The Peoples’ House on Cottage Street
The local arts council, — the Lassen County Arts Council — is funded, in part, by the state of California, various grants, donations, the NEA, arts license plates and membership fees. Its intent is to promote the arts in the community, not just a favored few, rather all the arts. It is not a club, rather the peoples’ house for creative expression. Nearly all 58 counties in California have an arts council.
There have been times in the past when our local arts council thrived and was bustling with activity. Why not now? I do not understand why we get no yearly arts plan, quarterly reports, no real record of how funding supports the arts in our community. There’s no newsletter as we had in the past. And any media on events is greatly limited, nearly non-existent.
I have contacted my local arts council several times in the current month and all to no avail—not a single response. This leaves me wondering if the board is doing their job of oversight. What’s going on?
My husband and I have funded writers (The Thompson Peak Writers’ Workshop) by doing trades for stays at our guest home here in Janesville. We have hosted poet laureates from other counties with virtually no outside help. We have written Poets and Writers grants for funding to help support our guest writers, and I have single-handedly run The Thompson Peak Writers Workshop for more than 30 years. I would like to feel that my local arts council could occasionally showcase what the writers in the workshop have achieved or at least attend one of our events.
There was a time in the past when the arts council hosted Words and Music monthly. That is no longer the case. In my humble estimation it’s time for our local council to step up, expand its services, immerse itself more in the community.
Finally, why is there no response to requests, to e-mails? It’s not just me who has experienced lack of communication.
Let’s get our Cottage Street Arts Council humming with activity again. Let’s make it a beacon of hope for the arts here in Lassen County.
