Helping creativity pop up in Petaluma

Creative Sonoma’s grant program supports temporary installations, events|

Imagine throwing a treasure hunt for everyone in your neighborhood, an adventure that begins when your neighbors awake to find an enormous, mysterious “pirate’s map” drawn in chalk on the concrete outside.

Or, imagine how startling and amazing it would be to turn a corner and encounter a vast origami sculpture made of paper and glue - knowing it would last only till the next rain. What about walking downtown only to discover a wild marching band made up of random local passerby, each recruited on the spot, given a kazoo and an animal mask, and led throughout town playing noisy renditions of ‘Old MacDonald’ and ‘Little Bunny Foo Foo.’

But why stop there?

Try picturing a couple of baby grand pianos on the back of a flatbed truck, rolling into parking lots at public places all over town, performing Chopin’s ‘Rondo in C Major for 2 Pianos,’ then moving on to the next spot? How about stumbling upon a lone chalkboard, where a note invites you to draw a picture or leave a poem describing your biggest regret, or finding a disposable camera on a park bench or restaurant table, with instructions to shoot the most beautiful picture you can, then drop the camera off at some chosen downtown location and wait to see all the photos that appear on a designated Facebook page.

Such things - if not those things exactly - are quite likely to happen in Petaluma and beyond this year, thanks to a new “Pop-up Grant” program conceived by Creative Sonoma, a division of the Sonoma County Economic Development Board.

“Part of our mission is to remind people that creativity resides in all of us, even people who assume they are not very creative, just because they don’t sing, act or paint,” says Kristen Madsen, executive director of Creative Sono ma, which supports and advances the creative community of Sonoma County. Creative Sonoma is funded predominantly by the county, with additional funds coming from private donors and outside organizations such as the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

“When you think of how neighborhoods are designed these days,” Madsen says, “there are so many distractions and divisions in our culture that are always pulling us apart. We are looking for exciting, unexpected, surprising projects that bring us together, and hold us together.”

Under the new Pop Up Grants program, up to $5000 per grant could be awarded to applicants whose plans for temporary, arts-based installations, events, activities or productions are deemed practical enough, and inspiring enough, to deserve Creative Sonoma’s help in bringing those plans to life.

“These ‘pop-up grants’ will go to projects that allow the creativity and inventiveness of the County to be expressed in unexpected ways,” says Madsen.

About 30 people attended a Pop-up Grant question-and-answer session in Santa Rosa on Tuesday, May 16. Though Madsen says she expects a higher number of applications than just from those who attended, she says that thirty applicants - from which four to seven will be chosen - would be considered a success for the program’s first year.

“The more applicants the better,” Madsen says, “and if we end up giving out five grants, that would be fantastic.”

(Email David at david.templeton@arguscourier.com)

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