Garcia Center for the Arts

The Garcia Center provides a safe, accessible space that fosters creativity and cultural experiences by offering opportunities for learning and engagement through programs that support entrepreneurship and professional development.

The Garcia Center for the Arts is a project of the San Bernardino Valley Concert Association (SBVCA)

The SBVCA’s Mission Statement:

To Sponsor, Promote and Sustain the Arts

How We Started

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.

A Vision Takes Shape

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—people like Ernie and Dotti, and people like YOU.