ReFrameVC Arts Summit

Calling all artists, cultural leaders and creatives!

April 6, 2025

Studio Channel Islands

2222 Ventura Blvd

Camarillo, California

Presented By

ANCHORING ARTS AND CULTURE AS A CREATIVE & ECONOMIC DRIVER FOR VENTURA COUNTY.

Learn how your work contributes to the creative economy and how to use this knowledge to advocate for yourself and your organization.

Whether you’re starting out or starting over, learn valuable tools to help you reframe and thrive in your career and in your life.

Share how your work is transforming this community.

Develop your network of creative and business partners.

Schedule

10:00am

Networking and Coffee

Get to know new friends over coffee provided by Five07

10:15am

Welcome Remarks

10:30am

VCx Talks

Sector Sprint

Here’s your chance to learn in this lightning round of local creatives who are crushing it right here in Ventura County. They’ll share their real-world strategies – from managing a thriving studio practice, to creating public art and the expanding arts and wellness field. Each session unpacks real-world experiences and practical skills that you can apply to your own creative practice.

Learn about THE SPEAKERS

Art + Mental Health

with Heidi Parker

Building Blocks of a Thriving Arts Infrastructure

with TOArts, OPAC, SCiART and County of Ventura

Sustaining a Studio Practice

with Elisa Torres

11:30am

Panel Discussion: Success on Your Terms

Is a 9 to 5 not for you? We get it…. Creative careers just hit different- and everyone’s definition of success is different too. Musician/Arts Consultant/Arts Educator Casey-Comstock Mills will lead this discussion on the creative career pathways, gig work, business ownership, and answer the elusive question- what is success?

Panelists

Peter Kappen
Graham Wetterhahn
Heather Castillo
Gale Fulton Ross

Learn more about the speakers

12:30pm

Lunch

Enjoy a BBQ lunch (included with your ticket)

2:00pm

Your Voice at Work: CVL Economics Recap

Join us as we reimagine the cultural landscape of Ventura County through the lens of our emerging Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Strategic Plan. In this dynamic session, CVL Economics and the County’s Arts and Culture Manager David Yoshitomi will unveil the blueprint the County’s creative future. Your expert voices, as artists, culture-makers, and changemakers, will shape and prioritize our goals and objectives that support our creative and cultural communities in the years to come.

3:10pm

Workshops

Inspired to get to work? We’ve crafted four unique workshops to help you succeed in your creative and cultural work. From brass tacks practical skills like grant writing and website design, to intrinsic exercises that support your creative vision and overall wellbeing – these workshops will update your skillset and leave you well equipped to support your work.

Journaling & Expressive Writing Practices

With Kimberly Lee

Journaling and other expressive writing practices can be highly effective tools for self-awareness, emotional resilience, and enhancing creativity. In this workshop, we’ll tune into the powerful inner voice we each have through thoughtful exercises designed to nurture a deeper connection with our thoughts, feelings, and aspirations. This type of introspective—and fun!—writing increases our sense of well-being and can lead to unexpected creative ideas. Participants will gain valuable insights and a toolbox of imaginative practices to add to their self-care repertoire.

Strategic Planning for the Working Artist

With Casey Comstock-mills

In this workshop designed for working artists across all disciplines in the worlds of theatre, music, dance, filmmaking, visual arts, and literature, you will develop the framework of an individualized artistic strategic plan, with particular attention focused on artistic vision, objectives, audience, potential partners, and implementation. We will brainstorm in detail the ways to expand or integrate your creative practice in whatever discipline that may be with specific opportunities in the nonprofit or for-profit sectors.

Practical Grant Writing

with Carolyn Mullin and peter tyas

Answer the question! How professional grant writers approach the challenge of turning creative concepts into fundable projects.

4:15pm

Closing Remarks

4:30pm

Choreographed Networking

Like speed dating, be prepared to meet everyone at the summit in 1-minute intervals

5:00pm

Open Mic Night

Unwind, share, and explore at the post event gathering/open mic. Whether you’re ready to perform or excited to learn from fellow creatives, this is your space to debrief, download, and build connections with Ventura County’s dynamic arts & community. Limited to the first 15 registrations. Each act will have a 4-minute limit. Acoustic instruments only.