From the National Endowment for the Arts website:
Arts Collaborative of Nevada County (Nevada County Arts)
Nevada City, California
$25,000
Nevada County, a “Gold Rush”-founded community in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California, has more artists per capita than any other county in the state. The arts play an important role in enhancing the quality of life in the rural county, and Nevada County Arts (NCArts) will use its Our Town grant to fund the Tribute Trail Environmental Art Project (TTEAP).
NCArts is partnering with the City of Nevada City, along with more than ten conservation groups, cultural organizations, and educational institutions on the project. The partners will commission and install 15 environmentally based temporary public artworks along the Deer Creek Tribute Trail, a recently completed nine-mile river parkway that links Nevada City’s downtown historic and economic area with the surrounding natural features.
Activities include the selection of regional artists; marketing and educational outreach; an exhibition of drawings and maquettes; three artist residencies to engage local residents, civic leaders, students, and educators; and film footage documenting the artists’ process and the community’s involvement. The commissioned artworks will pay tribute to original inhabitants of the Deer Creek watershed, the legacy of the Gold Rush era, the cultural diversity that shaped Nevada City, and the natural beauty of the region.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I regret to say that I do not find this a particularly worthy project in these tough economic times.
Also, in the interest of disclosure, the “original inhabitants of the Deer Creek watershed”, are the Nisenan Peoples of the Foothills.
They were forgotten, left in the dust of history, and damned near displaced in their own homelands by an out-of-county tribal consortium corporation, with the help of some of the very people congratulating themselves over this grant.
Let’s not let it happen again.
This pitance could be dwarfed by the kind of revenue the Nisenan and the NCR could bring to this county, if only the county had had the wisdom to forge a working relationship with the NCR Tribal Council instead of going in another direction for the past decade.
If you are thinking only about gaming, get up to speed and look at some of the contracts the Federal Government is issuing to our tribes, nationwide.
In truth, Nevada County is being left in the dust of every county and state that surrounds us.
How did this happen?
Great questions, Judith! I live within the boundaries of the GCNA and would love to hear some cogent answers.