Arts & Cultural Roundtable

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Arts & Cultural Roundtable

Critiquing the Scene

By Anne Gonzales

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You don’t have to know your way around an art museum to know that a lively cultural arts mix translates to a vibrant business landscape. But when it comes to such fine arts as theater, film, dance, music and the culinary world, it’s no secret that Sacramento is playing catch-up as a top-tier cultural destination.
    What is the status of the regional arts and culture scene? How does it affect business and the quality of life? What can be done to make it more robust? Prosper queried leaders in the business and cultural arts fields at midtown hotspot Mulvaney’s Building & Loan. The lunchtime banter was laced with constructive criticism about past missteps, but the outlook was undeniably bright. Participants agreed population growth, especially among ethnic groups, downtown redevelopment and increased sophistication in the arts sector will enhance the region’s future.
    The culture gap doesn’t stem from a lack of talent or resources, or from lack of demand. Instead, much of the trouble can be chalked up to poor marketing, a sagging self-esteem and a can’t-do attitude. Young people at their creative peak typically leave the region in droves for the cultural meccas of New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and even Portland and Phoenix.
    The roundtable was spurred, in part, by a recent survey showing that college graduates believe they’ll have several jobs in the first decade of their careers. They aren’t looking just at where jobs are but at what kind of culture and entertainment a metro area has to offer. What is the Sacramento area doing to attract or hold its young, creative, inspired and inspiring types?

Marty DeAnda: “Sacramento hasn’t branded itself to make these kids want to stay. They don’t feel like it’s hip enough, or cool enough, to stay here in that real creative part of their lifetimes. Sometimes it doesn’t work out wherever they go, and they come home to be safe. So, we get a community of safeness; there’s never any desire to be here because we’re on the cutting edge, whether it be in the culinary arts, music or entertainment.”

“Bongo” Bob Smith: “I actually encourage people to leave. And I encourage them to come back. We need people to go out there, experience the world and bring that culture back to us. The more they can learn from the world, what’s right or great, what’s quality art, the more they bring back to enrich the culture here.”

Rich Baum: “Regarding the motion-picture industry and TV, I too recommend going to Los Angeles or San Francisco or to New York, if you’re in the theater. Unfortunately, I don’t have any reason for them to come back at the moment. I came to Sacramento with hopes of building a studio that’s been talked about three or four times in the 12 years I’ve been here, and nothing’s been done.”

Scott Hervey: “I disagree with (Baum’s) assessment of the motion-picture industry. I think Sacramento has a very nice little industry of independent filmmakers. It’s not as big as Los Angeles
or New York, but there are a number of independent filmmakers here who shoot films; and one of my clients, one of the larger independent filmmakers, just finished making a $3.5 million film and built a studio in Locke. You don’t need a studio to have a film industry. What you need are vibrant, energetic, dedicated, talented filmmakers. They don’t have to be in any one place, and with the advent of digital video, it’s going to be a lot easier for independent filmmakers to get their films out.”

Kim Cipriano: “The core reasons that are marketed to live here are affordability and a great outdoor life. So historically the value proposition has not been that this is a cultural epicenter. From a competitive standpoint, we have some markets very close by that have spent their lives creating that value proposition. It’s difficult to compete, and the region needs to decide what it wants to be. Are we just state employees?”

Richard Rojo: “There’s no doubt there’s demand here. The Mondavi Center is a great, glaring example of the demand in this market. People are willing to jump in their cars and drive 18 miles to Davis to go to these events. And they’re pretty sophisticated audiences.”

DeAnda: “The young crowd is where the creative juices are. For people between 18 and 25, it’s all things indie. Indie is cooler, and now it’s hip to quit a major label and go indie.”

Smith: “What we’re losing are the creative people who usher in the new creative wave: the producers, the directors, the ones who know how to make a movie or a record. Right now, we’re in a little vacuum here. Having the tools doesn’t make us a record industry or a film industry. We need to somehow attract or be a magnetic force to those kinds of people.”

Jan Geiger: “I think we all know the creative class, younger people, want a vibrant downtown. That’s what draws them to a Portland or to a Denver.”

DeAnda: “Look at Portland. It’s no more sophisticated than Sacramento. It’s not as large as Sacramento. But it’s got the vibe. Kids are going there because it’s got the vibe, and it’s been marketed as having this cool, creative feel, sort of the soft, white underbelly of New York. It’s about creating a vibe, and it’s all about marketing.”

Cipriano: “Or look at Phoenix. It’s a desert, there’s really nothing attractive about the place, but they’ve created a vibe, an entertainment venue, a phenomenal restaurant scene with five-star restaurants around a desert, a bowl of sand.”
    Events such as the Friday night shows at Cesar Chavez Plaza put on by the Sacramento Downtown Partnership are cited as having great promise. Participants get a wristband that gives them discounts at downtown entertainment and food venues. But it was noted that the “powers that be” in Sacramento’s arts and culture scene need to put their differences aside and craft a unified marketing plan.

Ann Freeman-Clement: “Promoters, artists and venues don’t seem to want to collaborate. I’ve got major venues that won’t even share information with me, because they don’t like the fact that we promote for several other major venues in the area.”
    In 2003, the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce launched a three-year project, the Strategic Regional Arts Initiative, to find funding for arts and culture in the region. That project ended last year, and, so far, hasn’t been resurrected.

Hervey: “Part of the Strategic Regional Arts Initiative included a back-room organizational component where smaller theaters could share services and reduce costs. But it didn’t work. Everyone was very proprietary, very protective of their information.”

Rojo: “There’s a flip side to that, especially for smaller organizations, like the little theater companies that are struggling to survive. They are so under-resourced and undercapitalized; it’s a pretty scary thing to give up your database and share it with others. I think there’s such a fear for your very survival when you’re in the trenches. The SRAI was perceived by arts organizations as a business initiative and was hobbled from the start.”

Cipriano: “I think we’ve done a wonderful job of creating obstacles, whereas other regions have turned their obstacles into unique, risky selling features. It’s all about the package. We’ve got a great waterfront community. Many places don’t have half the beauty or resources, but you look at what they’ve done to spin it, and I feel like, why are we sitting on our hands?”

Smith: “We also have to look at what the city is doing to promote our downtown area. I don’t know if K Street has found its identity. Everyone’s talking about coming downtown, but I don’t know if there’s a downtown to come to yet. I believe K Street is the key. We have to be a partner with the city on making K Street a viable entity and not let it become a place for people to go to Target. There has to be something vibrant, where the indie film community is represented, and nightclubs and retail. It seems that the ball keeps getting dropped.”
    But how do we get people from the suburbs to come downtown at night? Even with light-rail extensions and expanding bus lines, many residents in Granite Bay, Elk Grove and Folsom don’t want to deal with driving and parking in downtown Sacramento.

LeAnne Ruzzamenti: “That’s definitely a big issue. We’re constantly getting calls about traffic and parking. Once (people) get home from work and they’re in the suburbs, the motivation to get them to come back (downtown) is really hard to generate.”

Rojo: “If people really want to show up for an event downtown, they will. Plenty of things are thriving downtown. And in a funny way, the idea about parking and driving is strange, because people do drive into San Francisco. I really do think this is more of a marketing issue, a perception issue. We just need to make the argument that it’s worth the time and effort to get here.”

Hervey: “This is the age of viral marketing. There are so many opportunities for viral marketing; we have alternative papers in this town, and there’s the internet and word of mouth. Maybe it’s time to stop looking out and looking in. Time to put on the self-promotion hat and sell whatever it is you have to sell.”
    Sacramento has been named one of the nation’s most culturally diverse cities in the country. In Sacramento, 41 percent are non-Hispanic white, 22 percent are Hispanic, 17.5 percent are Asian/Pacific Islander and 15.5 percent are black, according to a study done by Harvard University in 2002.

Dave Rupel: “It’s inevitable that our ethnic diversity will spur arts and culture. With all the people coming to Sacramento, there need to be things for them to do. Quality and accessible events.”
    Rupel came to Sacramento recently after living in Los Angeles for 20 years. He finds that in a smaller city, such as Sacramento, people may have to search a little more for their culture, and it may be on a smaller scale, but it’s here.

Rupel: “In the last two months, I’ve gone to the Second Saturday Art Walk, attended the Taste of Land Park, heard local songwriters sing their music at the Fox & Goose pub and saw movies at the Gay & Lesbian film festival at the Crest Theatre. Culture is definitely here, you just may have to do a little more research.”

DeAnda: “We have all the tools here to connect, to develop, not pander, but to develop events for ethnic markets. We could make Sacramento a cultural melting pot.”

Clement: “Latino music has taken off here. Arco Arena has put on five or six solid Spanish-speaking artists in the last six months. And they sell out the shows. Just going to some of the area’s R&B shows, I know we’ve got a multicultural city.”

Cipriano: “We have to talk about the culinary aspect when we talk about ethnic diversity. I would like to see some more diverse ethnicity in restaurants at a higher level. I think the palate sophistication is here, the desire is here, but are we making it friendly for that to occur?”

Hervey: “If anything is going to be responsible for rejuvenating downtown, it will be the restaurants. Within a mile radius (of 19th and J streets), you have 20 fantastic restaurants.”

Clement: “The restaurants are the anchor, and then expanding from there, people need to know what to do after they eat.”
    Some of the participants say invigorating arts and culture in the region hinges on corporate investment.

Geiger: “I’ve been involved in raising money for a lot of the nonprofits and arts organizations, and there are the usual few suspects. A lot of corporations that don’t have the CEO presence here won’t give here. People have kind of a small mindset. Companies need to support arts and culture to be able to recruit top-level employees.”

Ruzzamenti: “The Crocker Museum lives on individual donors, and we have a really hard time getting corporate donations. Individual donations have grown in the last decade, and we’re doing better. We attribute it to the changing community, people moving in who’ve traditionally supported arts in the past. Look at the impact that a business can have. We had GenCorp come in with a $225,000 sponsorship at the Crocker, the largest corporate gift in our history. We’ve been able to do so much in our schools and mobile museum program because of that. While every $55 family membership makes a difference, it’s the businesses that can really make the long-lasting impacts.”

Hervey: “I think 10 years from now, it will be different downtown. I’m reminded of that every day as they drive the piles for the towers on Capitol Mall coming up across the street from my office building. Once people start paying $700,000 to a $1 million for their flat, you can guarantee they’re going to demand entertainment nearby. In five to 10 years, it’s going to happen.” 

Filling the Culture Gap

It’s easy enough to work too hard and then head home and flip on the flat screen. But don’t kid yourself that you&rsuo;re not missing inspiring, fun, culturally relevant happenings, possibly right in your ’hood. Below is an ad hoc list of organizations and events to fill the culture gap. And tell a friend or two or 20.

Fine+Modern Arts

ADAC: Creative and marketing hub for the region’s art directors, designers and visual artists. Check out the Chaos Conference, design workshops, exhibits, mixers and more.
Second Saturday Artwalk: Just a few of the outstanding galleries, new and old, to check out the second Saturday of each month: JayJay Art Gallery, Solomon Dubnick, Pamela Skinner Gallery, Fools Foundation, Toy Room Gallery, Artists Collaborative Gallery and The Art Foundry’s bronze pourings.  
Crocker Art Museum: Surprised to see the “longest continuously operating art museum in the West” listed? The Crocker plans to triple its exhibition space by 2008 and has pushed the envelope with exhibits such as Irving Norman, M.C. Escher and Marsden Hartley.
Film+Entertainment
The Crest Theatre: A harbinger of what the K Street Corridor can become when everyone gets on the same page, the Crest offers a variety of film treats from first-run and classic indies to various flavors of festivals, as well as speakers, musical acts and comedy shows.
Roseville Arts: A new arts center grows in downtown Roseville, to be completed this spring. The new 5,000-sq.-ft. facility will showcase the works of regional and national artists and feature a state-of-the-art gallery complete with flexible exhibition space suitable for small musical performances, lectures, demonstrations and poetry readings.
Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts: This staple of the region’s cultural diet “explores the full range of performing arts, from the traditional to the innovative and from diverse cultures and disciplines.”

Music+Theater+Dance

The Palms Playhouse: After 27 years in the “Old Barn” in Davis, the Palms Playhouse now rocks the refurbished Winters Opera House. The venue offers the same off-beat intimacy, not to mention an up-close view of some of the world’s finest “roots” musicians.
B Street Theatre Co. + Sacramento Theatre Co.: Since its founding in 1991, the B Street Theatre has produced more than 90 new plays, 60 of which are world, American, West Coast or regional premieres. The nonprofit Sacramento Theatre Company presents public performances of classical and modern plays in two theaters from September to June, with eight performances a week and more than 300 performances per year.
UC Davis’ Granada Artists-in-Residence Program: The program allows graduate and undergraduate students to collaborate with major theater and dance practitioners from the United Kingdom and then present the often-groundbreaking work.
Friday Night Concerts at Cesar Chavez Park: Free concerts of major regional acts balanced with hot up-and-comers May through August. You can also score discounts at local area bistros and shops. Program proves what can happen when business, culture and the public get on the same page.
Sacramento Black Art of Dance: Following in the footsteps of anthropologist/choreographer Katherine Dunham, S/BAD modern-dance company explores the movement culture of the African and African-American diaspora.
Sacramento Area Dance Alliance: With one mega-event each year, SADA presents performances by 21 various dance groups from the Sacramento Community. Styles represented include tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, pointe, hip hop and Scottish. All proceeds from the showcase support SADA scholarships for area dance students.
Samba da Terra of Sacramento: Started by Brazilian dance teacher Marta Santos, who also teaches samba classes in Sacramento, the group performs throughout Northern California. 

Culinary Arts

SushiMasters: Hosted by the California Rice Commission at Memorial Auditorium, a sold-out crowd of 750 converged in September to watch nine of California’s top sushi chefs compete head-on in a live sushi-rolling competition judged by some of the area’s hippest foodies.
Sacramento Valley Farmers Markets: Fresh food, handmade crafts, local purveyors and entertainers. With more than 30 Certified Farmer’s Markets in the region, there’s no excuse not to enjoy the bounty.
California’s Grape and Gourmet Event: A major wine and food event, not to mention the largest tasting of the state’s award-winning wines, all under one very large roof. 
Brew Festivals: The California Brewers Festival in September at Discovery Park hosts local, national and international microbrewers. Perfect weather, good food, live bands and great hand-crafted beer —culture comes in many forms.

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