Middletown Art Center receives CARES Act grant; community support remains crucial
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts made possible by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES Act, the Middletown Art Center will be able to support and expand its operations to better serve the Lake County community through the arts during the pandemic and beyond.
MAC is one of 855 grant recipients of 3,100 eligible organizations that applied to the NEA for CARES funding. Fifteen percent of the awards were given to rural organizations with budgets under $250,000, of which MAC is one.
The grant comes in the wake of the five-year anniversary of the MAC, an event which was overshadowed by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic and the resulting shutdown of MAC’s in-person programs.
Since then, MAC Programs Director Lisa Kaplan has scrambled to transfer scheduled classes and events to an online and/or socially distanced format and seek funding in an effort to keep the organization afloat.
The CARES grant, which provides funding from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, not only offers financial breathing room at a difficult time, it is a life saver for the art center, both now and for the future.
“This money is a bridge to help us get through the next six to 12 months. It was crucial to get a stimulus at a time when we might have had to close our doors,” Kaplan said.
While it is rare for grants to be awarded to nonprofits for operational costs, this one provides funds to pay for two current jobs and one new one and will help defray rent and utilities expenses.
The grant also serves to bolster the organization, enabling it to adapt its programs in response to social distancing requirements. Thanks to the grant, MAC will be able to provide a series of subsidized art making workshops.
According to Kaplan, the grant is a game changer. These funds are particularly critical now because there is no income from site-based events or space rentals at this time.
Even with the grant, community support is crucial to the MAC’s survival.
As Kaplan explained, “In order to sustain the MAC this year and beyond, we need community support in the form of attendance at our adapted programming, participation in classes (whether online or in person where distancing can be maintained), memberships, donations, and purchases of artwork.”
Artwork is now offered at a reduced cost to support artists, the MAC and art lovers. “There is an extra special feeling that one gets from being at home in a room where there is beautiful, original artwork,” Kaplan said.
To realize a larger vision of MAC, in January Kaplan began talking with Nicola Chipps, an interior designer and art curator from the Napa Valley, with the intent of expanding MAC’s outreach to artists outside Lake County, as well as helping local artists become known beyond our area.
Chipps, who owns the wine country design firm Chipps Interiors and served most recently as curator for the CAMi Gallery in Calistoga, has extensive contacts in the art world which can be leveraged to benefit the MAC and artists both inside and outside Lake County.
The grant will enable Chipps to join Kaplan in program development and serve as MAC’s curatorial advisor. Her role will be to put MAC artists on the map outside of Lake County by utilizing a variety of tools. Of these, digital strategies are of particular importance during this time of pandemic.
Chipps considers her involvement at MAC a passion project. She believes that Lake County is an underserved arts community and that getting the CARES grant is a wonderful step forward.
“I’m moved by the dedication, talent and ongoing efforts of those involved with the center,” Chipps said. “There is an extremely rich art community here and the grant will enable MAC to sustain its efforts through a highly uncertain year. It enables MAC to continue to be innovative, and, most of all, to be accessible.”
Chipps, Kaplan and Michael Chandler of Third Eye Visuals collaborated to create an annotated virtual tour of MAC's current exhibit, “DREAMS.” Virtual exhibits are one of the tools the MAC will continue to utilize to provide a viewing experience and extend MAC's reach. The virtual tour can be accessed here.
Also made possible by the grant is support for an outreach and development director to engage with tasks previously accomplished by volunteers or consultants and funding to bolster the operations coordinator's position. MAC will soon issue a call for applicants.
In its five-year history, MAC has been awarded grants for a variety of community projects, thanks to the California Arts Council, the NEA, and Kaplan and her grant writing team’s efforts. These include “Resilience,” “RESTORE,” “LOCUS” and “Being Leonardo,” all of which are featured on the MAC website.
It is important to note that the MAC opened its doors in March 2015, just six months before the Valley fire tore through southern Lake County and devastated much of Cobb, Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake.
Fully half of the artists involved in MAC at that time, about 30 people, lost their homes and/or studios in the fire, including nine out of 10 of the EcoArts/MAC board members.
Trailside Park in Middletown, the site of the yearly EcoArts Sculpture Walk, an outdoor exhibit, was forever changed by the fire. All pieces installed in 2015 were damaged or destroyed. The Sculpture Walk reopened in 2019, but this year's exhibit and festive opening were stymied by COVID-19.
These impacts, coupled with tremendous loss throughout our community, were the motivation for most of MAC’s activities, including the bulk of projects funded by grants, which have been focused on community recovery through art.
In the spirit of local resilience, several new sculptures are being installed at the park and a new collaborative sculpture, spearheaded by Marcus Maria Jung, was recently installed on Rabbit Hill in Middletown as part of the “LOCUS” project.
When asked what stands out most to her over the past five years, Kaplan shared that the “Being Leonardo” project was a personal favorite.
A partnership between MAC and the Middletown Unified School District, “Being Leonardo” integrated art and science inside and outside the classroom through a collaboration between artists and teachers. The goal was to deepen student understanding of the natural world, art appreciation and real-world applications of form and function. The project was unfortunately cut short by school closures during the shelter-in-place.
As an artist who is passionate about education, Kaplan enjoyed infusing art into the community through student participation in the “Being Leonardo” project. Kaplan believes that children can pass on an appreciation of art and the natural world to their parents, extending the education experience beyond their own.
“Art is a way to non-verbally express our experience and interpretation of the world around us. It’s another way to connect with and understand our children and a way for children to find their voice and world view,” Kaplan explained.
In the words of MAC Board President Amanda Martin, “The ‘Being Leonardo’ project reached 350 students in grades third through 12 and was on track to reach 450 until disrupted by the pandemic. It is so important, especially for the youth, that we draw them into what it means to build and sustain community, and especially community through sharing the arts.”
As to what’s on tap for the future, Kaplan envisions projects that synthesize the past, present and future of this place – Lake County – as well as more projects with schools.
She hopes that MAC can provide multi-racial educational components (in her words, “multi-chromatic education”), perhaps to include working with local tribal members to incorporate traditional native arts and designs into art projects and working more with local artists of color.
Kaplan noted that MAC artists (like many local residents) share a deep connection with nature. Many choose to work with natural materials or create work about nature.
Starting with the EcoArts Sculpture Walk established in 2003 by Karen Turcotte Williams and John Williams, the organization has presented projects and exhibits that foster a connection between art and nature. These include sculptures that dialog with nature or encourage ecosystem recovery, indoor exhibits, and programs that help the local community get outside to enjoy nature and to deepen their connection with it.
Kaplan likes to say that the overarching goal of the MAC is to weave the arts into the fabric of Lake County communities. The CARES grant will enable them to continue to do this at a time when so many nonprofit organizations have had to close.
To learn more about the MAC or to donate or become a member, you may visit them at www.middletownartcenter.org .
Esther Oertel is a writer and food columnist for Lake County News. She lives in Middletown, Calif.