The Arts and Sciences division includes four program areas, Visual Arts, Children's Performing Arts, Adult Performing Arts, and Art in Public Places, and has responsibility for four primary facilities, the Palo Alto Art Center, the Palo Alto Children's Theatre, the Lucie Stern Community Theatre, and the Junior Museum and Zoo.
The Art Center offers exhibitions which emphasize work by regional and California artists but include national and international artists representing the best of contemporary fine art, craft, design, as well as new art forms and technology-based media. A wide selection of studio-based instruction in a variety of creative media is offered for adults and children. Project LOOK! a museum education program, brings K-8 school groups to the PAAC for docent tours and hands-on art-making activities. Cultural Kaleidoscope, an outreach program, partners classes from ethnically and economically diverse school districts for collaborative art projects. The Art and Technology Studio offers art-based curriculum using technology as the medium.
The Children's Theatre offers performances by and for children, and a related education outreach program is offered in the Palo Alto Unified School District. Classes, program, and tours are offered to ages 4-18 in theatre subjects. Through Adult Performing Arts classes are offered in performing arts, music and dance, with concerts for people of all ages throughout Palo Alto.
The Art in Public Places program consists of outdoor sculptures (10 murals and 21 sculptures valued at $364,000) and two-dimensional works by artists who have lived or worked in Palo Alto (207 works valued at approximately $135,000).
The Lucie Stern Community Theatre is home to adult theatre and opera productions that are performed by nonprofit private performing arts organizations (Palo Alto Players, TheatreWorks and West Bay Opera).
The division of Arts and Culture provides subsidized artists studio space at Cubberley Center, selecting visual artists on a competitive basis. The division also provides oversight to Neighbors Abroad, Palo Alto's Sister City program.
Arts and Culture programs are supported by nearly 6,000 community volunteers who provide more than 150,000 hours of service annually. In addition, division programming is assisted by many community support organizations that include the Arts of Palo Alto, the Friends of the Children's Theatre, and the Art Center Foundation.
