Local arts council lauds programs’ success, community participation


A glimpse of the Calaveras County Arts Council Art Spirit 2024 high school art show CCAC Photo by Prawny from Pixabay
Hot on the heels of a successful Artists Studio Tour, the Calaveras County Arts Council (CCAC) is sharing details of its 2024 activities and some of its 2025 plans.
CCAC Executive Director Kathy Mazzaferro, who leads the nonprofit community organization with the support of trusty assistant and social media maven Beth Brant and volunteers, updated members at its annual general membership meeting this past Tuesday, Sept. 24 and subsequently spoke with the Enterprise.
The studio tour was a great success, she enthused. “We were very pleased that 20 local artists participated throughout the county, regaining lost grounds from when (the) COVID (19 pandemic) shut it down. The artists were happy to have sold some of their art; the weather was splendid, we had about 50-60 visitors at some of the studios and we are already looking forward to next year, so that is all indicative of a successful event.”
Music in the Parks, another one of the group’s signature programs that occurs over a 10-week period every summer on Wednesday evenings, recently wound up. “It is always well received,” Mazzaferro said, acknowledging, “It was a hard year because of the heat.
“We don’t do things unilaterally. We talked with the bands and for example, we talked with the band (scheduled to perform) the first week of July when it was going to be 105 degrees in Mokelumne Hill and so we agreed it was for the betterment of all to cancel that concert.
“We also canceled (the concerts scheduled in) Mountain Ranch and Copperopolis…so out of the 10 concerts we do every summer, we canceled three of them (this past season) all due to the heat.” She added that a final, not previously scheduled concert was added back in at the end in Mokelumne Hill to help make up for the canceled concert there. The shows, which provide a family friendly environment and mix of genres, are scheduled at parks across the county and free to attend although donations are encouraged to help fund them.
2025 plans

Rusty Rockers perform at a Calaveras County Arts Council Music in the Parks show CCAC Photo
Plans for next year’s Music in the Parks series, which features professional Mother Lode bands, are to begin talking with bands in January, which is somewhat earlier than the organization traditionally begins planning for the concert season. “We want to talk with the bands before someone else hires them,” Mazzaferro explained.
Certainly, she added, “We are going to watch the weather but you can’t predict it. We have an agreement with the bands that if it’s not healthy or safe we’ll have to cancel. You just have to roll with it. We are tentatively planning a similar schedule but we’ll talk about it first and adjust if the temperatures look like they are going to be hot–again, we are just going to have to roll with it.”
Among the programs currently being planned is CCAC’s popular Ovations Performing Arts series, which is staged every winter at Bret Harte Theatre in Angels Camp. At an Ovations committee meeting this week, members planned to discuss various performing artists to potentially feature and the budget to execute the program, which is also being reviewed.
Mazzaferro encouraged any and all interested members of the public to provide input to CCAC about possible acts. “We are still in discovery mode…Please let us know if you’ve been to a concert and saw ‘xyz’ and think they might be available,” she said.
Like the Music in the Parks series, the Ovations artists are professional. However, for the latter shows, CCAC is looking for artists who are performing full-time. Although the majority are musical acts, Ovations has in the past and is able to also showcase dance groups and other sorts of entertainment.
The first event will be a holiday concert Sunday, Dec. 8 already slated for the Calaveras Performing Arts Center in San Andreas with a yet to be confirmed group Mazzaferro describes as one that is both popular and local. The balance of the series will play out monthly from January through April with tickets priced at $25/person and discounts for those who purchase the entire series.
“One thing I really want to stress is that we can afford those concerts due to the generosity of local businesses,” Mazzaferro said. “It’s been economically difficult over the past few years due to Covid. We are in discussion and reaching out to local businesses about possible sponsorships and other interested businesses can give us a call–we have sponsorships to fit all budgets.”

Rebecca Hungerford, Calaveras County Champion of 2024 California Poetry Out Loud sponsored in part by the Calaveras County Arts Council. Courtesy photo.
Arts in schools support
This past March, CCAC’s Art Spirit art show, devoted entirely to the student artists of Calaveras and Bret Harte high schools, provides a prime example of how the nonprofit, now in its 31st year, continues supporting arts in local schools as part of its mission: to build a united community by awakening, supporting and nourishing the arts. This year’s high school show was very successful, according to Mazzaferro with planning underway for the next one coming up in just a few short months. She gave an appreciative shout out to Devon York and
Mark Wealty, the respective art teachers at Calaveras and Bret Harte, for their support and enthusiasm.
Another student-focused activity is CCAC’s annual presentation of and support for Poetry Out Loud, open to all Calaveras County high school students. Part of a national program and competition that encourages students to learn about great poetry by memorizing and performing works that speak to them, it is funded through a partnership with the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Poetry Foundation. “We will start meeting with the kids in December and January for it,” Mazzaferro shared. Students from Calaveras and Bret Harte High Schools participated in the finals for 2024. She confided, “We are fortunate that (local retired English teacher) Ingrid Hjelmervik again volunteered to chair…The 2024 Calaveras County champion was Rebecca Hungerford, a senior at Bret Harte High.”
The gallery show being staged by the CCAC in October is themed around art and its healing properties. There is also a “one-of-a-kind gifts of art” show in November coming to the CCAC gallery that will enable the public to support local artists by purchasing unique gifts of affordably priced original art.
“We have stuff going on all the time–it’s constant and more than every month,” Mazzaferro emphasized with a chuckle. “We are always looking for volunteers who like talking with the public or who are interested in art to donate time as part of our volunteer staff.”
The CCAC gallery is currently open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., but the hope is to also be open Saturdays from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., augmenting ongoing efforts of San Andreas Merchants Association members working together “to beef things up and grow the (local) business (foot traffic downtown) again.”
For more information on CCAC, its programs, activities and ways to support and engage with the nonprofit, visit calaverasarts.org.
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