The Yuba Sutter Regional Arts Council (YSRAC) is the public agency designated as the local partner for the California Arts Council on behalf of Yuba and Sutter Counties in California, the only arts council to serve two counties, rather than one, in the state. A 501(c)(3) non-profit founded more than 30 years ago to serve and grow the arts, its mission is to increase public awareness of and participation in the arts, to serve as the cultural planning partner to both counties, encourage and assist local communities to develop arts programs and events relevant to local needs, and to provide access to professional-level, high quality arts to under-served areas and populations.
In addition to supporting (and sometimes incubating) other arts organizations in Yuba-Sutter, YSRAC runs a number of its own programs and venues, including a theatre, two curated galleries showing local artists and weekly events for spoken word, live-pose drawing, book club and Shakespeare Readers Theatre. For the past eight years, YSRAC has mounted one or two productions by its own opera company. Its On Stage series is a Saturday showcase for performing artists. YSRAC runs the Poetry Out Loud competitions and The Big Read program as well as an annual Very Special Arts Festival for over 250 local special needs kids.