Scholarship Application NOW OPEN / Solicitud de beca YA ABIERTA

Scholarship Application NOW OPEN / Solicitud de beca YA ABIERTA

Application Deadline November 30th by 5pm. Fecha Limite de solicitud el 30 de Noviembre a las 5pm.

Arts
Mentorship
Program

ART HEALS AND DANCE CHANGES LIVES

The Arts Mentorship Program’s mission statement is to provide creative guidance, mentorship, and financial support to young and emerging performing artists in Santa Barbara County who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity.

AMP provides five core programs: Scholarship Mentorship Program, Rent Subsidy Program, NO Limits, Student Performance Companies, and Inclusion Coalition.

A Message from our Executive Director

May this message find you with joy and light. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is René García-Hernández (Él/He/Him), and I am humbled to be the Art Mentorship Program’s (AMP) Executive Director. When I was a teen, I remember struggling with mental health, body image, and feeling that I didn’t belong. In a world that always tried to put me in a box and define my identity, I found myself isolating further into a dark place. I needed an outlet to live and be able to breathe as my full authentic self. It was then that I found the warm light of the stage that filled me with joy, healing, power, and I knew that I had found a home. I released negativity through movement and dance when I didn’t have the words. Dance helped me find the confidence to feel worthy and seen. Dance saved me. When my depression was at its worst, dance not only gave me the power of belonging, but also a path to support social movements through ARTivism. Now, I get to do it every day by helping others find the same light and identity through movement, art, and play through our programs at AMP. It is an honor to provide a space for future dancers, leaders, and artists that often lack access, opportunity, and a home.

Y(OUR) IMPACT

AMP has been working in Santa Barbara since 2004. We provide need-based & merit-based scholarships, affordable quality rehearsal space, and performing opportunities to young emerging artists and greater Santa Barbara community. AMP believes that movement, dance, and play is essential for a students healthy physical, emotional, and mental development.

Words from Laura Luevanos in 2023

“Dance arts and AMP shaped me to be a loving and supportive member of not just dance communities but all communities. They showed me lessons beyond the dance studio that I still lead with in my adult life today. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to not only pursue my passion in my career and love for dance but a place that brought me life-long friendships, support, and helped me be the best version of myself. It truly feels like a second home.”