71 e. commercial st.
willits, ca 95490
707-459-1726
hours:
thurs-fri 4-7 p.m.
sat-sun noon-3 p.m.
In 1993 the city of Willits formed a Cultural Arts Commission of seven members who, with the help of volunteers, would focus on renovating the historic Women's Improvement Club building (circa 1926) into a cultural arts center for the community. It took over 7 years, countless volunteer hours and many fund raising events to complete the downstairs which opened in February 2000.
After 8 more years of equally hard work the upstairs multi-purpose room is open. This room not only increases exhibit space, but provides a venue for music and dance performances as well as for community events.
The Willits Cultural Arts Commission is committed to community arts development and in creating the means where as many people are included in building and asserting their cultural identities so that their experiences can become the basis of cultural activities.
The Willits Center for the Arts supports WCAC's primary focus to support active cultural participation and artistic production in the city of Willits and it's surrounding Little Lake Valley region by providing low-cost public access for arts activities, education, information, resources, and other services.
Happy Summer to you all!
WCAC is euphoric about the success of the 16th Art Auction! We had 285 marvelous and different donations and took in just over $14,000 - certainly more than in recent memory. That will keep WCA's door open for the upcoming year. So many of you helped in a multitude of ways - our sincerest thanks. It does not leave us with much to use for needed repairs and for completely finishing the upstairs. We will be pursuing other fund raising opportunities.
To show everyone how wonderful that upstairs space is, we're planning a gala Great Room Opening for Friday, June 27th. This will be a thank you to all the people who've supported WCA for so many years - our members, donors, volunteers, and all those hard working former Commissioners. You'll all be receiving invitations shortly. There will be various musical entertainment - Hal Wagenet and his new band, Charlie Valley with Blue VooDoo, Voices Three and more. If you'd like a wider range of entertainment there'll be a poetry reading and belly dancers! The Willits Shakepeare Company will be pouring wine and beer and we're asking any of you who want to, to bring nibbles to share. See you there!
Chris Beards is doing a marvelous job as Webmaster. The number of hits on the site keeps increasing. Gary Martin is busy speaking to local groups to stress the importance of art in a community.
We have a variety of shows coming this Summer. Bernie Rauch will show his work in June. Art for the Parks (a traveling show to benefit Mendocino parks) is in July. Sheri Howe, Cynda Valle, and Jim Shorba are in August and Chris Beards and Diza Hope are scheduled for September.
Please remember how important your memberships are to the Willits Center for the Arts!
Very Sincerely, Mary
In 2000 we opened the downstairs of the Willits Center for the Arts after seven years of hard work, countless volunteer hours and fund raisers. Now, seven years later we are in the final stages of the upstairs renovation! We have all enjoyed the enthusiastic support of the entire community. The multi-purpose room upstairs has taken an enormous amount of money and time to make it a space we can all be proud of. We still need volunteer help on Saturdays for various tasks. Call Dale at 972-6125 if you're able to help. We could conceivably have a dance there by the end of the year - or in early Spring. None of this could have been accomplished without the the enthusiastic support of the entire community.
We treasure our volunteers and loyal friends. Caroline Salcedo has maintained our master list and done all our mailing labels. Jay Gordon is a great supporter. We have no idea what we'd do without the help of Ann and John Cedarholm at Printing Plus. We're grateful to the Willits Shakespeare Company for taking over pouring wine and beer from WCT. Recently marvelous food for Opening Receptions has been provided by Amber Olson, Jude Simmons, Linda Relin and Lou Celaya. Volunteers helping finish the upstairs include John Hofmeister, Forrest Clark, Jeff Cook, Dennis Curl, Kevin Copperfield, Kelly Fonsen and Henry Shebitz.
Larry River is working on the Craft Fair. Gary Martin has replaced him on the Commission.
Your support and continuing attendance at our events make all of the work and time well worth the effort!
-Mary