Orange County Arts and Disability Festival<\/a>, scheduled for Saturday, April 25 at MainPlace Mall in Santa Ana.<\/p>\nFirst held in 1976, the festival has provided a platform for artists with disabilities to showcase work across disciplines including visual art, music, dance, theater and writing. <\/p>\n
Celebrating five decades of creativity<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s theme, \u201cShine On,\u201d reflects the event\u2019s golden anniversary and honors the artists, educators and community members who have contributed to its legacy over the past five decades. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OCAD_CallforArt_-2025-1.png\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cOur theme this year honors the brilliance that has illuminated our festival for 50 years,\u201d said Marleena Barber, arts and disability consultant for OCDE and director of Orange County Arts and Disability. \u201cFor half a century, artists with disabilities have shown our community that creativity shines brightest when everyone is seen, valued and celebrated.\u201d <\/p>\n
Returning as emcee for the 2026 festival is Dani Bowman, an award-winning animator widely known for her appearance on the Netflix series \u201cLove on the Spectrum.\u201d She previously served as emcee and will once again guide audiences through the day\u2019s performances and activities.<\/p>\n
Hosted by OCDE in partnership with Orange County Arts and Disability, the daylong festival will feature live performances, hands-on workshops, a community resource fair and a visual art exhibition. Organizers are encouraging participation from school districts across Orange County as part of the 50th-anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n
Participating districts will be recognized with a \u201cGolden Palette\u201d plaque in honor of their commitment to providing arts education and experiences for students.<\/p>\n
Entries for both visual and performing arts are due by Friday, March 6. Additional information is available on the OC Arts and Disability Festival webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students from Dr. Jonas E. Salk School in the Centralia School District perform during last year\u2019s Orange County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-142233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Students](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PANA0276-2560x1707.jpg\")
Students from Dr. Jonas E. Salk School in the Centralia School District perform during last year\u2019s Orange County Arts and Disability Festival, raising their arms to form heart shapes with their hands.<\/p>\n