Over two decades after it was launched, the Orcutt Children’s Arts Foundation (OCAF) continues to be a vital force in supporting the arts at Orcutt Union School District campuses and in our community.
          “OCAF serves a vital role by filling funding voids and providing arts education and experiences that students otherwise would not have access to,” says Dr. Eric Castle, president of OCAF’s board of directors. “OCAF’s mission also is important because numerous studies clearly show that students involved in the arts are up to four times more likely to succeed academically and in their careers.”
            OCAF was founded in 2002 to provide funding assistance to maintain the role of the visual arts, music, dance, and theatre in Orcutt classrooms. The foundation continues to do that while seeing its mission expand to include community arts events, special arts opportunities for students, even scholarships for high school students who intend to major in the arts in college. Some of OCAF’s recent undertakings include the following:
•    Funding the curriculum and materials for the district’s elementary visual arts program, Arts Attack;
•    Providing teacher grants for arts-related activities and experiences ranging from school assemblies to field trips;
•    Funding a spring play for elementary and junior high school students (this year’s play, a comedy named “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales,” will be performed this coming April 24 and 25); 
•    Making significant investments toward outfitting the Orcutt Academy High School (OAHS) Gym as a performance venue that can host plays and concerts; and
•    Organizing, with help from many partner organizations, the annual Old Orcutt Chalk Festival each September as a community celebration of the arts.
             On January 23, the district took a group of OCAF board members and supporters on a bus tour to four school sites to see the visual and performing arts in action. Attendees got to see an Arts Attack lesson, an elementary music lesson, square dancing infused in physical education, a song practices by OAHS Theatre Arts students, and a mini-performance by the OAHS Band.
             “To see how far we have come in the arts was amazing,” said tour participant Mike Gibson, a longtime OCAF backer who was a member of Orcutt’s school board when the foundation was established. “To see that the high school band now has 72 members showed amazing progress right there. OCAF has made something happen in this district. I’m quite proud of it.”
             OCAF’s annual Gala this coming Saturday, March 7, offers an important opportunity to support the arts. This year’s event has a “masquerade” theme and will be held at the Monarch Club in Nipomo. The evening will include live jazz from the OAHS Band, student art, dinner, silent and live auctions, and dancing. For information and tickets, go to the OCAF website, orcuttarts.com.
           “People who come to the Gala will enjoy a night of elegance and fun while supporting a great cause,” says Jennifer Medina, OCAF’s operations coordinator.  Meantime, the visual and performing arts will remain an integral part of what Orcutt Union School District students experience.
          “The arts give so many students a reason to want to come to school,” says Seamus Gault, an OAHS senior who plays the French horn and serves as the OAHS Band’s drum major. “We really need the arts.”