California heartland creative corps in tuol-co…

The California ARTS Council is working in cooperation with the California State Legislature! The Heartland Creative Corps creates opportunites for ARTISTS to build awareness & involvement with key issues, facing California’s future.

In March 2023 Tuolumne County artists and organizations got word that a huge grant was rolling into town! Tuolumne County Arts announced that three Central California rural counties (Tuolumne, Merced and Stanislaus) were given a chance to work with United Way of Merced County and the California Arts Council to launch a pilot project. And the opportunities were (almost) wide open! Just create a project that would bring awareness and education about a list of key issues that are important to California’s future. That’s all! Oh, and make sure that you can start and finish your project in less than one year.

Now there are at least eight different projects working in Tuolumne County, and they cover a wide range of those key issues…ALL through the ARTS!

TOP LEFT…Artists of The Greater Good Collective take us to ther multi-media land of “Last Earth” to explore issues of climate change and global warming. NEXT—Ria Rice-Lawson is creating a film about ?????? (TBA). NEXT—Peggy Reza is making sculptures of regional wildlife from recycled plastics. NEXT—BZ Smith is producing 17 performances to protect democracy.

BOTTOM LEFT…Stefany Haney is creating murals to tell the story of local homeless. NEXT—Dianne Stearns is creating a ceramic mural of local wildlife with clients of WATCH Resources. NEXT—Crow Castlebury is creating an art exhibit of 3-D and 2-D works that address mental health issues. NEXT—Mercedes Tune and Barbara Balen are producing an expansive Cinco De Mayo Celebration in Columbia State Historic Park.

For a summary of the various Heartland Creative Corps projects that are taking place in Tuolumne County, read this announcement of awards article from last Summer in the Union Democrat:

https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/article_f0e04f9a-58e7-11ee-bfb4-2f3fe45becba.html