DIRECTORS
- Glenn Clemmer, President
- Leona Kockenmeister, Vice President
- Sharon Rosse, Secretary
- Jay Giovacchini, Treasurer
- Cyndy Brenneman, Director
- Robin Williamson, Director
STAFF
- Sharon Rosse, Executive Director
- Christel Passink, Artists In Education Program Manager
SUPPORT
The Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI] is funded in part by the the National Endowment for the Arts, John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, Hop and Mae Adams Foundation, Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, City of Carson City, John and Grace Naumann Foundation, and CCAI members.
Additional support and collaboration comes from Steele & Associates LLC, Carson City Courthouse, Carson City Library, Carson City and Douglas County School Districts, Sierra Nevada College, Saint Mary’s Arts Center, United Latino Community agency, Ruckus Visual Arts, Rick Sikes and Nevada Green, and Simpson Creative. CCAI is a participating member of the Carson City Arts & Culture Coalition.
The board and staff gratefully acknowledge the individuals, members, businesses, foundations, corporations, and public agencies whose support makes CCAI’s many programs possible.
CCAI is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization registered with the state of Nevada and the United States.
MISSION
The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered organization committed to the encouragement and support of artists and the arts and culture of Carson City and the surrounding region. The Initiative is committed to community building for the area’s diverse adult and youth populations through art exhibitions, live events, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online projects.
STRATEGIES
CCAI provides a myriad of programs through its active community partnerships. CCAI initiatives engage area citizens in a wide-ranging civic dialogue about how the arts foster innovative community development, encourage long-term regional economic development, and provide cultural leadership.
CCAI offers its programs in various public venues throughout the communities of western Nevada, making the arts available to a large segment of area residents, including those who may otherwise never choose to visit an arts exhibition or program.
CCAI presents the work of local/regional/national/international visual arts and writers in public spaces and workplaces, sponsors public lectures on arts practice, offers arts-in-education programs and resources for all ages, and serves as a strong advocate for the arts in western Nevada.
In an era of shrinking budgets for public schools and educational institutions, CCAI supplements schools’ art curricula with professional artists who conduct arts enrichment workshops and activities in local elementary, middle, high school, and college classrooms. Through this arts-enrichment program, CCAI aims to stimulate students’ creative thinking and inspire their imaginations to help develop crucial work skills for the 21st century.
HISTORY
Visual artists, Sharon Rosse and Jon Winet, founded CCAI in 2002 when they recognized the need for a contemporary arts program in the area. They created the organization also in response to a citywide 2001 Carson City arts assessment that requested more art by visiting artists from outside the area and additional exhibition venues for local artists. They launched CCAI programming in early 2003.
CCAI has presented exhibitions in the CCAI Courthouse Gallery [since 2004] and in the City’s business resource/engineering building [since 2010]; both of these venues have brought art into the workplace for the buildings’ staff and the visiting public. CCAI has commissioned exhibition essays by arts writers for the Courthouse Gallery shows; the essays are available in the gallery with the exhibition and published online at this website. CCAI has presented an annual exhibition in the lobby of the Carson City Library. In previous years, CCAI presented exhibition series in a coffee house and in an empty commercial property plus commissioned public murals in a pedestrian alley and on a commercial building.
Through its Artists In Education program [since 2004], CCAI artists have worked at schools in the Carson City School District, at Douglas High School in Minden, and at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village. CCAI has had numerous Artists In Residence with one artist residency based annually at St. Mary’s Art Center in Virginia City.
CCAI began its Nevada Neighbors series of public talks in 2003; the talks are co-sponsored with and presented at the Carson City Library. The series has brought artists, curators, and scholars to town for four events annually and has presented 38 speakers from neighboring areas [i.e. Reno, Arizona, California, Oregon] and from further away [i.e. Canada, Croatia, New York, Singapore]. The speakers also have given talks at local schools and colleges.
CCAI launched its Books & Writers series in co-sponsorship with the Carson City Library to present readings and workshops by literary artists. Artists from Carson City, Colombia, and Reno have participated since the program began in 2010.
In 2004, CCAI began FWAC [first Wednesday arts chat], a series of monthly artist gatherings at a local coffee shop to encourage conversation and energize the local artists community. Currently, FWAC takes place at the City’s BRIC [Business Resource and Innovation Center] in Carson City’s historic district or at local artists’ studios.
Financial history highlights:
In 2011, CCAI was awarded its first grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the Jenny Robinson exhibition, Elapsed in Time.
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded CCAI two multi-year grants for calendar years 2006 – 2007 and fiscal years 2010 – 2011 for program support. CCAI was the first recipient in Nevada of the prestigious Warhol Foundation grants.
