Cal Poly Arts

Cal Poly Arts was formed in 1985 as a small classical music presenter. By 1988, largely through the involvement and support of the local community, the presenting series was expanded to include other performing arts disciplines (theatre, dance, jazz) as well as exhibitions and readings. By 1990, Cal Poly Arts had integrated world music and dance, folk/traditional music, and family programming into the series. In 1991, the organization commissioned its first work, a concert of re-discovered Mexican Baroque music (which was successfully recorded and toured by the renowned classical group, Chanticleer). In 1993, the Stone Soup Music Festival – a series of free performances presented in outlying communities – was launched. In 1996, with Cal Poly Arts spearheading the drive to build a new venue, the Performing Arts Center opened. In 1997, the organization again expanded the scope of its programming by including speakers, comics, and popular music concerts. In 2000, Cal Poly Arts began Poly Arts for Youth (PAFY), an outreach program serving 6000 local school children through Performing Arts Center field trips and in-school arts activities. The year 2002 marked the beginning of the Cal Poly Arts endowment campaign, which has since increased the size of our endowment fund six-fold.