16TH ANNUAL ORANGE COUNTY ARTS AWARDS - OCTOBER 14, 2015

Segerstrom Center for the Arts Will Tranform Its Outdoor Plaza

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts has announced that it will transform its outdoor plaza, which will be named the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza, designed by the renowned firm of Michael Maltzan Architecture. It is intended to reimagine the existing Arts Plaza as a welcoming public gathering place and dynamic town square deeply engrained in the community offering a host of new guest amenities, a public stage and free events and performances. Additional initiatives were also announced. Read more here.

FREE Gathering for Orange County Teaching Artist Community on Sept. 12: Questions of Certification and Training for the Field

Co-sponsored by Arts Orange County

The Teaching Artist Support Collaborative, a statewide community of practice for teaching artists and the organizations that hire them, will hold a regional gathering on Saturday, September 12 at The Wooden Floor in Santa Ana. Registration is FREE, and refreshments will be served. The purpose of the gathering is to discuss and challenge ideas about teaching artist training and questions of certification. More information and FREE registration may be found here.

The MAP Fund, an ancillary program of Creative Capital, is now accepting applications for performing arts projects. Visit the website to read the instructions, register your account, and submit your application. The submission deadline for LOIs is Monday, September 28, 2015 at 5:00pm EST. The MAP Fund is founded on the principle that experimentation drives human progress, no less in art than in science or medicine. The program welcomes applications from artists, ensembles, producers and presenters of a high artistic standard, whose work in the disciplines of contemporary performance embodies this spirit of exploration and deep inquiry. Letters of Inquiry must come from organizations based in the United States that have current nonprofit federal tax status (501c3); unincorporated artists or ensembles may apply to MAP through a fiscal sponsor.

RESOURCES FOR ARTISTS & ARTS ORGANIZATIONS - ArtsOC.org

ARTS & CULTURAL EVENTS + CALLS FOR ARTISTS + AUDITIONS + JOBS + CLASSES + VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES - SparkOC.com

Arts Orange County is supported in part through funds from

Mark Rucker, Longtime SCR Stage Director from Newport Beach Has Died

"Mark Rucker, an accomplished stage director who worked extensively at South Coast Repertory, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Tuesday. Rucker, a native of Newport Beach, was 56. No cause of death has been announced. 'Mark directed 21 plays here over more than 20 years,' said SCR artistic director Marc Masterson. 'He's been an associate artist for many, many years here. We are all grieving. He is much loved by our entire staff, anybody who ever worked with him.' Masterson said the sadness at SCR is being reflected across the country. Rucker enjoyed a national reputation as a theater director.

Though he had served as associate artistic director of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater since 2010, Rucker continued his relationship with SCR. His last production at the Costa Mesa theater was a well-received version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 2013. More of Paul Hodgins' article in the Orange County Register here.

OCCCA Celebrates its 35th

"The graduate students from Cal State Fullerton who created OCCCA had a quixotic vision of a flexible, multifaceted venue. OCCCA's great distinction is to have survived splendidly intact, thanks to the ingeniously resilient and rhizomatic organizational structure devised by OCCCA's young founders in 1980, inspired by the words of their professor George Herms, a well-known artist from LA. He told them not to wait around to be invited to exhibit somewhere, but to take matters into their own hands!" Read more here.

Arts Orange County is the leader in building appreciation of, participation in and support for the arts and arts education throughout Orange County.

It is a powerhouse in advancing Orange County's arts ecology, a trailblazer in advocating workforce development through arts education, a leader in building future audiences and a trendsetter in the world of nonprofit arts councils.

Arts Orange County, 3730 South Susan Street, Suite 100, Santa Ana, CA 92704