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Impact Areas

Arts & Culture

Arts play a critical role in the vibrancy of our community. Donors with a passion for the arts help us focus our grantmaking on performing, visual & literary arts; arts education; historic preservation; and cultural programs.

Dancers performing on stage in monotone costumes

Funding Priority

Performing, Visual, & Literary Arts

Through our Arts & Culture Grant Program, we help organizations enhance their programming, incorporate technology advances, attract new audiences, and more.

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Funding Priority

Arts Education

Through our Giesen Trust Grant Program, we encourage the personal and emotional development of children and youth by helping local organizations promote myriad experiences in the arts.

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Group of kids pointing at a wall with the Pasadena City hall behind them

Funding Priority

Historic Preservation & Cultural Programs

Through our Capital Grants, fiscal sponsorships, and other funds, we help local organizations preserve and showcase our community’s history and diversity and contribute to a shared sense of community pride and identity.

Restored historic building

Our Impact

Man constructing a group of youth kids as they sing
$10.6 million

Since its first arts grant in 1973, PCF, along with its generous donors, has awarded more than 1,859 grants totaling more than $10.6M to arts & cultural organizations.

$302,000

In 2024, PCF awarded $302,000 in Arts & Culture Grants to 16 arts organizations.

50+ Years

The Rowe & Gayle Giesen Trust was established in 1972 to support youth arts education. PCF began administering the fund in 2013, and since that time, the fund has awarded more than $400,000 to local arts nonprofits.

$535,000

PCF stepped in with vital assistance during the pandemic (2020-2022) to support arts organizations experiencing protracted closures, diminishing audiences, and grave uncertainty.

14 Endowment Builders

PCF’s grantmaking in the Arts & Culture Impact Area is amplified by 14 donors who are passionate about Pasadena-area arts and cultural organizations and created endowments to create ongoing financial support.

Arts & Culture Donors and Funds

Arts & Culture Grants
Two people standing posing for photo

The Ann Dobson Barrett & Olin Barrett Endowment

A couple with a long history of involvement in the arts create an endowment for enduring arts support.

Older woman reading book to a class

Sunny’s Endowment

The family of Sunny Stevenson creates an endowment to honor her lifetime commitment to arts organizations.

A vintage photo shows a young woman throwing a platter on a pottery wheel

Barbara Campbell Endowment

A family established a memorial endowment to honor their mother’s creative spirit and lifelong dedication to supporting artists and the arts community.

Arts & Culture Grants

Featured News and Stories

Explore all the ways this area of interest has uplifted the arts sector in the Greater Pasadena area.

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Jun
20
A theater cast in full costume and makeup and moody light line the stage in rows looking intensely at the camera.

2024 Arts & Culture Grants Announced

Pasadena Community Foundation (PCF) is proud to announce the nonprofit recipients for its 2024 Arts & Culture Grant Program. The 16 selected nonprofits represent both emerging and established organizations, and the grants, totaling $302,000, provide flexible support in addressing ongoing challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.  See complete list of 2024 Arts & Culture grantees below. […]
Jun
09

Giesen Grant Bolsters Muir’s Studio Arts Program

In late January, inside an expansive, light-filled, charmingly cluttered art classroom, students at John Muir Early College Magnet High School busied themselves in front of large sewing machines and shaped their hands around earthy clay. Camaraderie, quiet chatter, and a happy calm permeated the space. PCF was visiting the art studio of Cynthia Lake, Muir’s […]
Aug
10

Pasadena Community Foundation Steps Up for the Arts

In June 2021, PCF announced it would award $100,000 in unrestricted funding for the Performing & Visual Arts Recovery Grant Program. Throughout the pandemic, PCF proactively reached out to Pasadena’s nonprofit agencies to learn how they were faring. The news from local arts leaders was dire: Their organizations were in precarious financial and operational positions, […]
Jun
20
A theater cast in full costume and makeup and moody light line the stage in rows looking intensely at the camera.

2024 Arts & Culture Grants Announced

Pasadena Community Foundation (PCF) is proud to announce the nonprofit recipients for its 2024 Arts & Culture Grant Program. The 16 selected nonprofits represent both emerging and established organizations, and the grants, totaling $302,000, provide flexible support in addressing ongoing challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.  See complete list of 2024 Arts & Culture grantees below. […]
Jun
09

Giesen Grant Bolsters Muir’s Studio Arts Program

In late January, inside an expansive, light-filled, charmingly cluttered art classroom, students at John Muir Early College Magnet High School busied themselves in front of large sewing machines and shaped their hands around earthy clay. Camaraderie, quiet chatter, and a happy calm permeated the space. PCF was visiting the art studio of Cynthia Lake, Muir’s […]
Aug
10

Pasadena Community Foundation Steps Up for the Arts

In June 2021, PCF announced it would award $100,000 in unrestricted funding for the Performing & Visual Arts Recovery Grant Program. Throughout the pandemic, PCF proactively reached out to Pasadena’s nonprofit agencies to learn how they were faring. The news from local arts leaders was dire: Their organizations were in precarious financial and operational positions, […]
View All