Urbanowski: Reclaiming creativity

There is a story we often tell ourselves in the arts nonprofit world, a series of assumptions and false truths that we live by: There is not enough money to go around. We’re lucky just to be in the room.

National nonprofit guru Vu Le (keynote speaker at the SVCREATES 2026 Town Hall) often talks about this: the mentality that we are not good enough. The idea that WE know how important art is to society, and how wonderful it would be if everyone else got it the same way we do.

As SVCREATES Director of Programs Sinjin Jones wrote in a recent blog, “This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we don’t believe there is enough money, we won’t push for more. If we’re happy just to be included, we won’t demand what is necessary. If we’re always hoping that others will ‘get it,’ we can never move past the struggle.”

But witness what happens when we stand into our power as arts organizations to build and heal communities, boost economic growth, inspire youth and weave together social bonds and community pride. I see this happening more and more in Santa Clara County and just last weekend at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Shared Arts Center of San Jose.

Located along Sharks Way between Notre Dame Avenue and North Almaden Street, this arts center bridges the space between San Pedro Square and Little Italy, helping to “stitch districts” together and spark new life in a previously quiet block of downtown. This project is more than just construction — it’s revitalization through culture,  a space for local youth to grow through arts programs, for cultural organizations to rehearse, entertain and inspire.

Last Sunday morning, public sector and local elected officials, arts leaders, civic and downtown development champions and private sector investors came together to celebrate the opening of this collaborative space — an example of a shared space model that SVCREATES has long championed — for both its economic efficiency and for the exponential benefits of cross-arts group collaboration.

The lead organization, Starting Arts, in collaboration with core arts partners Cashion Legacy Cultural Legacy/Los Lupeños de San Jose, Silicon Valley Shakespeare and ArtHouse Studio, and with support from property owner Swenson Builders, has turned two vacant buildings in downtown San Jose into a vibrant arts center, allowing arts groups to share resources and promote artistic cross-pollination.

This project is an example of the way the arts lead creative solutions through partnerships and networks that help uplift our local cities and enable them to thrive. Every year, SVCREATES offers a range of technical support programs called ArtsWeb to strengthen the capacity of artists and arts organizations in Santa Clara County to lead community solutions and change. This year, the need and the focus is clear: to help local artists and arts organizations reclaim creativity.

Art is a civic necessity, and it’s time we invested in artists’ voices and stories. This year, we will focus on sessions aimed at catalyzing artists and arts organizations to tell their stories, expand their reach and reclaim creativity. We hope that this year’s offerings will support arts organizations in reclaiming the economic value of their labor and the intrinsic power of their output, positioning the arts not just as culture, but as a primary tool for social change and civic health.

The term “creative economy” is all the rage now, the new way policymakers want to expand the economy. But a thing that often gets left out of these conversations is that the arts, the things that nonprofit arts organizations do every day, IS the creative economy.

I hope you’ll join SVCREATES this year as we support artists and arts organizations in reclaiming creativity. You can attend a performance or art class, visit a gallery or just take a walk around downtown San Jose and check out some of the fantastic murals, including the one at 99 Notre Dame Ave. on the side of the new Shared Arts Center.