X Factor Grants support entrepreneurial and innovative ideas to advance the arts and creativity in Santa Clara County. Through training and coaching, SVCREATES spurs organizations and artists to develop and test new programs and messages that resonate with potential donors and audiences and amplify mission.
Learn more about past grantees and their award winning projects!
2019 X FACTOR ARTS GRANTEES:
- Teatro Nahual will create bilingual sketches with musical and video components, called “Leyendas, Sueños y Realidades” (Legends, Dreams and Realities). They will be performed by three actors and one musician. The scenes depict popular legends. For example, the “Origin of the Corn” and a modern-day reality, with a social and political angle in “I am an immigrant, and I am bilingual.” These productions will be offered to bilingual schools around the Bay Area. Teatro Nahual has the purpose of bringing education and entertainment to young audiences by showing the richness of being part of two cultures.
Silicon Valley African Film Festival
- SVAFF presents Sankofa – a living history/visual storytelling project. Sankofa will identify, document and celebrate the achievements of immigrant Africans in our County. From the restaurant owner to the parish priest, cab driver to corporate CEO, valedictorian to Olympian, poet to neurosurgeon; immigrant Africans contribute tremendous value to the rich social, cultural and economic fabric of our region. Sankofa presents a different narrative of the “immigrant” and opens windows to our common humanity.
- Sangam Arts, in collaboration with Confederation of Ohlone People, will present “Hummingbird Circle,” a 4-hour free, participatory event at St. James Park. Culture-bearers will share the Ohlone way-of-life through storytelling, regalia-making, and dance. Audience members will learn about historical and living traditions by making grass-skirts and necklaces. Participatory finale dances will pay tribute to Nature, honor Ohlone descendants, and celebrate the gathering of past and current inhabitants of the land; creating a timeless bridge.
- BioJam, is a program that engages teens in biofabrication design as a platform for connecting broader communities in biodesign conversations through art explorations that celebrate creativity and cultures. Housed in the Stanford Bioengineering Department and led by graduate students and local artist, Corinne Okada Takara, the program aims to expand community knowledge, confidence and curiosity as people explore free biomaterial art workshops developed by BioJam teens for local museums, galleries and community centers.
2018 X FACTOR ARTS GRANTEES:
Ray Furuta & Chamber Music Silicon Valley (CMSV)
- Chamber Music Silicon Valley is revamping the average classical music concert by creating ultimate experiences like no other! Without impacting the quality and integrity of the art, CMSV turns up the volume on classical music by placing an equitable focus on creative social and visual components. To amplify these experiences, CMSV presents all of its shows with happy hours, a full bar, and a hip, nightclub environment. It will be the real classical revolution!
- Teatro Visión has just completed a series of interviews with seniors and elders in our community. Local playwright, Cristal Gonzalez is currently writing a series of one-minute plays based on those interviews. Teatro Visión proposes to build upon this project by engaging Cristal to further develop these stories into a short performance piece, likely a staged reading/workshop performance. This project builds on Teatro Visión’s current focus on experimenting with innovative ways to involve the community in the creative process.
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)
- The ICA presents Art Hangs, four pop-up art experiences in bars and cafes in the SoFA district, including a hands-on workshop, a participatory exhibition, an art-comedy show, and a family art day. They will take art beyond the white walls and bring it to you and your friends at your favorite local hangouts. Art Hangs will add to the vibrancy of the SoFA district and connect the ICA to a broader audience by making art fun.
- Internationally acclaimed but locally produced, POW! WOW! San Jose (PWSJ) returns for the annual week-long mural art, music, and culture festival showcasing local and international artistry in five different San José neighborhoods. Producing 20 murals in year one (2017), the essence of PWSJ brings free art to a public forum, creating galleries on the streets for all to see and for later generations to enjoy.
2017 X FACTOR ARTS GRANTEES:
- Will cast both deaf and hearing actors in a play not traditionally seen with deaf actors, creating a production combining American Sign Language and spoken English to build bridges between deaf and hearing artists and audiences.
SJ Museum of Quilts & Textiles
- Will pilot a new strategy for programming that acknowledges the role of museums as slow change advocates with unique open houses titled: “Guns: Loaded Conversations,” a fiber art exhibition that looks at the Second Amendment and gun use worldwide from a variety of perspectives and “Bang! Bang!: Discussing America’s Second Amendment Panel.”
- Will run a two-part youth design exhibition series to pair animators with industry leaders from Pixar, LucasFilm, EA, and others. As well as connecting activists with graphic designers around projects in diversity and community.
- Will commission and premier a choral piece that champions transgender rights leader Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, as part of “Trailblazers,” a multi-year project focusing on pioneering American women (also including Harriet Tubman and Alice Paul.)
