We made it! We're basking in the (early) glory of 2009. And, yes, it WILL be glorious! Hard to believe, isn't it that just a few short years ago, we were basking in the glory that was 1969, worrying about a choice between which concert to see: the Grateful Dead or the Doors. Those were the good old days, eh?

Now we get to create some good NEW days--that's what a new year does for us. It presents us with that incredible optimism and anticipation of wondrous new things to come.

The Cultural Council already has some new tricks up its sleeve. We're in the thick of planning Primavera, our fabulous annual fundraiser coming in March (see our home page on this site for a ticket-buyer teaser). Invitations to this exclusive Spring event at Chaminade Resort & Spa will go out soon--and you can get a head start by ordering your tickets now, ahead of the crowds! Click here to order: http://www.ccscc.org --scroll down the page until you see the Primavera image and click on "Buy Now."

We've got some other fun ideas brewing, too--you'll see them on this website as they miraculously appear!

In the meantime, the Cultural Council wishes you and yours all the best of everything this year. May your creative juices positively flood!

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As the Cultural Council forges ahead with its attempts to weather the current economic storm, it's important to remember all the wonderful richness our local artists and arts organizations bring to our community. Whether you create art or simply enjoy it (or both!), we find ourselves basking in that collective glow we constantly sense from being fortunate enough to live in such a place as Santa Cruz County. Diversity and uniqueness are celebrated here--and we don't all have to agree on what's "right" or "proper" or "cool" to appreciate the intrrinsic value in that.

No doubt there are some artists and arts organizations that are not doing well financially as a result of our current economic state. If there is any doubt, however, about how our community pulls together to buoy a faltering cultural experience, witness Shakespeare Santa Cruz. We can all learn from their "brink" experience: They were slipping under. They needed help to survive. They asked the community for help. They got help from the community.

We're all in distinctly unique circumstances, and some are obviously better off than others. Perhaps it's not so noticeable, yet there are absolutely those among us who need help. They may be people close to us or not, family members or friends, or not. And they may not even ask for help. In fact, in the not asking, they might seem completely fine to the rest of us. However, if we take a moment to look closer, we will perceive with our amazing human perceptive powers that help is needed and, if we're able, we're bound to give it.

Why? Because that old saying, "What goes around comes around" is true (I know this from personal experience!), There may come a time when those who don't need assistance now may need it in the future--and will get it if that time comes.The cosmic playing field always seems to get leveled at some point.

2009 could be a good time to start doing what we can to level that field a bit in a concerted effort to keep Santa Cruz County collectively rich. If someone needs it, and we have it, why not share it? "It" can be food, clothing, shelter, money, art supplies, attending cultural events, donations to worthy causes--whatever works. It all makes a positive impact.

In fact, maybe we can all make just one resolution for 2009: Make a positive impact. If we all do something--anything--that is measureably positive, think how our community could benefit. Think how we could benefit! We will all feel so empowered--in a most positive way.

I say bring on  2009! The Cultural Council wishes you and yours a safe and happy New Year, one where you remain conscious of your actions and everything  you do results in something positive.

Remember: "Use the Force for Good!"

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Here's something we can do to help our Santa Cruz County community, ourselves, and the Cultural Council:

First, we make a donation (in any denomination) to the Cultural Council to receive a Friend of the Cultural Council membership card that we can flash at participating businesses around town for special considerations, including free products, discounts, and other goodies. Second, we shop at those participating businesses!

Taking the first step is easily done by clicking on the Cultural Council logo below. When we do that, we not only become a Friend of the Cultural Council, we demonstrate that we are also a friend of the community as we shop at the local businesses participating in this program (click on the word "Friends" below to see who these businesses are!).

In these difficult financial times, doesn't it make sense to help each other when and where we can? The Cultural Council's involvement goes like this: We receive help from our donors > our donors receive a Thank You packet including a Friends membership card > local businesses are helped by our Friends shopping at these businesses > our donors are helped by local businesses providing special considerations. One grand circle of people helping each other!

Please join this win-win-win effort. Click on the Cultural Council's logo below to donate. Friends memberships can also be given as gifts - and when you select the denomination, you know the price is right! To give as a gift simply call 831-475-9600 x12. Click on the word "Friends" below to discover the local businesses participating in this program.

Your help is immeasurably appreciated by all--thank you!

Friends

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Is there anyone in Santa Cruz County who believes our local art and culture is not important to our economy? If the Arts & Economic Prosperity III study (conducted by Americans for the Arts) is any indication, it's important in a very big way--to the tune of $32.01 million (see full report here: PDF).

Santa Cruz County--in the throes of a major economic downturn just like the rest of the country--has a reputation for being an "arty" type of place--and we like it that way! We're home to hundreds of highly talented artistic types, and the fruits of their labors are what bring in the finances that, in a huge way, support our local economy. According to the A&E Prosperity III study, $15.72 million is generated by local non-profit arts organizations, and another $16.29 million comes from event-related spending by the audiences of these organizations--meaning the folks who travel to Santa Cruz County to spend their money here, and enjoy the talent and culture we offer. That's a lot of County bread and butter! We need to keep art organizations functioning and creating all that art and culture to keep these art lovers coming back to our community for more!

Santa Cruz County's desire to remain an artistic haven doesn't become a reality by itself, though. The arts and culture organizations we love absolutely cannot make it without funding and other means of support. I'm talking about organizations like:

♥  The Santa Cruz Symphony

♥  Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre

♥  Kuumbwa Jazz Center

♥  Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

♥  Open Studios Art Tour

♥  Shakespeare Santa Cruz

♥  Watsonville Taiko

...and many, many others.

This very short list represents just a few of the much-loved organizations that the Cultural Council helps fund and support--and only with your assistance. Your donations to the Cultural Council become the means for us to continue offering funding, advocacy, marketing and advertising, and support to the arts and culture that contribute so vitally to our local local economy and to us as a community. It's what we do!

Let's not allow the current economic times drag us and our cherished arts and culture down for the count. Do whatever you can to support our local artists and arts organizations in any way that works for you--it means so much to all of us! You can easily help the Cultural Council continue this effort by clicking our logo below:

As an added bonus, when you donate to the Cultural Council, you automatically become a Friend of the Cultural Council! You'll receive a membership card that, beginning January 1, 2009, entitles you to special considerations at local businesses (see a list of our Business Friends updated regularly). This, in turn, helps our local economy and community!

Let's also keep the following in mind:

"Understanding and acknowledging the incredible economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture, we must always remember their fundamental value. They foster beauty, creativity, originality, and vitality. The arts inspire us, sooth us, provoke us, involve us, and connect us. But they also create jobs and contribute to the economy."

--Robert L. Lynch, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts

Pass it along!

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If you've been reading or listening to the local news lately or even taken a walk downtown and seen many vacant business locations, you, like me, have been hit over the head with the reality that something is definitely amiss in our town. You can then extrapolate to arrive at the conclusion that something is also very wrong in our country as a whole. And, yes Virginia, it's the economy.

We're witnessing the "trickle-down effect" in action. Government>Lenders and Financial Institutions>Big Business>Small Business>the rest of us. Financial challenges that started at the top have now worked their way down to affect each and every one of us.

We're demonstrating a collective performance of capillary action: We're still maintaining, but just one more drop of these negative economic challenges, and we're going to spill all over the floor. What to do?

Remember that song along the lines of "If you want to change the world, change yourself?" That's what we must do now. We must reassess our personal situations and make room to help someone else. If each of us does that, we will have changed ours and others' personal circumstances enough to weather this temporary economic storm.

There has never been a better time for community--pulling together as a community to help each other so, though most of us won't be getting fat, there can be a sense of "OK-ness" for each of us. What better time than the holidays to demonstrate this community giving and caring? The goal is for all of us to feel that we are, and will be, OK.

As an early resolution for the New Year, let's resolve to pull together to help our families, friends, and others make it through these crazy times. There really is a sunny end to these current dark events--let's keep our eyes on that prize!

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With Thanksgiving now a fond memory, we turn our attention to the remaining days of 2008. What will we do with them?

Times are so very different now, aren't they? The economy, the governmental transition, the good, the bad, and the ugly of daily life. We have so many choices on how we shape the remainder of 2008. We can make it a priority to be kinder and more considerate of others, we can try to nurture the emotions of Thanksgiving, or we can continue with business as usual and go with our usual modus operandi for the holidays and spend like mad.

My personal feeling is that different times require different behavior. Maybe our behavior can be a masterfully blended combination of being thankful for all the blessings of our lives (not the least of which is the creative spirit in our friends, family, and in ourselves) and making a conscious effort to recycle, reuse, and reform things from holidays past. In other words, we can attempt to create a holiday season that is less commercial, more heart-felt, and imbued with the creative spirit for which our community is known.

We can also begin formulating how we want 2009 to be, and then work toward making that a reality. A motivational speaker once asked his audience, "What would you do with your life if you only had a lifespan of 30 years?" Since as of this moment many of us really do only have a remaining lifespan of 30 years or so (if we're lucky!), how do we want that life to be? Now is a great time to rethink what we have, want we want, and where we're going.

Let's take a collective deep breath and calmly move into this holiday season with a joyfully centered purpose celebrating what is important to each of us. Let's treasure that.

Now then, onward to 2009!

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You've got to check out the new art show at the Santa Cruz County Government Center! The Cultural Council has coordinated with the County of Santa Cruz Department of Parks, Open Space, and Cultural Services a new exhibit featuring Thom Atkins (Beadwork & Art Quilts), Kristen Cederquist (Photography), Sandra Cherk (Pastel Paintings), Peggy Hansen (Photography), and Scott Rasmann (Acrylic Paintings). The talent possessed by our local artists never fails to amaze, does it?

But just as remarkable is the mere fact of the venue--who knew a utilitarian building whose main function is to serve the community with mundane tasks of daily life could also reveal its hidden personality as a wonderful art venue! Our County Government Center is just such a place, allowing us to make art accessible to all.

Take some time for a visit to the County Government Center at 701 Ocean Street--it's free! Walk inside and immediately immerse yourself in the incredible extravaganza of art on display. Take a leisurely stroll through the building and ponder the beautiful transformation of the walls, paying special attention to what's in all the display cases as well. Then for more indulgence, like whipped cream on a yummy hot peach cobbler, elevate to the 5th floor for another taste of pure artistic pleasure.

You can even meet the artists at a Public Reception on December 5th from 5 to 7 p.m.

You can get more information on the County Government Center exhibits by following this link: Government Center

This exhibit runs through January 29, 2009--don't miss it!

Enjoy!

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It's true! Now there's a way you can easily multitask with a philanthropic purpose AND get terrific free gifts, discounts, and other special considerations from local businesses and organizations!

Multitask? Yup. Here's what that looks like.

YOU...

1) ...become part of a wonderfully beneficial group of art-minded individuals, get insider information about local performances, and receive discounts and other goodies from local businesses, art organizations and venues.

2) ...get tangible evidence you can show as unquestionable proof that you totally, completely, and irrevocably support arts and culture in Santa Cruz County.

2) ...are recognized and rewarded in a variety of ways for that support.

HOW?

1) Be one of the first to join the Cultural Council's new membership program, Friends of the Cultural Council!

2) Contribute nominally to the Cultural Council in support of the arts and receive your very own highly valuable Membership Card!

3) Receive Thank You gifts for your contribution including free advertising, free website presence, and other great stuff!

4) Flash your Membership Card at participating businesses and venues around the county and start gathering your "special considerations!"

You've got to learn more about this wonderfully new and fun way to support the arts in our community! Click on the puppy for all the info!

I'm a Friend of the Cultural Council!

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