INFORMATION SERVICES & PUBLICATIONS
Our widely visited website: plumasarts.org provides press releases about current
activities and a wealth of information about the work of our organization. The
website also hosts our cultural events calendar and comprehensive county
calendar of events as well as a directory of artists, galleries, venues the
host musical presentations or visual art displays and links to our partner
organizations.
Since 1982, the Plumas County Arts & Events Calendar & Quarterly Newsletter, a
printed and online publication, has captured a countywide vision of cultural
activities. It is emailed or mailed to (and posted on the refrigerators of)
members of Plumas Arts and media contacts and is distributed through the
Chambers, libraries, motels, restaurants and community agencies.
PlumasCountyEvents.com is a truly comprehensive online listing of Plumas County
events that is collaboratively updated by all chambers of commerce and Plumas
Arts. Any event open to the public may be submitted. It may be viewed in its
entirety, or sorted by community or cultural events listings. It also serves as
a web information point for the Plumas County Culture, Civic and Commerce
Coalition.
Artist & Cultural Resources Directory Since our inception Plumas Arts has kept a directory of local arts, galleries,
and venues where music is presented and arts organizations initially in print
and now online. Our online directory is being expanded as part of our website
remodel, funded by a California Arts Council State-Local Partnership Technical
Assistance grant with supplemental funding from a Plumas County Arts & Tourism,
Economic Development Grant.
Art & Culture in the Local and Regional Media...
Rarely a week goes by where there is not a press release, or two, or more, in
the local media about cultural events and activities in Plumas County written
by or about Plumas Arts.
Long-term efforts and recognition at the local, regional, state and national
levels have made Plumas Arts an initial contact point for opportunities and
inquiries that have helped keep Plumas County culture on the radar. Our Plumas
Arts Gallery is a tourist information resource where we encounter numerous
visitors each day we are open. As the county events calendar coordinators we
respond to an average of 15 contacts/inquiries a week about local culture and
events.
ARTS EDUCATION
Our Plumas Arts Education programs have been supported by: school site councils
and PTAs, the Plumas County Office of Education and Plumas Unified School
District, and a three year cycle of California Arts Council Local Arts
Education Partnership Grants. In 1999 the effort was one of only 15 programs to
be funded statewide by the State Office of Education ART WORKS Visual &
Performing Arts Program. From 2000 to 2ooo2 our art education programs were
selected as one of only 35 recipients statewide, and one of only 4 in Northern
California to be determined as a California Arts Council Arts in Education
Demonstration Site.
Artist in the Schools Program provides hands-on artist workshops in every county
K-6 classroom.
School Arts Assembly Programs are often offered to county schools, often in
conjunction with the Town Hall Theatre Artist Series performing arts
presentations. The program currently operates with a CAC Artist in the Schools
grant matched with funds from the Plumas County Office of Education and PTA/PTO
groups and recently the Bill Graham and High Sierra Music Foundations.
All County Jazz Night brings all the high school jazz bands to play for a very
enthusiastic full house at the Town Hall Theatre. Music instructors tell us
that this is the only time that all the high school bands play together - on
a real stage with lights when they are not in competition with each other.
CULTURAL FESTIVALS & EVENTS
Plumas Arts produces Taste of Plumas each April. Always a "sold-out"
successful event, we bring 20+ culinary businesses from all parts of the county
together in one place. Restaurants and business owners come willingly to take
part in this festive gathering that has helped to promote their culinary
artistry to discretionary diners across and beyond county and community
boundaries.
Plumas Arts has managed one of Northern California's oldest and most respected
exhibitions of fine arts and crafts, the Almanor Art Show since 1983. It takes
place the first weekend in August and showcases a variety of types of art by
100 artists from around the Western US as well as offering subsidized booth
space to the Feather River Fine Arts Guild members in a local artist
"village."
Mountain Harvest Festival, in October, is a community music and beer tasting
event that attracts an impressive collection of microbreweries from throughout
the Western US and beyond. The event, which has received generous coverage in
VIA magazine and other regional media, attracts people from near and far to
enjoy our glorious Fall Colors and community feel.
SUPPORTING EVENTS WITH PARTNERSHIPS
Plumas Arts assists our partner events producers with many of Plumas County's
most significant events by providing promotional and/or production support:
A Few Brews & A Banjo in Chester (July 11, 2015 ) is sponsored in
partnership with the Lake Almanor Community Foundation (LACC). Proceeds fund
Chester High School music and drama programs.
High Sierra Music Festival at the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds over the 4th
of July weekend.
Art Around the Lake (Almanor) the last Saturday in June, is sponsored in partnership
with the Feather River Fine Art Guild (proceeds fund visual art supplies in the
Chester public schools).
Portola Park City Lights Summer Concert Series funded by the City of Portola.
Quincy Farmers' Market Concerts produced by Quincy Natural Foods on the Plumas
County Office of Education lawn on Main Street in Quincy
PERFORMING ARTS PRESENTATIONS
Town Hall Theatre Artist Series brings an impressive array of internationally
renowned artists to local audiences. Many of these artists have regional or
national fan bases that are choosing to travel to our area from some distances
to see their favorite musicians in an intimate setting. An estimated 10-20% of
our audience comes from out of the county with overnight, or longer, stays in
conjunction with their attendance at our performances. On concert nights
restaurants also report record business.
Words & Music came to life at Quincy's Morning Thunder in Quincy in 1989 with
a Plumas Arts grant from the California Arts Council. This monthly (dark July
to September) poetry and acoustic music series with an open mic section has
also found homes in Chester and Portola. The program serves to coalesce
cultural community enclaves and has been reproduced by neighboring arts
councils.
Plumas Arts and local music education business Face the Music sponsor an annual
concert by the
High Sierra Community & Youth Orchestra: Plumas County's first orchestra with
as many as 45 musicians of all ages playing together on violin, viola, cello,
bass, flute, woodwinds, brass and percussion.
VISUAL ARTS
Since 1998 the Plumas Arts Gallery has shared space with our administrative
offices in Quincy. Our Gallery showcases the fine work of local artists with a
changing schedule of exhibitions and opening receptions. The gallery displays
and sells the work of at least 60 visual, musical and literary artists. Rotating Art Displays are also hosted at Patti's
Thunder Café.
After a decade-long respite, Plumas Arts returned in 2007, at the request of
fair management, to coordinate the Art Barn at the Plumas-Sierra County Fair.
This monumental effort involves more than 350 hours of service by dozens of
volunteers to provide an attractive display of artwork by Plumas and Sierra
County residents of all ages and abilities. The Fair Board and Fair Staff have
applauded our effort. |
