ARTS COUNCIL OF SONOMA COUNTY

ARTS COUNCIL OF SONOMA COUNTY ANNOUNCES OFFICE RELOCATION

For Immediate Release - August 19, 2011

MEDIA CONTACT: Jennifer Sloan, Executive Director

707.579.2787, jsloan@artscouncilsc.com

Rohnert Park, CA - August 19, 2011 - The Arts Council of Sonoma County is pleased to announce the relocation of its administrative offices to the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park. The move ushers in a new relationship between the two arts organizations in which Spreckels joins the list of sponsors for the Arts Council, and which opens up exciting possibilities for collaboration. Additionally, this relocation offers a unique opportunity to strengthen the Arts Council’s presence in southern Sonoma County, in particular as the future opening of the Green Center expands the cultural offerings of the area. The Arts Council continues its fundamental work in the core areas of advocacy, re-granting, and collaborative programs that serve all nine cities of Sonoma County, while continuing to support the strong presence of the arts in Santa Rosa, the county seat.

The Arts Council will continue to manage collaborative programs that unite individual artists and art organizations to better serve, promote and leverage assets. While the exhibition space adjacent to the administrative offices called ArtSpace404 is closed, the Arts Council continues to support and promote visual artists, music, theater, dance, literary, multi media, and arts education, through advocacy, collaborative programs to link arms and work more effectively together, and the re granting of funding.

Organizational background: The Arts Council of Sonoma County, in response to a needs assessment has redefined core initiatives to better serve artists, art organizations, residents and visitors to Sonoma County. The core initiatives are: to advocate for the arts and arts accessibility countywide, promote collaboration, raise the visibility of the arts, re-grant funding to artists, art educators, and art organizations, to provide broader services to our community and tourist base. To identify funding opportunities for constituents, make introductions when appropriate, and host grant workshops. The Arts Council represent over 16,000 artists; approximately 131 nonprofit arts organizations; and serves over 15 public and private schools, 320 teachers, and 4,320 individual students each year through visual, performing, music, and literary arts education initiatives.

A healthy arts ecosystem and well-rounded educational programs attract families, businesses, and entrepreneurs to our county. As authorized by the State and by the Board of Supervisors since 1984, the Arts Council represents Sonoma County artists, art educators, and art organizations at local, regional, statewide and national convenings. The Arts Council collaborates with Sonoma County’s Economic Development Board and peer organizations to ensure that art and art organizations are included in research studies and industry reports, and regularly initiate and fund research, such as the Arts as an Economic Prosperity Study we commissioned from Americans for the Arts.

Collaborative programs: Several of our discipline-specific collaborative programs are widely recognized and increase the status of Sonoma County as a vibrant arts and cultural destination. These include ARTrails, the Arts Education Alliance, First Look Sonoma Opera, North Bay Theater Group, SonomaFilm and danceSonoma. These programs raise the visibility and accessibility of the arts in Sonoma County; attract new and expanding audiences to artists and art organizations; and engage residents and tourists alike. The Arts Council also developed and manages three multi-discipline collaborative programs that support the broader arts sector and community: www.sonomaarts.com, ArtsSonoma Festival, and the Sonoma County Artist Awards.

Re granting: Since 2006, the ACSC has awarded and re-granted $193,850.

In an economic climate where many of the largest funders are not accepting new grant applications, and are reducing multi-year grant awards, we continue to attract funding that supports artists, art educators, and art organizations.

Over the next fifteen years our vision is for Sonoma County to be as well known for its art as it is for its food and wine. Our hope is that the 7.5 million visitors who come to Sonoma County every year “Come for the beauty, food and wine. Stay for the arts.” Visitors who extend their stay one day add almost $200 on average to our local economy. Over 54% of winery visitors report that they seek out art in their travels.

All telephone and online points of contact remain the same. The new address is: 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park, CA 94928.

The Arts Council of Sonoma County is a federally designated non-profit organization authorized by the Board of Supervisors to represent the arts in Sonoma County. It is dedicated to promoting and supporting the visual, performing and literary arts within Sonoma County. For more information, please visit www.artscouncilsc.com or call (707) 579-2787.

For a peek at the 175-250 arts and culture events happening every week in Sonoma County visit:

Arts Daily: www.sonomaarts.com

19 Aug 2011 by ArtsCouncil

2012 Emerging Visual Artist Awards - Nominations Open

SONOMA COUNTY, CA - July 6, 2011 - The Arts Council of Sonoma County announces the nomination phase for the 2012 Sonoma County Artist Awards for Emerging Visual Artists (EVA). From now through August 1, 2011, the Arts Council of Sonoma County will be accepting online nominations for the prestigious awards program that will honor three artists with a $2500 unrestricted cash award.

The awards are designed to recognize and award excellence in both artistic merit and body of work and will be given to individual emerging visual artists residing in Sonoma County, particularly artists who are expected to have a significant impact on art in the future. We welcome nominations from artists, representatives from arts councils, art organizations, galleries, museums, as well as from individual patrons, collectors, and community members. Artists may also self-nominate.

Deadline: Nominations must be submitted by Monday, August 1st, 2011.

Online Nomination Site: artscounilsc.com/scaa/(Click on EVA Forms)

Criteria: SCAA for Emerging Visual Artists awards artists in the “visual arts”, which includes 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works such as: assemblage, electronic media, fiber, film, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, site-specific installations, etc. We seek artists of extraordinary talent and commitment to their craft at the emerging stage of their career. Nominated artists must meet the following criteria:

Sonoma County residents
18 years of age or older
Must NOT have gallery representation
Must NOT have had a solo exhibition at an established art institution such as a gallery or museum

After the nomination deadline of August 1, 2012, each nominated artist will be notified of his or her nomination and encouraged to apply. Then a Screening Committee, which consists of 5-7 art professionals, will review and select the top 25 finalists. Three esteemed jurors from outside Sonoma County will then select the 3 winners to receive the award.

ABOUT THE SONOMA COUNTY ARTIST AWARDS PROGRAM
Sonoma County Artist Awards is a program of the Arts Council of Sonoma County. It debuted as a biennial program in 2006 for Emerging Visual Artists (EVA) and expanded to be an annual program in 2009 with the inaugural Performing, Music, and Literary Artist Awards (PMLA). EVA awards are in even-numbered years, and PMLA awards are in odd-numbered years. The program was initially funded by a grant from the Irvine Foundation Communities Advancing the Arts Initiative, in partnership with the Community Foundation Sonoma County, from 2006-2011. The program was modeled after the prestigious Eureka Fellowships award of San Francisco's Fleishhacker Foundation and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s SECA Award. The program expansion to include performing and literary artists was modeled after USA Artists, a National Artist Fellowship awards program. To support up and coming artists and build a broader arts sector for Sonoma County, the 2012 awards are designed to recognize and reward excellence in both artistic merit and body of work for individual artists working in Sonoma County, and in particular, artists who will have a significant impact on the arts in the future. A dedicated website may be found at www.artscouncilsc.com/scaa

ABOUT THE ARTS COUNCIL OF SONOMA COUNTY
Founded in 1984 as a nonprofit community benefit organization, the Arts Council believes that a vibrant and diverse arts and cultural sector is invaluable to our community, enhancing the lives of every individual and strengthening the connectivity of a community as a whole. Our three core initiatives are advocacy, re-granting and collaborative programs. We advocate for the arts and arts accessibility countywide. We promote collaboration, raise the visibility of the arts, and re-grant funding to artists, art educators, and art organizations, to provide broader services to our community and tourist base. Since 1984 the Board of Supervisors has reauthorized the Arts Council of Sonoma County as the State/County arts and cultural organization representing the arts in Sonoma County. The Arts Council provides leadership in support of the growth and accessibility of all art and artists in Sonoma County. For more information, please contact Jennifer Sloan, Executive Director at (707) 579-2787 ex 106, jsloan@artscouncilsc.com. www.artscouncilsc.com, www.SonomaArts.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Elaine Gutsch, Membership & Visual Arts Program Manager
707-579-2787 Ext. 105, egutsch@artscouncilsc.com

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06 Jul 2011 by ArtsCouncil

Sonoma County Artist Awards 2011

Sonoma County, CA - The Arts Council of Sonoma County and Community Foundation Sonoma County are delighted to announce the winners of the 2011 Sonoma County Artist Awards for Performing, Music and Literary Arts. Eliot Fintushel (Santa Rosa), Steve Pile (Santa Rosa), and Joan Frank (Santa Rosa) will each receive a $5,000 unrestricted cash award in recognition of their outstanding work and to advance their development as artists.

Fintushel, Pile and Frank, were selected from more than 42 applicants who were among 64 artists nominated for the awards. Artist nominations were invited from Sonoma County arts organizations, and artists working and performing in the three categories. New this year, the panelists making the final decisions on the awards reviewed all the applications online and hailed from Sonoma County, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, Canada and the UK. The program was the first time that the process, from nomination, application, submission and judging was completed totally online.

The Sonoma County Artist Awards will assist the artists not only in providing financial assistance to their art endeavors, but also in publicizing their innovative work.

Eliot Fintushel. Nominated by Artists Matlock Zumsteg and Melissa Gordon.
“I never wanted to be a damn ‘artist’: I was driven to it scratching and screaming, by internal necessity, a combination of emotional vulcanism, indecent curiosity, and the desire to understand connections where everyone assured me there were none. It saved my life, though: I'd been a suicidal teen. Maybe, in my thirty years as an artist, (ugh--the word!), I've saved a few others as well. It doesn't matter, though--I'm driven. When not creating, I'm just miserable. When creating, I feel fit.”

Steve Pile. Nominated by Columnist John Beck.
“My primary mediums are guitar, voice and Kora (a west African Harp). My musical world spans from my own back porch to West Africa. As I continue to grow as an artist, more influences dot this ever expanding musical map. This inclusive approach has led to discoveries that have expanded my musical vocabulary and shaped me as an artist. My tradition follows the singer-songwriter path popularized by artists such as Paul Simon and Paul McCartney, incorporating a variety of styles from rock to African rhythms. Lyrically, I tend to follow the rule of 'the more personal the story, the more universal its appeal.' Although my lyrics come from personal experience, my goal is to reach a wider audience. My new album, ‘Got it Right’, continues to expand this patchwork to include rock, blues, folk, country and of course, the fruits of my recent African travels.”

Joan Frank. Nominated by Playwright Robert Duxbury.
“A single phrase describing my work, borrowed from the late author Katherine Anne Porter, might be ‘a moral and emotional collision with a human situation.’ By virtue of writing it, one seeks to grasp it. And even if one never gets a total grasp of that ‘collision’, we are too mysterious perhaps? Something of its essence, its mystery and dignity, are conveyed in the depiction. A writer writes to investigate. But by giving work life on the page, by being as scrupulously true to her perception of the human moment as she can by allowing it to open in her hand, to some degree she offers it into a kind of 'dimensionalizing' amber. She gives it a resonance that, however small or quiet, will stand. Something is grasped or felt or apprehended, by both writer and reader that was not available when both set out.”

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Sonoma County Artist Awards is a program of the Arts Council of Sonoma County, funded in part by the Artist Endowment Fund at Community Foundation Sonoma County. It debuted as a biennial program in 2006 and expanded to annual with the inaugural Performing, Music, and Literary Artist Awards in 2009. The program was modeled after the prestigious Eureka Fellowships award of San Francisco’s Fleishhacker Foundation and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s SECA Award. The program expansion to include performing and literary artists was modeled after USA Artists, a National Artist Fellowship awards program. To support up and coming artists and build a broader arts sector for Sonoma County, the 2011 awards are designed to recognize and award excellence in both artistic merit and body of work to individual artists working in Sonoma County, and in particular, artists who will have a significant impact on the arts in the future. A dedicated website may be found at www.artscouncilsc.com/scaa

Three panels of three judges per category were invited to take part. Because all applications were lodged online there were no restrictions as to the geographic location of the panelists who performed their adjudications from where they worked and resided.

Brad Erickson. Executive Director, Theatre Bay Area. Performing Arts. Bay Area

Val Caniparoli. Choreographer. San Francisco Ballet. Performing Arts. Bay Area

Peter Barlow. Principal. Guildford Conservatory for Acting and Music, UK. Performing Arts. UK

David Balakrishnan. Leader: The Turtle String Quartet. Music Arts. Bay Area

Janis Dunson Wilson. Composer and Arranger. Music Arts. Sonoma County

Schaun Tozer. Film Score and Television Score Composer. Canada. Music Arts. Canada

Robert Polito. Poet. University College. Literary Arts. New York

Brighde Mullins. Poet/Playwright. UCLA Literary Arts. Los Angeles

John Kaye. Author and Scriptwriter. Literary Arts. Sonoma County

Former Emerging Visual Artists 2010 award recipients:
Tramaine de Senna, Emerging Visual Artist (Sebastopol)
Laine Justice, Emerging Visual Artist (Healdsburg)
Andrew Sofie, Emerging Visual Artist (Calistoga)

Former Performing, Music, and Literary 2009 award recipients:
Robin Beeman, Literary Artist (Occidental)
Jim Corbett, Music Artist (Sebastopol)
John Harden, Performing Artist (Santa Rosa)

Former Emerging Visual Artist 2008 award recipients:
Sarah Frieberg, Emerging Visual Artist (Petaluma)
Geirrod Van Dyke, Emerging Visual Artist (Santa Rosa)
Julie Cavaz, Emerging Visual Artist (Sonoma)

Former Emerging Visual Artist 2006 award recipients:
Catherine Richardson, Emerging Visual Artist (Santa Rosa)
Todd Barricklow, Emerging Visual Artist (Santa Rosa)
Seth Minor, Emerging Visual Artist (Camp Meeker)

The Arts Council of Sonoma County: founded in 1984 as a nonprofit community benefit organization, the Arts Council believes that a vibrant and diverse arts and cultural sector is invaluable to our community, enhancing the lives of every individual and strengthening the connectivity of a community as a whole.

We advocate for the arts and arts accessibility countywide. We promote collaboration, raise the visibility of the arts, and re-grant funding to artists, art educators, and art organizations, to provide broader services to our community and tourist base. Since 1984 the Board of Supervisors has reauthorized the Arts Council of Sonoma County as the State/County arts and cultural organization representing the arts in Sonoma County. The Arts Council provides leadership in support of the growth and accessibility of all art and artists in Sonoma County. For more information, please call or write Jennifer Sloan, our Executive Director at (707) 579-2787 ex 106 or e mail to jsloan@artscouncilsc.com. We invite you to log on to the Arts Council’s website at www.artscouncilsc.com and for up to date arts and culture events please visit www.sonomaarts.com.

Community Foundation Sonoma County: The Artist Awards Endowment supports the Sonoma County Artists Awards, a program designed to celebrate and support artistic excellence in Sonoma County. By contributing to the Artist Awards Endowment, you support both today’s artists and those who will arrive tomorrow with hope and promise, needing only an opportunity to shine. Be a part of their future - a future we can only begin to imagine today. For more information about the Artist Awards Endowment please call or write J Mullineaux our Vice-President for Development at 707.579.4073 x 20 or jmullineaux@sonomacf.org

18 Mar 2011 by ArtsCouncil

Sonoma County Artist Awards

The applications and material from over 40 artists from around Sonoma County are now in the hands of the panelists chosen to view and, eventually, pick three artists to receive $5,000.

This year the artists come from the Performing, Literary and Music sectors of the county's arts and, for the first time in this program, all submission materials were requested to be submitted digitally and were housed online.

Not only did this save the artists time and money but it also gave us the opportunity to go further afield in our search for panelists. We have panelists from Canada, the UK, Southern California and New York among the nine chosen to sit 'in judgment'.

John Moran, the manager of the Performing, Music and Literary arts portion of the awards program was very pleased with the process and hopes it has made a difference for artists and panelists.

"Part of the problem with these types of programs, despite the fact that there is a major monetary prize, is the inconvenience factor. Artists had to find a way of displaying their prowess in print, in video and audio. With the ubiquity of sites like Vimeo and Youtube and the like, many artists have uploaded aspects of their art and they are available for the public, we decided to utilize that commonality and let artists submit the urls of those videos for the panelists to view. We encouraged, well before the submission deadline, other artists who had not utilized that service to do so.

The web is now the major source for promotion and artistic content, not only with artist's websites but with the many social networking sites. The response was exceedingly positive from both artists and also from the panelist who last iteration received file boxes of applications loaded with paper plus cds or dvds which all had to be duplicated more than three times for each. Now the panelists can view the applications from anywhere in the world and, if need be, video conference to confer with their fellow panelists."

This method, unique so far as we know for such an award program, seems to solve a lot of problems and at the same time bring some artists into the world of digital. "We're not trying to make the artists techno-nerds," says Moran, "but the online world is the fourth dimension for artists. Not only can they portray their art live or in print but they have the opportunity to create their own artistic universe. We hope, by running the program this way, we will introduce them to more opportunities to promote themselves and their work."

The panelists have until December 31st to complete their judging and the winners will be announced in early February of 2011.

19 Oct 2010 by ArtsCouncil