Montalvo Arts Center’s mission is to engage the public in the creative process, acting as a catalyst for exploring the arts, unleashing creativity, and advancing different cultural and cross-cultural perspectives. We achieve our mission by creating and presenting arts of all types, nurturing artists, and using our historic property in innovative ways.
Located in Silicon Valley’s Saratoga Hills, the Montalvo grounds include a 1912 Mediterranean-style Villa, its formal gardens, and two-acre Great Lawn; the historic Claire Loftus Carriage House Theatre and the Lilian Fontaine Garden Theatre; and 175 acres of trails through redwood trees. Below the Villa and across the creek are hidden ten free-standing live/work studios and the Commons of the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Residency Program (LAP), which hosts over 100 artists each year from diverse backgrounds across the nation and the world. The LAP is the third-oldest artist residency program in the United States.
Three special assets–our extraordinary physical environment and grounds, a rich diversity of multigenerational visitors, and artistically excellent programs–combine to make Montalvo a unique multidisciplinary arts organization that has become a place for people of all ages and all walks of life to engage in meaningful, accessible, and inspiring arts experiences.