The Year in Review: Fresno Arts Council 2019

ON MEDIUM @ARTWELL

ISSUE NO. 1

ARTWELL A FRESNO ARTS COUNCIL PUBLICATION

MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

12 HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2019

OTIS REPORT: 5 MUST-READS

Lilia Chavez shares this year's triumphs, successes, lessons learned, and future trends in the local arts economy for 2020

We recap the twelve moments in the local arts that defined the year at the Fresno Arts Council

These are the five takeaways you must read on the Central Valley from the 2019 Otis Report on the Creative Economy

2019: THE YEAR IN REVIEW | FRESNOARTSCOUNCIL.ORG

FRESNO ARTS COUNCIL

DECEMBER 2019

MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

CONTENTS 1 FAC TEAM 2 HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2019 5 FRESNO POET LAUREATE 6 OTIS REPORT: 5 TAKEAWAYS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Bruce Kalkowski, President Olga Gutierrez De Nuñez, Treasurer Laura E. Ward, Secretary Polly Brewer Thomas Whit Ellis Jolene Telles Tiffany Mangum

STAFF

Here, at the Fresno Arts Council, our work is guided by our longstanding mission: to enrich people's lives through the arts. As a community benefit organization managed by a volunteer board of trustees and dedicated staff who are wholly invested in sustaining and advancing the arts for all in Fresno County. We are proud to be the official local partner to the California Arts Council, providing access to work opportunities, and other resources for artists to achieve success and promoting a strong arts community overall.

In 2019, our nonprofit grew with the addition of three new staff members in key support areas, and I can’t wait for you to meet them!

While we lost as few valuable art programs in the community, we have also gained others and successfully completed several significant art programs this year.

Also, we are happy to introduce you to a monthly newsletter, ARTWELL, to keep you informed on what's happening locally in the arts throughout Fresno County. We invite you to continue to send information about art activities we can feature in this publication.

We hope you will continue to join us in support of the arts, a significant contributor to Fresno County's growing economy in 2020!

Lilia Chavez, Executive Director Cassandra McGuire, Operations Manager Carlos Aparicio, Program Manager Lisa Herrick, Media Specialist Elisa Flores, Administrative Assistant Harpreet Gill, Accountant

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LILIA GONZÁLES CHÁVEZ, M.A. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

ARTWELL

12 FRESNO COUNTY ARTS & CULTURE | ISSUE NO. 1

Moments In Art We Celebrated In 2019 at FAC Written by Lisa Lee Herrick, Media Specialist

This year, the Fresno Arts Council (FAC) saw an explosion of growth in our popular monthly public art experience, ArtHop, throughout the Fresno Metropolitan area, and we also proudly announced this year's six Horizon Awards honorees with featured special guest, Vijay Gupta, winner of the 2018 MacArthur Genius Grant--who was also recently announced on the 2019 TIME Next 100 List.

Read on to discover more FAC milestones from 2019.

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FRESNO ARTS COUNCIL

DECEMBER 2019

photos (left to right): "Albert Einstein," Arts In Corrections Show in July 2019 (Lisa Herrick); Arts In Corrections choir rehearsing (Peter Mertz).

1 2 3 4 5

Dixie Salazar's painting, "Harvest, Summer 2018," was awarded Best In Show at the

The Crosswalks Painting Project was completed July 2019 with financial support

2019 Arts Alive in Agriculture Showcase at

from the California Arts Council & the

City Hall on April 4, 2019.

Office of Councilmember Esmeralda Soria.

Fresno City College professor Marisol Baca was appointed City of Fresno Poet Laureate

8

Elisa Flores joined FAC staff as Administrative Assistant and ArtHop

(2019-2021) by the Mayor and was sworn in

Coordinator; she was promoted to the

on May 2, 2019, at City Hall.

position in October 2019.

FAC congratulated Julian Ramos, former Program Manager, in his new role at Fresno

9

Fresno-based graphic designer & Fresno State alumnus, Carlos Lujan, won the 2020

State in the Division of Continuing &

ArtHop Logo Design Contest and the $500

Global Education in April 2019.

cash prize in October 2019.

FAC grew with the addition of two new staff members in June 2019: Carlos Aparicio,

10

Vijay Gupta, 2018 MacArthur Genius Grant winner, performed live at the 34th Annual

Program Manager; and Lisa Herrick, Media

Horizon Awards on October 24, 2019, at

Specialist.

Tower Theatre and six award honorees were celebrated by the arts community.

FAC received a $24,578 Reentry Through The Arts (RTA) Grant from the California Arts Council to support the arts in the Fresno County Jail 2019-2020 program.

6

7

July ArtHop kicked-off with the Arts In Corrections gallery show at Fresno City

11 12

FAC sponsored the 2019 Fresno Film Festival Shorts Program at Tower Theatre on November 10, 2019.

Former City of Fresno Poet Laureate S. Bryan Medina (2017-2019) opened student

Hall featuring 65 works of art created

training sessions for the regional Poetry Out

during the 2018-2019 program.

Loud 2020 competition in November 2019.

Opposite: "Harvest, Summer 2018" by Dixie Salazar, voted Best In Show at 2019 Arts Alive In Agriculture on April 4, 2019. (photo courtesy of the artist)

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FRESNO ARTS COUNCIL

DECEMBER 2019

INTERVIEW: MARISOL BACA, FRESNO POET LAUREATE On May 2, 2019, Fresno City Hall was abuzz with the announcement of the new City of Fresno Poet Laureate, the first Latinx and female poet to be appointed by the Mayor, with support by the Fresno Arts Council, since the program's inauguration in 2013. photos: LeeAnn DiCicco (courtesy of Marisol Baca)

BIO Marisol Baca is the author of Tremor.

She received an MFA from Cornell, was the recipient of the Robert Chasen poetry award, and is a professor at Fresno City College. She teaches in the Resources for American Indian Needs learning community and founded Women Writers of Color in the Central Valley.

Fresno has been central to shaping Baca's identity as a writer who is also a woman of color, from her youthful forays in performance poetry in the Tower District to earning her MFA in Creative Writing (2007) from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Today, Baca is the founder of local peer writing group, Women Writers of Color (WWOC), and reads regularly across the United States from new work and her first book, Tremor (Three Mile Harbor Press, 2018).

"I see myself as part of Fresno poetry--a changing and growing community of writers who come to this city, or stay in this city, to connect, work, and learn. How am I connected to outside poetry? From teaching for the California Center for the Book, Poets & Writers, The Rural Libraries Tour, [and] touring the backbone of the southwest and speaking about [b]order issues with Las Peregrinas in 2018 . . . I have been part of a national conversation about poetry, creativity, and social justice issues."

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FIVE KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2019 OTIS REPORT

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1

The creative industries constitute 15.4% of California's total employment and support over 2.6 million jobs in the state.

2

Jobs in the arts and creative industries generate $604.9 billion annually in California.

3

Since 2010, over 200,000 creative industry jobs have been added--which is a 26% increase.

4

In 2017, only around 1% of creative industry workers were based in the Central Valley, or around 26,000 jobs.

5

Average wages across five creative sectors varied from $49,000 to $120,000 for nonself-employed workers.

Source: 2019 Otis Report on the Creative Economy by Beacon Economics LLC: p. 8-9, 13-16, 18-19, 22-25, 30-33, 38-42, 70-71, 88-89, 102-103, 120-121, 140-141, 148-149, 211-213, 226-229, 248-249.

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FRESNO ARTS COUNCIL 1245 Van Ness Avenue

Thanks to our sponsors

Fresno, CA 93721 (559) 237-9734 @FresnoArtsCouncil @FresnoArtsCouncil @FresnoArts http://fresnoartscouncil.org

The Fresno Arts Council is a State-Local partner to the California Arts Council, designated by the county board of supervisors to serve the county’s citizens.

The Fresno Arts Council would like to thank all the community volunteers who helped paint the crosswalks at Echo & Weldon Avenues, and Olive & Wishon Avenues, in July 2019.

We couldn't have done it without you!