Certification

The cultural district certification process, managed by the California Arts Council, is the core of the California Cultural Districts program. It began in 2017 with a two-year pilot. This initial group was selected through an open application process, and plays a critical role in ensuring, through their feedback and experience, that the full program, once launched, is accessible and supportive. And that it works for various types of cultural centers, in a wide variety of urban, suburban and rural settings.

District Benefits

It is expected that the pilot cohort of certified cultural districts receive an array of benefits that will include the following:

• Official state certification – each district will enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the CAC certifying state designation as a cultural district for a period of five years and granting the district the right to use the state cultural district brand in its marketing

• Branding materials – including the state cultural district logo, as well signage and banner templates

• Technical assistance - including at a minimum an annual convening session, as well as peer to peer and other group learning opportunities given available resources

• Joint marketing support – leveraging resources from state tourism partners

• A stipend – $5,000 per district per year, for two years, to be used to support participation in the pilot process that will lead to the refinement of the design of the cultural districts program

• Participation in developmental evaluation – the pilot cohort will receive support from the consulting team conducting the developmental evaluation of the cultural districts program, including at a minimum one site visit per year