June opens the door to summer, and a joining together in art and community. Celebrate this month by spending time with us at the Art Center: take a class or visit our new gallery exhibitions that open with a reception on Saturday, June 11 at 5:00 pm. Summer exhibitions include our Annual Members Show, which features the work of over 100 local artists and members, Terry St. John: Close Views & Distant Vistas, and the juried show Our Town—all reinforcing an important view of locality and community. And for members, you have an opportunity to vote on our next Board members at the annual meeting held on Saturday, June 11 at 4:00 pm.
Summer is also the time we close out our books and say goodbye to fiscal year 2016. This year has seen a tremendous amount of growth in our award-winning Studio Education, Exhibition, and Art in the Community programs. We’re so proud to have served over 2,000 children in the West Contra Costa Unified School District and thousands of youth and adult students here at the Center. Help us close out our fiscal year in the green by supporting us with a donation this month. Stay tuned for more information about our “Art Bank: Invest in Art Futures!” week-long campaign, and as always, your support is greatly appreciated.
I look forward to seeing you at the Art Center on the 11th.
ANNOUNCEMENT
RICHMOND ART CENTER MEMBERS MEETING AND BOARD ELECTION
SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2016 at 4:00 p.m.
The Richmond Art Center’s annual members meeting will be held at the Art Center (Painting Studio) at 4:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to elect 6 members to the Board of Directors of the Art Center.
Ballots will be available and must be submitted between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. at the front desk at the Art Center. All members are eligible to vote and at least twenty must vote for the election to be valid.
Executive Director Ric Ambrose will provide an update on the Art Center’s accomplishments of the past year and plans for the next year. The meeting will be followed by the reception for the summer exhibits at 5:00 p.m.
The Board has set the number of directors for fiscal year 2016-2017 at 17 members.
We’re in the midst of prepping our galleries for our Summer Exhibitions and look forward to seeing you all when we reopen the galleries to the public on June 11. Our workshops and classes will still be in progress. See you for the Summer shows soon!
On May 21, the Richmond Art Center hosted the Contra Costa Racial Justice Coalition community meeting, “Priorities for Racial Justice in Contra Costa County.” This Town Hall meeting to discuss priorities for Racial Justice in Contra Costa County. Great ideas were shared on the criminal justice system, housing and transitional housing, education for youth & job trainings, health, mental health & substance treatment. Introductions on behalf of the Richmond Art Center were presented by our Art in the Community Coordinator Cristina Haley and our Deputy Director Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez. The event was organized by Tamisha Torres of the Safe Return Project and Claudia Jiminez of Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organizations (CCISCO). Supervisor John Gioia and a representative from Congressman Mark Desaulnier’s office joined as well.
Participants discussed the County’s new task force to make the county’s criminal justice system more just and equitable, removing racial bias, and the importance of community advocacy to advance these issue. About 50 community and religious leaders came to learn about the County’s budget and brainstorm priorities that match the community’s needs.
The breakout groups met in our studios. We were pleased to note that some attendees had never been at our Center and remarked on what a beautiful space it was.
Images courtesy of Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez and Healthy Richmond.
We’re finalists in both the Parent’s Press Best of the Bay AND Best of Oakland Magazine 2016.
Please Vote for the Richmond Art Center!
Final Round Voting ends May 31!
Thank you for your first round of votes; with your help we made it to the final round! Please take a moment to cast your vote in this final round for both of the following publications! Parent’s Press: We are finalists for the following categories in West Contra Costa County!
1. Best Art Camp
2. Best Classes and Enrichment (Art)
3. Best Enrichment and AfterSchool programs
4. Best Place to Entertain a Teen
Best of Oakland Magazine 2016: We are finalists in the Best Art Classes category!
Today, everything we do at the Richmond Art Center continues to breathe life into our founder Hazel Salmi’s original vision: That within every person lives an artist. Join the largest visual arts center in the East Bay and help us bring arts experiences to people of all ages.
We’re hiring!
We have two amazing opportunities in our Jewelry and Metals department! Please check them out:
Attention artists! The Richmond Art Center is hosting an event for interested teaching artists professionals to join our growing team. Please mark your calendar for June 4 from 11am – 1pm to meet our staff and learn more about the teaching opportunities associated with the Art Center.
Blick Art Materials supports the artist community of the Richmond Art Center! They have provided us with a special discount just in time for the annualMembers Show. We’re so grateful to Blick for their support.
Please click on the image to get your Art Center discount!
The annual Members Exhibition opens our summer with the sights and textures of the diverse work of our members. The deadline to participate is Sunday, May 22.
Dear Richmond Art Center Patrons, Board and staff,
As you know, we’ve been looking forward to the #EastBayGives campaign as a way to engage our community and raise funds to support the variety of wonderful programs the Art Center offers year-round: classes, free events and exhibitions, scholarships for youth and adults, arts education for almost 2,000 WCCUSD schoolchildren through our Art in the Community program and professional development for public school teachers.
The East Bay Gives platform is powered by Kimbia, an online fundraising program based in Austin, TX. Kimbia’s platform ceased to work in the early hours of the campaign and many of our donors were disappointed that they were not able to participate in this online event to support us. This major snafu has impacted numerous “WeGive” campaigns across the country.
We are encouraged by the outpouring of generosity of those who stopped by our “Donation Station” here today at the Art Center, and would like to encourage you to keep us in your giving thoughts by donating to us directly on our website, at the front desk, or in the donation box in our Main Gallery.
Your donations do help to support many important programs here at the Art Center and we thank you for your ongoing generosity.
On behalf of myself and the entire staff of the Richmond Art Center, my thanks and appreciation.
Dear Art Center supporters,
