The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission is developing a new fundraising strategy to help offset continued cuts in public funding that have slashed the agency's primary financial sources by 70 percent in the last four years. The strategy includes an expanded arts public service campaign, a donors' "Walk of Fame" on K Street Mall and new types of fundraisers, such as one involving City Council members and a celebrated local restaurateur. As of Friday, public funding for the joint city-county agency will be just under $900,000 for fiscal year 2011/2012 – down from $2.6 million each year in July 2008 and 2007. Last year's public funding totaled $1.04 million. That doesn't include money f

Around 20 supporters of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission attended the City Council budget hearing Tuesday afternoon wearing buttons emblazoned with the SMAC slogan: “Arts Open Daily” in response to a proposal to cut arts funding. Barbara Bonebrake, director of the Sacramento Convention, Culture and Leisure Department, presented a proposal to reduce the city’s general fund contribution to SMAC by $152,855 for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. As a result of these cuts, funding for SMAC’s Cultural Arts Awards, a program that provides grants ranging from $1,000-$25,000 to nonprofit arts organizations, would be reduced by $64,000. During the public comment section of the Convention, Cul

18 students from Sacramento County will begin competing this Thursday for a college scholarship in the Sixth annual Poetry Out Loud contest at Rosemont High School. Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation contest founded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. These groups generally collaborate with state arts agencies to promote Poetry Out Loud. For Sacramento County, the California Arts Council has collaborated with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and Sacramento County Office of Education. Poetry Out Loud began as two pilot programs in Washington, D.C. and Chicago in 2005. After a successful turnout, community support and large student participati

Local cultural center La Raza Galeria Posada has just received a grant for $15,000 to promote musical events in Sacramento. The grant came from the California Arts Council, and was the only grant awarded to an organization in Sacramento County. 43 other non-profit groups from 39 California counties were selected from more than 160 applicants. La Raza Executive Director Marie Acosta said in a press release, "This is a wonderful boost for both La Raza and for Sacramento music fans. And, it comes right on the heels of La Raza being awarded the 2009 Arts Management Excellence Award from the Arts & Business Council of Sacramento." La Raza Galeria Posada is a multi-disciplinary cultural cente

Just a few steps into Taiko Dan's dojo stands a Goliath-like wooden drum looming overhead. The drum is 780 pounds and rests on a 860-pound stand, standing nine feet tall altogether, according to the dojo's owner and founder, Tiffany Tamaribuchi. Despite its intimidating proportions, the drum is beautiful, with a glossy finish and a large black and white skin stretched over it. Dojo is another word for a school of training in Japanese; in this case, the Sacramento Taiko Dan performing ensemble uses its dojo to teach the ancient art of Japanese Taiko drumming. Behind the large drum inside the dojo are smaller drums stacked on wooden shelves, and the dojo's walls are lined with even more dru