Author Gretchen Peralta
Photos Patsy Inouye
GET UP & GO FEB. 28
What no piano music? How quiet the room sounded this morning. Course, then Andrew Yang came to the rescue with music from his phone.
Lots of different things happened as up stepped our Past President Rose who rang the bell at 7:05 to take over for our absent President Tim. This gave us, as Rose observed, an all female line-up…President, Sergeant and speaker. I remember when I joined in 1989 that this would never have happened. Gotta love Rotary for many reasons and having female members is only one. Another rather unusual occurrence at Friday’s meeting, we had no visitors and no visiting Rotarians.
Announcements started with Rose reading the names for the tickets to the upcoming Kings game. Following her, Dave Murphy reminded us of Spring Break sneaking up for the students and looking for members to consider including our Marcel (a bio/chem major, wanting to be a doctor) in whatever we might be doing that week. Chuck Snipes invited everyone to a beer brewing “party” in honor of Trivia Night upcoming April 4th. I didn’t catch the location, but if you’re reading this it’s too late anyhow. Bruce Wolk was hawking chances for our March Madness drawing at $20/square. Party Queen Meaghan Likes reminded us of the name change for Rotary BarBQ and then Ribs & Rotary to now Rotary Food Truck Round-up scheduled for May 16th (get it on your calendar). Also, she was looking for sponsorships. Lori Raneri invited the club, especially newer members, friends and families to her home on Friday, March 13th at 5:45 for Fellowship, snacks and beverages.
Ok, changing hats. This Reporter was also the Sergeant so Happy Bucks might be a bit questionable as Meaghan was enlisted at the last minute to help scribe. John Youmans was happy to see Rose at the podium. Dave Murphy just graduated as a CASA and gave a very succinct description of this critical role for our, often neglected, youth within the “system”. Someone went to the DMV and had a short, efficient good time?? I can’t imagine who that was. Sydney was off to the dentist, also having a good time. Can you believe that? Don Winters was very glad at receiving their 20th check for RYLA.
Clay Brandow went to Porterville….and he was happy? Ah well. Ok, now Madam Sergeant got a bit feisty starting off with Brian Sway (we gotta catch up on his wallet as he’s been gone for so long) who went to baseball Spring Practice. We wanted to know if he saw any hand signals which he denied, but did see a questionable bumper sticker knocking the Astros. Many escaped her wrath as either slept in or were skiing or simply not in attendance. Ugh, I hate that! The Sergeant did ask President Elect Vanessa, the Germ Queen, as to what she may have heard about upcoming PETS and she denied knowing anything other than “what happens at PETS stay at PETS”. Yup, except for the kool-aid, all the breakouts and the Hospitality Suites, that pretty much sums it up. Now, all the music and Rolling Stones fan were asked to stand and answer a few questions. It really didn’t matter if they were right or not, a fine was levied. The last question, to the music interlude by Andrew was “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” addresses many social topics, EXCEPT…..drugs! Go figure.
The highlight Speaker of the day was non-other than Stacey Frerichs the Jay Gerber winner of a few years past and now Executive Director and Queen of the Davis Arts since 2015. Before her present gig, Stacy managed to earn a B.S. in Geology and an MBA and worked for Chevron in multiple positions for 14 years.
A little history, Davis Arts started in 1960 on J Street when Davis had a population around 8,900 and then morphed into may “store fronts” over 25 years until it settled into the “sleepy corner” of Northeast Davis. A catalog from 1976 shows offerings of Drawing Painting Children’s Art Classes Spinning Crafts, Dance, Yoga, Music, Children’s Drama and Ballet.
Tandem Construction gave it structure in October 1987 at the corner of 5th and F Street where it resides today.
The Arts Center started with early childhood play focused on motor skills, and then added Summer camps (over 600 kids benefitted in 2019), Youth Art classes and a volunteer program. The Arts Center expanded to include ceramics, fiber arts, painting and drawing. In 2019, the Center offered over 300 classes and now includes Adult Classes with classes taken by 2,500 attendees, 60% youth and 40% adults.
Get your calendars out for the October Annual Arts Studio Tour from 10am to 5pm for a mere $10 entrance fee.
2020 is the Davis Arts Center 60th Anniversary and will begin by establishing a Donor Circle for long-term support, publishing a book – “ A Creative Natural History Guide to Davis.” The Art Center is planning a July event to celebrate its successes. Of course, you will have to stay tuned for more details.
Challenges at the Art Center are similar to many small businesses. There are issues with workers and independent contractors, technology and regulatory compliance. The Art Center has a diversified revenue stream and is an independent non-profit, with no ongoing support from the City of Davis….yes Lucas was listening. Challenges for the future involve gauging trends in community arts that are reflective diverse societal needs.
In closing, if you’ve never been to an event at the Davis Arts Center, you should put an event there on your “To DO” list.
Not sure of the size of the Draw of the Day pot nor whose ticket was drawn but they lost and the pot grows. See you next week.