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Local arts scene gets $475,000
| Thursday, Oct 11 2007 2:06 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Oct 11 2007 2:06 PM
Nearly half a million dollars was awarded to two arts institutions in Bakersfield Thursday as part of a total $4.1 million in grants slotted for 15 arts organizations throughout the Central Valley.
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The Bakersfield Museum of Art received $250,000 and Bakersfield Music Theatre received $225,000 from the James Irvine Foundation, a private philanthropic nonprofit that supports the arts, culture and diversity.
“I think they saw a shining potential in us,” said Beth Pandol, director of marketing for the museum. “We just think we have a little hidden gem here and we are excited about implementing all the components of the grant so we can offer more to the community.”
Pandol said that as part of the grant application process, the museum presented a “cultural participation plan” proposal to study the changing needs of different segments of a vibrant community.
“The Bakersfield community has changed,” she said. “It's grown. There are a lot of people from outside Kern County that have come in and they have transformed the county into a very diverse community.”
The museum will use part of the money for that study, she said, but also try out technological improvements such as cell phone or iPod museum tours or podcasting on the museum’s Web site.
Elaine Jamison, assistant producer for Bakersfield Music Theatre, said she has worked for her organization for more than 30 years in a variety of roles including, this time around, as the main grantwriter.
“We've had donors that, over a period of 10 or 15 years, have given us that much money but not in a grant process,” Jamison said.
She said she believes the theater was awarded the three-year grant, which it will likely use to increase staff, because:
• It has a positive track record of providing quality arts to the community for more than three decades.
• It showed that it can improve its capacity to “deliver the arts to more people and to a varied audience.”
She said a total of 30 organizations applied for the grant.
“It's also a kudos, I believe, to the community,” Jamison said, that there were two organizations selected to receive the grant.
In a press release, Ray Delgado, the James Irvine Foundation’s communications manager, lauded grant recipients by saying, “These institutions provide access to quality arts programming throughout the Central Valley and are well-poised to respond to rapidly changing demographic shifts within the valley.”
Other recipients included art museums, theaters, orchestras, and ballet and opera companies in Sacramento, Fresno, Modesto, Stockton, Sonora and Roseville.