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 Arts Opportunities - 1 Programs and Events Arts and Culture page   Resources -1

The Arts & Culture division is part of the Parks & Community Services Department in the City of Costa Mesa. 

In 2022, the first professional arts staff member was added to the department as part of a new Arts & Culture Master Plan, which was approved by the City Council on March 16, 2021.

These efforts to support the arts in Costa Mesa were facilitated by a group of passionate volunteers; the Cultural Arts Committee. 

Below are the programs and events that the City of Costa Mesa facilitates in addition to Arts & Culture Master Plan initiatives.

 

ARTS & CULTURE MASTER PLAN

In 2017, the Costa Mesa City Council approved unanimously the development of the City’s first Arts & Culture Master Plan. This initiative signaled the Council’s belief that the time had come to appraise the value of the City’s cultural resources, to identify what strengths and weaknesses those who live, work or visit here feel exist in the local cultural landscape, and to envision ways that the City can support and advance arts and culture in Costa Mesa.

The City of Costa Mesa Arts & Culture Master Plan results from the compilation and synthesis of significant community input collected during the course of over one year, and reflects the dreams and wishes of Costa Mesans expressed in the following Vision and Mission Statements and distilled into goals and action steps for the City to pursue.

Arts & Culture Master Plan

Vision

The City of Costa Mesa rededicates itself to the distinction of being a “City of the Arts,” a place where:

  • creativity and creative people can flourish
  • imagination, inspiration and innovation are held in high regard
  • the arts are agreed to be essential to everyone’s education
  • arts and culture enrich lives and uplift the human spirit
  • arts and culture promote civic pride

Mission

Building on the efforts, accomplishments and momentum of its proud history - recognizing the challenges and competitive pressures of today - and responsible to the expectations and vitality of the future, the City of Costa Mesa sets forth 4 core priorities:  

  1. Increase opportunities for all to experience arts and culture throughout our community
  2. Expand public art throughout the City, both indoor and outdoor, through donation, loan, purchase
  3. Professionalize and elevate the status of arts and culture in City government
  4. Support Costa Mesa’s thriving creative economy