for Community Arts Education: A national service organization for providers of community arts education, offering learning opportunities and resources, leadership development, and connection with fellow practitioners.
- National Arts Education Association: Professional membership organization supporting visual arts, design, and media arts educators with resources, tools, and professional development.
- CREATE CA: Statewide organization that advocates for high quality arts education for all students by providing policy expertise and by mobilizing a statewide network of advocates and allied partners.
- National Association for Music Educators: NAfME is a collaborative community that supports music educators and advocates for equitable access to music education.
- Positive Discipline: provides classroom and behavior management training and resources for parents and educators.
- BoardSource: Nonprofit board resources to increase board effectiveness and strengthen organizational impact, including guides, tools, assessments, templates, an on-demand certificate program, and a consultant directory.
- Candid Learning: Live & on-demand training, webinars, and free resources for nonprofits.
- Center for Excellence in Nonprofits: A Redwood City organization offering consulting, workshops on management, fundraising, finance, and more, development programs, a Nonprofit Leadership Boot Camp, and an intensive Leaders Institute.
- CompassPoint: An organization based in Oakland focusing on nonprofit leadership development. Offers a variety of excellent workshops on leadership, communication, finance, and fundraising; peer networks; and consulting.
- Grantwriting USA Trainings: Offers virtual and in-person workshops for nonprofits about grant writing and grants management.
- Nonprofit Finance Fund: Focuses on nonprofit financial management. Offers free on-demand webinar recordings as well as consulting and financing.
- Nonprofit Learning Lab: Offers daily online nonprofit training on training, facilitation, fundraising, strategic planning, communications, volunteer management, and free resources.
- Nonprofit Ready: 600+ free online courses, videos, and guides covering fundraising, grants, leadership, finance, marketing, operations, and other essential nonprofit skills.
- SCORE Silicon Valley: Offers free business assistance, including mentors experienced with nonprofits and available to work one-on-one, as well as webinars, templates, and other resources.
- TechSoup: For nonprofits, libraries, or foundations in the U.S., organizations are potentially eligible for donated or discounted software, hardware, and services through TechSoup.
Directories
- SPECTRA Teaching Artist Directory: Directory of teaching artists offering visual arts, dance, music, and theater programs for schools and community organisations.
- Santa Cruz County Open Studio Artists: Directory of participating local artists with searchable medium and artists' contact information.
- Arts in California Parks Directory: Artists that are interested in creating public art in California State and/or local parks are invited to join the directory.
- Central Coast Artist Directory: A regional directory of artists, creative workers, and culture bearers across six Central Coast counties.
- First Friday Art Tour: Artist DIrectory: Discover local artists
Funding & Other Opportunities
- Awesome Foundation: Local grant initiative for events/projects in SC County. Rolling applications.
- CCI's Quick Grant: Monthly microgrants of up to $600 help artists build business skills, strengthen administrative capacity, and improve the financial sustainability of their creative practice through workshops, conferences, consultants, coaches, and mentors.
- Humanities for All Quick Grants: Open to CA nonprofits with annual operating budgets of $500,000 or under, and fund $1,000-$5,000 for humanities projects, awarded on a rolling basis.
- City of SC/Choose Santa Cruz: Submit content for a social media feature for small businesses in the City of Santa Cruz
- Fractured Atlas list of grant opportunities
- CA For the Arts list of job and grant opportunities
- LA Fires Relief + Arts Resource Hub: Resources and relief efforts focused on arts-related emergencies, preparedness, and recovery.
- Emergency Resources for Artists and Freelancers: Support for emergency needs, created by the Center for Cultural Innovation.
- Fiscal sponsorship: A formal arrangement allowing projects without nonprofit status to receive grants and tax-deductible donations through a 501(c)(3) status.
- The 418 Project: A Santa Cruz-based organization charges a 7% fee.
- Fractured Atlas: Fast approval, charges an 8% fee. Not based in CA so cannot use to apply for California Arts Council funding.