This month at the Office of Arts and Culture:
- Get ready for September Arts & Culture Fest 2025. Join us on September 28, 11am-5pm on B Street in downtown San Mateo to share the joy and delight that our diverse and talented local artists and organizations bring to our community. Click here for more information and to sign up as a performer, artist vendor, or open mic for poets.
- New this year at the San Mateo County Fair! Join us for this inspiring afternoon of poetry featuring all of the County’s Poet Laureates, past and present! There will also be youth poets, community poets and city poet laureates. The event will close with amazing music and vocals by Lyrical Opposition. Also not to be missed is the fine art area including decorative skateboards, a Dia de los Muertos exhibit featuring work from Fernando Escartiz, and so much more! Hope to see you there on June 1, 4:30 - 6:00pm! Stop by the Office of Arts and Culture and Arts Commission table to say hello.
- On May 5, 2025, the Office of Arts and Culture hosted a celebration of the 5th San Mateo County Poet Laureate, Antonio López and the important role poetry plays in our community to uplift and give voice to all. Click here to view the video of the program and read the San Mateo Daily Journal article, Combining Poetry and Politics.
- The Office of Arts and Culture is partnering with the County Office of Education, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Young Audiences, Stanford Live and Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area to present an Arts Education Conference on October 1, 2025. We invite teaching artists, educators, arts leaders, and arts organizations to submit proposals for interactive sessions providing practical strategies for bringing arts into the classroom. Submit a proposal here by June 16, 2025.
Mission
The San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture (OAC) and its Arts Commission champions the arts as essential for a healthy and vibrant community by shaping innovative cultural policies, creating inclusive and diverse programming, and ensuring access to arts and culture for all, with consideration for race, ability, sexual orientation, age, gender, economic status, and cultural background. We commit to partnering with artists and arts organizations that represent and celebrate the diversity of our county, through the fair and equitable distribution of programmatic and financial support. We support art events, programs, outreach, engagement and services that create social vitality in neighborhoods, K-12 schools, and under-served constituencies.