When Art Disappeared from Our ArtWalk

After Vendors of Nacho Cheese and Knockoff Purses Arrived at Bakersfield’s First Fridays, We Had to Implement New Policies—and Define Art

Things were going well until the crockpots of nacho cheese began showing up next to the knock-off purses in 2013. Once that happened, Bakersfield’s ArtWalk, part of its monthly downtown art night, First Friday, went downhill and fast.

ArtWalk and First Friday were the brainchildren of Don Martin, who opened Metro Galleries in 2007. To encourage people to come downtown after work, he organized businesses to stay open late on the first Friday of every month. Then, he asked artists to set up and sell their work (be it visual, …

by David Gordon | January 2, 2015

Where You Can Find Hmong Shamans, Oaxacan Tamales, and the Blues

In the City of Merced, Cultural Gems Come From All Over—But They Can Now Be Found on One Map

by Russell C. Rodríguez | December 13, 2014

A wall of sound often emanates from an open classroom at the Merced Lao Family Community Center. It’s bagpipe-like and pulsating—the sound of a half-dozen boys practicing the qeej (pronounced …

How to Infect an Entire City with Art

Rather Than Building a Museum, We Turn Neighborhoods into Galleries

by Bob Barzan | November 12, 2014

The reception for the Modesto Art Museum’s 2014 architecture movie night was well underway and about 200 people were mingling in the lobby of Modesto’s art deco State Theatre. Everyone …

Visalia Can Help You with Your Zombie Opera

This Central Valley City Supports the Arts—and Reaps Their Cultural and Economic Benefits, Too

by Sarah Rothbard | October 17, 2014

Can the arts make a city vibrant both economically and culturally? Artists and arts administrators in Visalia, California, think so. At a “Living the Arts” event co-presented by the James …

Want the Arts to Make Your City Vibrant?

Don’t Just Throw Money at Artists. Give Them Places to Perform, Collective Bargaining Powers—or a Break on Permits.

October 15, 2014

For towns like Visalia, California, the expression “arts for art’s sake” doesn’t make much sense. In Visalia—as in other emerging arts towns throughout the U.S.—art isn’t just there for its …

I Did Not Want to End Up in Modesto

But Thanks to a Community of Poets, I Grew Into the Central Valley—and My Adopted City Grew Into Me

by Gillian Wegener | August 27, 2014

Arable
The land around coaxes out
almonds, apricots, walnuts.
At 3 a.m., the call to irrigate.
—from “An Alphabet for a Mid-Sized City”

I am not from here, not from the …

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