1983

• Creation of The County of Santa Barbara Art Associates
  Originally incorporated as The County of Santa Barbara Art Associates, The Arts Fund was created in 1983 as a private nonprofit corporation. Its goals were to promote, foster, and support art activities in Santa Barbara County, and to facilitate the works of the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission. The project was spearheaded by Shirley Dettmann and Joanne Holderman.
  
• Compiled and Distributed Arts Resources for Teachers
  A 1983 project in cooperation with county schools, Arts Resources for Teachers compiled a timely booklet that gave teachers information on resources available to them to use the arts to enhance curriculum. Updated twice. Third edition in 1996-97 was collaboration with The Children’s Creative Project and other organizations with funding available as a match for the schools to implement their choices.

1988

• Individual Artist Awards (IAA) Established
  The Individual Artist Awards were established in 1988 to assist local artists with establishing their professional careers. Selected artists received a cash award, public presentation, and solo show or performance.
  
• Santa Barbara County Arts Commission Flag
  In 1988-89, with a grant from the Santa Barbara Foundation, The Arts Fund purchased a newly designed flag for Santa Barbara that was hung in the archway of the Courthouse.

1989

• The Arts Fund Becomes Independent
  In the late 1980s, The Arts Fund evolved into an independent organization with its current mission of offering art education, development and exhibition opportunities to aspiring artists and curators, as well as opportunities for Santa Barbara County residents to expand their appreciation for the wealth of local arts in our own community.

1991

• Herbert Bayer’s Chromatic Gate Sculpture
  The Arts Fund acted as fiscal agent for the Herbert Bayer Sculpture Committee during its initial fund-raising period until it was able to independently incorporate as a non-profit. The sculpture was dedicated in 1991.

1993

• Creation of the Teen Arts Mentorship Program
  Initiated in 1993 with a three-year grant from the Irvine Foundation, the Teen Arts Mentorship Program is an in-depth arts enrichment program designed to expose teenage artists to career paths in the visual, performance, multimedia, and literary arts. Working in small groups with creative professionals in our community, students develop specific art-making skills, learn exhibition techniques, and build strong portfolios, resumes, and professional networks to bolster college applications and prepare them for a career in the arts.
• El Zoco Artist Live/Work Complex
  From 1993-95, The Arts Fund worked to build a revolving loan fund to provide down-payment assistance to artists wishing to purchase units. It sold “bricks” which entitled donors to design (at a ceramic artist’s studio) a paver for a “Walk of Art” to be integrated in the garden design. This was a joint project with Homes for People and the County Arts Commission to bring vitality to lower State Street and make low cost appropriate housing available to artists.

2000

• Creation of the Community Gallery Program
  After years of “borrowing” exhibition spaces from generous gallery owners as well as CAF, the Ridley-Tree Center, and the Arts Commission for all our IAA and mentor shows, we opened our own space in June of 2000, fulfilling a longtime dream/goal. Barry Berkus and his son Steve converted the old fish market space into a presentable gallery that was improved over the years with grants from the Santa Barbara Foundation.

2001

• Experience Art
  Run 2001-2002, at-risk youth in counseling with Anger Management Services were linked with professional artists to offer them new avenues to express themselves.

2003

• East Side/West Side
  A project with the goal of bringing junior high kids from the East Side and West Side of Santa Barbara together to find the commonalities between them. In the end, only girls enrolled to work with Rafael Moldanaro, photographer, and Sojourner Kincaid, African-American poet; together, they recorded the scenes in their lives and commented on them in verse.

2009

• IAA Retrospective Exhibition
  Reflections and Projections, the IAA Retrospective Exhibition at the Channing Peake Gallery, honoring many of the 129 artists who received the Individual Artist Award over the previous 20 years.

2015

• Creation of the Public Art Program
  
• First North County Mentorship
  John Hood, an artist living and working in North County, was invited to mentor the first North County Teen Arts Mentorship in 2015. The group of 18 students from 4 area high schools spent weeks creating a huge mural for the Discovery Museum (one of the patrons, along with the Squire Foundation).

2018

• The Arts Fund Receives Leadership in the Arts Award
  In 2018, the County of Santa Barbara Arts Commission recognized The Arts Fund for its “Significant impact on the arts and culture of our region through innovative thinking and exemplary commitment to promoting sustaining, and advancing our quality of life through the Arts.”

2015

• Virtual Studio-to-Student (S2S) Mentorships

2022

• MSME Joins the Community Gallery Program
  In 2022, The Arts Fund brought the Museum of Sensory & Movement Experiences (MSME) into the Community Gallery Program, taking over the lease for MSME’s 3,000 square-foot multi-use space in La Cumbre Plaza.

2023

• 40th Anniversary of The Arts Fund
  The Arts Fund celebrated its 40th anniversary by holding the live art event Monster Drawing Rally in September of 2023. Later that same year, the Teen Arts Mentorship Program celebrated its 30th year with an exhibition in the Community Gallery.