California Arts Council holds meeting at Miners Foundry

The Sacramento-based California Arts Council held one of its public meetings at Miners Foundry Cultural Center on Thursday — a nod to Nevada City-Grass Valley and Truckee being designated as two of the 14 state Cultural Districts, a high honor. The meeting, which drew more than 100 people, began with an acknowledgment that the gathering was being held on ancient tribal land and a blessing from Shelly Covert of the tribal council of the Nevada City Rancheria (watch video below).

We attended the meeting and spoke as publishers of our FoodWineArt magazine and the Nevada County Art Council’s inaugural Visual Artist & Gallery Guide — and pointed to the arts as an “economic engine.” Others who spoke included the local Art Council’s Executive Director Eliza Tudor, Board President Jon Blinder, Miners Foundry Executive Director Gretchen Bond, Grass Valley Mayor Howard Levine, Nevada City Mayor Duane Strawser, Julie Baker of Julie Baker Projects, Sean Gilleran of the Gold Miners Inn, and numerous artists.

Tudor was praised for her leadership efforts. “Our community is our canvas,” as Levine put it. (We teamed up with the Arts Council to hire Kial James to take photographs, and some of them are below, along with the video).

Author: jeffpelline

Jeff Pelline is a veteran editor and award-winning journalist - in print and online. He is publisher of Sierra FoodWineArt magazine and its website SierraCulture.com. Jeff covered business and technology for The San Francisco Chronicle for 12 years, and he was a founding editor and Editor of CNET News for eight years, among other positions. Jeff has a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's from Northwestern University. His hobbies include sailing, swimming, and trout fishing in the Sierra. View all posts by jeffpelline