In its fifth year of grantmaking, the Prebys Foundation is launching a $5.2 million initiative that invests in organizations with proven track records of connecting people to the arts and nature.
The organization, founded in 2020 and powered by the annual gains of a $1 billion investment fund bequeathed by the late Conrad Prebys, the foundation supports a wide range of charitable causes throughout the region, spanning health care, science, the arts and youth, but a new slate of 59 grants to nonprofits across San Diego County is designed to follow where research leads.
While this allocation represents only about 10% of the foundation’s total expected annual awards, Grant Oliphant, the organization’s chief executive officer, said that this endeavor seeks to add to the growing pile of evidence that engaging in creative and natural endeavors appreciably improves mental health.
At first, the executive said, the plan was to simply contribute to organizations providing clinical care to people diagnosed with mental illnesses. However, the need was so vast that the foundation board began looking for what are often called “upstream” activities, those that could help prevent people from needing clinical help in the first place.
“It’s so contrary to the clinical age in which we live, but it’s not surprising because when people are doing art, they’re tapping into their sense of who they are, into a flow state that is demonstrated to produce happiness, and they’re feeling a sense of agency and expression,” Oliphant said. “It turns out to be the same story on the nature side; you know, when people are experiencing nature, they are getting into a different frame of mind, they’re feeling connected with each other and with the larger world.”
San Diego County, he added, with its year-round outdoor weather and broad mix of cultures, seemed to be fertile ground for this kind of investment. Grantee organizations engage in an eclectic mix of activities, including playwrighting, horse therapy, hiking, farming, dancing, painting and surfing. Funding amounts range from $10,000 to $150,000 per organization.
S&S Friendly Ranch, a 10-acre family farming property in the Tijuana River Valley, landed a $149,500 grant to expand its existing programs, which provide agricultural experiences to kids and adults. Steward Diamand Brandon said the ranch already runs retreats and weekend sessions that teach gardening, cooking, and interaction with a range of livestock from horses to goats. She and fellow steward Frank Buncom IV, both related to the ranch’s original owners, Sim Wallace and Sarah Buncom, plan to use grant funds to expand S&S’s offerings.
“We want to open up the space for youth as well as do overnight camps,” Brandon said. “It gives us a little bit of a cushion to dream bigger.
“Everybody is looking for a space to heal, to grow, and S&S Ranch has become that space for many people who didn’t even know that it existed.”
Oliphant, who was recruited from the Heinz Foundation in Pittsburgh, said work is underway to collect and study the health and wellness of people who participate in grant-funded programs.
“We think San Diego could be a model for a different way of approaching the broader wellness challenge that America faces,” Oliphant said.
Prebys Healing through Arts Initiative grants have been awarded to the following Art-focused organizations: A Step Beyond, African American Writers & Artists Inc., Art Of Elan, ArtReach, Arts Education Connection San Diego, CCAE Theatricals, Dreams + Ducats, Fern Street Community Arts Inc., Hill Street Country Club, Ilan-Lael Foundation, Imagine, Malashock Dance, Playwrights Project, Project PAINT: The Prison Arts Initiative, Resounding Joy Inc., Rosin Box Project Inc., San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art, San Diego Craft Collective, San Diego Dance Theater, Synergy Arts Foundation, San Diego Urban Warriors, Space 4 Art, The Aja Project, The Veterans Art Project, Timken Museum of Art, Via International Inc., Viet Voices and Villa Musica.
In addition to S&S Friendly Ranch, Healing through Nature Initiative grants went to: Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation, Botanical Community Development Initiatives, City Heights Community Development Corporation, Coastal Roots Farm, Depositing Empowerment Through Outreach and Urban Redevelopment (DETOUR), Emilio Nares Foundation, Hearts and Hooves Therapy, Kumeyaay Community College, Lakesides River Park Conservancy, Mid-City Community Advocacy Network, MiraCosta College, Misson Trails Regional Park Foundation, Outdoor Outreach, Paddle for Peace, Pala Band of Mission Indians-Learning Center, Project New Village, Resource Conservation Foundation of Greater San Diego, San Diego Canyonlands, San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum, San Diego City College Foundation, San Diego Second Chance Program, San Diego Natural History Museum, Slavic Refugee and Immigrant Services Organization, STAR/PAL, Surprise Farm Retreat Center, The Escondido Creek Conservancy, The Queer Sol Collective, Inc., UCSD Department of Urban Studies and Planning – Black Like Water, Un Mar De Colores and San Diego Armed Services YMCA.
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