Petaluma Arts Center receives new grants, welcomes new Operations Manager

Excitement is high this month at the Petaluma Arts Center, where a number of exciting developments have been announced. “We have been incredibly fortunate to receive four grants in four weeks,” says Executive Director Carin Jacobs, adding, “The funds are largely from local foundations.”

The Peaceful World Foundation has granted the Arts Center $10,000 to develop programming for underserved populations, including older adults and the local Latinx population. A $5,000 grant from California Humanities will support a exhibit and tandem lecture series titled “Agri-CULTURED” Reflections on Our Local Food Economy By Land and Hand.” The “Agri-CULTURED” exhibit will additionally be made possible by a Creative Sonoma Arts Impact Grant for $7,500.

And finally, the Sonoma County Vintner’s Foundation has granted $7,500 for “creative aging” programming, which will include the Arts Center’s recently expanded mobile Visual Thinking Strategies program, offered to local senior living locations.

Meanwhile, Lance Kuehne, a landscape photographer whose work has been distributed through thousands of prints and won numerous awards, has been named the Arts Center’s new Operations Manger. An early member of the Petaluma Arts Center and a co-founder of the Riverfront Art Gallery, Kuehne has worked extensively in the technology field and has lived in Petaluma for 20 years.