Destination Nevada County

Truckee Public Art Commission, supported by both Truckee
Arts Alliance and Nevada County Arts Council.
What’s next for our Cultural Districts?
It will be important that our communities lean in with us.
Nevada County Arts council will work to develop a strong
advisory team of stakeholders and to engage the community.
Both Truckee and Grass Valley-Nevada City Cultural
Districts will have unique ways that they do this, and Nevada
County Arts Council will be here to guide and support.
We have an incredible opportunity to put these designations
to work for us – and it will be a whole community effort. What
will be critical – and what we hope to see – is the emergence
of new community leaders who will steer areas of work, lend
their skills, form a team, and create a cultural district family
both east and west of our famous Donner Pass.
What are the first steps?
Currently, California Cultural Districts is a designation,
not a funding source, so building sustainable funding
mechanisms for our cultural districts will be key. First up
is a year-long economic impact study of our creative sector
to enable us to catch all our seasonal audiences and develop
meaningful data.
We also want to develop a strong “brand” and we want our
community to help us share our story with the world. This
includes our rich gold country heritage all the way through
to the emergence of our hi-tech industry and our VR/AR
creatives. It also includes our unique Nisenan peoples and
their culture.
What is the role of a regional arts council like Nevada County
Arts Council?
We are Nevada County’s State-Local Partner with California
Arts Council. Our role is to highlight opportunities that might
act as a catalyst for community development; the California
Cultural District Program being a perfect example.
We know that the arts are fundamental to healthy
communities—now we need to make this valuation explicit
through arts planning. This requires deep community input
and leadership, and we think that our California Cultural
District designation will help us focus our combined energies
on this work.
Apart from your active role with our Cultural Districts, what
else is Nevada County Arts Council doing?
A focus for us is enriching the lives of community members
through the arts. For example, we are now entering our third
year working with veterans through Image Nation. Our
winter exhibition opens in mid-January at the Rood Center,
where we will display the work of some seriously talented
emerging photographers, curated by nationally renowned
photographer Michael Llewellyn.
Another of our Artists-in-Residence, Ruth Chase, is rolling
out Belonging with help from a California Arts Council Artists
in Communities grant. Together, we are demonstrating that
artists are a societal cornerstone who bring people together,
build community, and foster social progress. Our foresters,
ranchers, farmers, and firefighters are part of a key group who
are educating our community through paint and film.
DESTINATION Nevada County 17