SLO County Arts

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from SLO County Arts, Arts and entertainment, PO Box 12810, San Luis Obispo, CA.

The San Luis Obispo County Arts Council empowers artists by providing the resources, advocacy, and networks they need to succeed while connecting cultural institutions to create a dynamic, supportive arts landscape. The San Luis Obispo County Arts Council, as the local partner of the California Arts Council, advances the visual, literary and performing arts through programs that promote public acc

ess to the arts, arts in educational settings, local arts planning and collaboration, and opportunities for artists and arts organizations.

06/02/2026

This Friday, June 5th Art After Dark is back from 5pm to 8pm! There are 23 venues across San Luis Obispo where you can explore new exhibitions, drink specials, live music, and more!

Visit slocountyarts.org/art-after-dark-slo to view the full list of venues participating in June and read about what art they’ll be featuring. Browse the digital map or download the PDF version to plan where your unique evening of art and culture will take you!

The featured art in this month’s graphic is by Olivia Stevens, a Cal Poly student whose first solo show will be at Mee Heng Low Noodle House during Art After Dark.

05/29/2026

Heads up SLO County artists! You have just ONE WEEK LEFT to apply for the 2026 Open Studios Art Tour!

Perks of joining the tour include:
🎨 Up to 2 weeks to showcase and sell your work and services while keeping 100% commission.
🎨 Gain exposure, increased visibility, and build relationships with the public, other artists, and collectors.
🎨 Your image and information is listed in the official tour catalog, with 5,000 copies printed and distributed across the region.
🎨 Help educate the public about the value of your artwork and what time, training, tools, and equipment go into producing quality original artwork!

Learn more about the tour and get your application in before the June 5th deadline at slocountyarts.org/osat.

📷: Inside the studio of 2025 Open Studios Art Tour participant Colleen Gnos.

05/26/2026

Central Coast Artists — there’s just one week left to get your application in for the 2026-2027 Individual Artists Fellowship! Don’t miss out on this opportunity for unrestricted funding.

Learn more and get your application ready at slocountyarts.org/iaf. Applications close on Monday, June 1st at 5pm!

05/14/2026

Blank Canvas Arts Grantee Spotlight: Owen Blackwell, “superposition”

Three paintings on found canvases (24"x30") built around geometric forms (gridiron, concentric circles, convergent polygons). Blackwell sets up in public spaces — grocery parking lots, trailheads, parks — with paint and brushes available for passerby to contribute. Locations unannounced. Process photographed throughout. Paintings sanded to reveal layers. Final exhibition at Art After Dark, December 2026.

The Blank Canvas Arts Grant, administered by SLO County Arts, supports experimental, contemporary projects by emerging and mid-career artists in SLO County. Learn more at slocountyarts.org/blank-canvas-arts-grant.

05/13/2026

Blank Canvas Arts Grantee Spotlight: Charlie Rugg, “Tragedy of Episteme”

Three sculptures using distorted domestic objects — a vintage TV, a 1950s dining set, and a clock — to examine how humans organize reality through inherited structures and shared images. TV rebuilt in wood and metal; dining set flattened into a wall-hanging; clock extended with bending metal rods and photo collage. A major departure from Rugg’s painting practice into three-dimensional, object-based work.

The Blank Canvas Arts Grant, administered by SLO County Arts, supports experimental, contemporary projects by emerging and mid-career artists in SLO County. Learn more at slocountyarts.org/blank-canvas-arts-grant.

05/12/2026

Blank Canvas Arts Grantee Spotlight: Caleb Nichols, “A Feeling of a Feeling of a Feeling: Spoken Word from Lithic”

A spoken word album featuring poems from Nichols’s debut collection Lithic: A Hyperballad (Harbor Editions, 2026) — remixed, reordered, and rewritten into composite works performed over original soundscapes co-created with SLO musicians. Field recordings from SLO County woven in. Formats: digital album; 100-copy vinyl pressing with locally designed/printed booklet; live launch event. Includes Welsh-language poems and spoken performance by Rhys Tribmle, the Bard of North Wales — translingual slippage as a formal device.

The Blank Canvas Arts Grant, administered by SLO County Arts, supports experimental, contemporary projects by emerging and mid-career artists in SLO County. Learn more at slocountyarts.org/blank-canvas-arts-grant.

05/05/2026

SLO County Arts is proud to announce the recipients of the inaugural Blank Canvas Arts Grant, a new project-based funding opportunity designed to support emerging and mid-career artists throughout San Luis Obispo County! 🎉

In its first year, the grant program received 21 applications representing a remarkable breadth of creative disciplines — including olfactory art, live performance, regional archival projects, site-specific installation, documentary work, and more.

The 2026 Blank Canvas Arts Grant recipients are Owen Blackwell, Charlie Rugg, and Caleb Nichols! 👏 Grant recipients were selected by a panel review process, with recommendations approved by the SLO County Arts Board of Directors on April 20, 2026.

We are so excited to share more about the work that each of the three grantees will complete — stay tuned for more information!

Artworks in graphic is by 2026 grantee, Owen Blackwell.

05/04/2026

Grantee Spotlight: Joanna Fusco (), 2023-2024 Individual Artist Fellow ✨

“A little over two years ago, I received a $5,000 grant from the California Arts Council through the Individual Artist Fellowship. At the time, my creative practice was active and growing, but physically scattered—spread across borrowed spaces, the kitchen table, and my bedroom. The IAF grant was a turning point because it allowed me to invest not just in my work, but in the conditions that make sustained creative work possible.”

Read the rest of Joanna’s blog post and learn more at slocountyarts.org/iaf. The Individual Artist Fellowship is currently accepting applications through June 1st, so there’s less than one month left to apply! Don’t miss out on this opportunity for unrestricted funding.

05/01/2026

There is just over a month left to apply for the 2026 SLO County Open Studios Art Tour!

Join the tour to be a part of a 28-year tradition of local artists opening their workspaces to the public to share their art and their creative processes. This year’s tour will be taking place countywide over the weekends of October 10-11 and October 17-18 during National Arts and Humanities Month!

Visit slocountyarts.org/osat to learn more about the tour and apply. Applications are due by June 5, 2026. We hope to see you on the tour!

Address

PO Box 12810
San Luis Obispo, CA
93406

Telephone

+18055449251

Website

https://slocountyarts.org/, https://linktr.ee/slocounty_arts

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