City Awards $30,000 in Cultural Grants

Young Ventura art students will spend $2,200 creating a 70-foot-by-90-foot portable mural on Ventura Avenue that can be moved for special exhibits.

The Westside Community Council will spend $2,000 presenting cultural events on Avenue Green Plaza, a community gathering place recently renovated by volunteers.

And California Poets in the Schools will spend $2,000 to bring poets to Ventura classrooms.

The trio of events are among 13 made possible by grants totaling $30,000 from the city of Ventura’s Community Services Office of Cultural Affairs announced this week. The annual Cultural Funding Program is intended to support art in the city.

Cultural events aimed at children will include:

* $4,000 to provide weekly art, dance and drama classes to foster children.

* $1,000 to the Channel Islands Ballet Company to conduct ballet workshops in schools.

* $1,000 on a music education program that will bring artists from the Los Angeles Music Center to schools.

Musical performance grants include:

* $5,000 to the Ventura County Master Chorale for seven downtown concerts.

* $1,500 to composer John Biggs for an original chamber piece for oboe and string trio that will be performed at the Ventura Mission.

* $2,000 to the New West Symphony for concerts featuring music of other cultures at the Poinsettia Pavilion.

* $1,700 for a City Hall concert with Ojai Camerata featuring a new composition from composer Miguel del Aguila.

In addition, upcoming Ventura ArtWalks will see the Plexus Dance Group receive $2,300 for an arts information booth and concert arena and artist Paul Benavidez get $3,300 for a series of art installations in downtown storefronts.

Lastly, Gwendolyn Alley, in collaboration with sculptor Joanne Duby, received $2,000 to create an exhibit of literary and visual art inspired by Ventura.