Ten years ago, the Garcia Center for the Arts opened its doors as a cultural home for San Bernardino—a place where creativity, connection, and community could thrive. From ceramics and glassblowing to the Mercado 536 and the Creative Instructor Program, we’ve cultivated a hub where artists, educators, and neighbors build a more vibrant and equitable future together.

This November, we invite you to celebrate our 10-Year Anniversary with an unforgettable Gala Dinner. The evening will feature dining, live entertainment, and stories from the community that has shaped us. Most importantly, we will honor Dorothy “Dotti” Garcia, whose vision and dedication helped spark the Center’s founding.

Your support fuels the next decade of creativity—equipping instructors, empowering entrepreneurs, and keeping the arts alive as a force for justice, innovation, and belonging.

Join us for this milestone celebration. Together, we’ll ensure the Garcia Center continues to be a place where everyone can Create. Connect. Thrive.

Our Founder's Story

Lighting the Way for the Arts

Ernie and Dorothy “Dotti” Garcia were lifelong patrons of the arts—frequent visitors to museums and galleries, collectors of beautiful artworks for their home, and passionate believers in the transformative power of creativity. As educators, they shared a conviction that creativity lives in all of us. Dotti, who taught kindergarten and later trained early childhood educators, often said that while every child is born with a creative spirit, too many lose it along the way due to rigid systems or lack of encouragement. She believes that creative spirit should be nurtured, never set aside.

In 2010, driving down E Street, Dotti spotted a weathered adobe building and immediately felt drawn to it. She even half-joked about wanting to live there. To her, it radiated beauty and potential—a perfect centerpiece for the arts in San Bernardino. Ernie took that spark seriously. He tracked down the owner, learned it belonged to the San Bernardino Municipal Water Department, and began conversations to secure it for the community.

At the time, San Bernardino was struggling—bankruptcy had drained resources, and arts and culture had no dedicated home. But Ernie and Dotti envisioned something bigger: a cultural hub that could ignite a renaissance in the city, a place where artists, organizations, and community could come together to shape the region’s creative future.

From Dream to Reality

A generous gift from the estate of Frank Plash had already revived the San Bernardino Valley Concert Association (SBVCA) with a mission to sponsor, promote and sustain the arts. In 2014, the SBVCA board approved the lease for the 11th Street adobe building. Though it was gutted and in disrepair, volunteers from across generations rallied to restore it, pouring in countless hours of work and love.

On November 16, 2015, the building was dedicated as the Garcia Center for the Arts, honoring Ernie and Dotti’s lifelong dedication to the visual and performing arts. They invited arts organizations to share subsidized space—groups like Arts Connection, Inlandia, and the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra were amongst the first to inhabit the center. Art studios came alive with creativity: a printmaking studio run by “Uncle Bacon,” a working artist space rented by Juan Delgado, an art library showcased donated books from Louis Fox, an art gallery was built to exhibit local artists and the auditorium was used for theatre and concerts.

A Thriving Cultural Hub

Today, the Garcia Center continues to be a heartbeat for San Bernardino’s creative community. The cultural hub features an auditorium, a gallery space, a community garden, an art library, ceramics, glass-blowing and printmaking studios, a storefront called Mercado 536 and creative co-working spaces with tools for makers. It is a place where creative entrepreneurship, arts advocacy, and cultural preservation flourish side by side.

But this work is only possible because of people who believe in the power of the arts as a cultural catalyst—people like Ernie and Dotti, and people like YOU. Help keep the vision alive.

The Garcia Center for the Arts exists because a community came together to make it happen. Now, we need your help to sustain and grow this cultural home for generations to come. Your donation will support vital arts programming, provide accessible creative spaces, and ensure that the creative spirit in our city is not only preserved, but celebrated.

Join us in lighting the way for the arts in San Bernardino for another decade.

Donate Today!

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10-Year Anniversary Gala Dinner - Garcia Center for the Arts

By The Garcia Center for the Arts

10-Year Anniversary Gala Dinner - Garcia Center for the Arts