With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Rita Hosking spotlighted public health issues, emergency preparedness, climate mitigation and civic and community engagement in the entire Upstate region with a mini-album of short, informative songs called Climate Country Radio. Using airplay from public, community and low-power radio stations and free downloads, Climate Country Radio's ‘public service songs’ especially target the lowest quartile areas of the Healthy Places Index. The project will continue with its addition to large streaming platforms, a renewed and expanded radio campaign, continued live performance, and sustained interest from community organizations. 

Serving: Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, and Yuba Counties

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Madelyne Joan Templeton developed intergenerational learning campaigns during week-long community based mural camps in Tehama and Yuba Counties. This initiative fostered creativity among local youth, and educated them about public health and environmental concerns related to water and energy. By engaging with these important topics, youth gained a better understanding of how to improve the well-being of their community.

Serving: Tehama, and Yuba Counties

With support from the Upstate California Creative Corps, The Watershed Research and Training Center and Ellen McGehee helped artists shift their relationship with fire by examining indigenous context, fire ecology, mentored site tours, and participation in prescribed burns. The cohort worked together as an artistic group to develop a concert program that shares their experience in fire-affected communities of the North State. Participant and audience curriculum combined with music, video art, and poetry created an immersive concert experience that inspired healing.

Serving: Butte, Humboldt, Shasta, and Trinity Counties

ith the support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Monica Farbiarz, mentored by California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), co-created MAI – The Salmon Journey. This project promoted environmental awareness and community engagement through intergenerational participatory arts programming. The Salmon Journey educated the community and brought awareness about the environment, the Yuba River ecosystem across two counties, and the interdependence between nature and humans.

Serving: Nevada and Yuba Counties

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Daniel LoPilato created a hybrid literary work comprised of a book-length naturalist's guide to Northern California's Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, and a series of interactive digital modules promoting public health and engagement with Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument's unique ecosystem.

Serving: Colusa, Glenn, Lake, and Mendocino Counties

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Sierra Roots produced a documentary on people living in homeless camps and alternative (illegal) housing. While the video was being shot, writer and journalist Tom Durkin led a creative team to conduct a public awareness campaign using songwriting workshops, song contests, live music, radio interviews, articles and op-eds, and social media in Nevada, Placer, Sierra, Butte, Yuba and Sutter counties, calling for social justice for people without a safe place to live.

Serving: Butte, Nevada, Placer, Sierra, Sutter, and Yuba Counties

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Save California Salmon worked with Karuk, Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribal artists, culture bearers, and a Tribal supported documentary crew to create arts based educational materials and cultural opportunities for Klamath, Trinity and Sacramento River Tribal communities and schools. The materials supported intergenerational and cross-cultural learning opportunities along with workforce development in the underserved areas of our community. Projects included traditional folk arts curriculum, topical posters, a Klamath Dam removal documentary and photo essay and comic books related to climate, fire and water. Through these various mediums we drew attention to the importance of climate mitigation and resource management, while inspiring civic engagement around these topics.

Serving: Del Norte, Humboldt, Shasta, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Paddle Tribal Waters Storytelling Collaborative and Water Climate Trust honored the historic un-damming of the Klamath River by lifting up voices of Native communities, particularly the multi-tribal youth who became the first to paddle the free-flowing river and, as the multi-year restoration of the River Basin continues, develop collaboration among arts, environment, and tribal entities to sustain multi-agency coordination long after the dams come down.

Serving: Del Norte, Humboldt, Modoc, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Jess Riegel and Kira Greene produced a series of video reports, highlighting unique challenges and attributes from communities residing in the lowest quartiles of the California Healthy Places Index, in Del Norte, Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, Plumas, and Yuba Counties. Funds supported important investigations resulting in a series of one-minute videos, housed on their own website, and accessible via Instagram and other free online platforms.

Serving: Del Norte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Trinity, and Yuba Counties

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Corine Pearce continued reawakening endangered Pomo weaving arts traditions by offering classes to brand-new, beginning, intermediate, and advanced weavers throughout a 7000-square-mile Tri-County area encompassing ancestral Pomo territories. Her instruction included training in material procurement and processing, following an intergenerational “trainer of trainers” model to enable a sustainable legacy of ongoing cultural revitalization.

Serving: Lake and Mendocino Counties

With support from Upstate CA Creative Corps, the Center for the Study of the Force Majeure (CFM) facilitated collaborations with tribal members, artists and scientists in Nevada and Placer Counties, with a focus on plants important to Washoe culture bearers. A 50-year art/science experiment by CFM at the UC Berkeley Sagehen Creek Field Station was extended and a new Future Garden designed. We supported three master/apprentice teams of Washoe artists and 7 Sagehen artist residencies.

Serving: Nevada and Placer Counties

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Ross Travis and collaborators inspired community action to counter the effects of climate change on youth in Mendocino, Lake and Glenn Counties through a traveling, multi-disciplinary bouffon theater piece (also filmed and edited into a documentary) that used a powerful mix of irreverent comedy, tragedy, shamanistic ritual and interactive ecstatic play to inform, provoke and provide tools for agency and community action on this issue.

Serving: Glenn, Lake and Mendocino Counties

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Jesi Naomi and WWASH Project (Wintu We are Still Here) ignited the livelihoods of Native artists’ ongoing cultural work; strengthening native community bonds and tribal relations to non-natives and mobilizing social justice, mental, emotional and physical health rehabilitation via traditional arts and language. Through the lens of indigenous culture bearers of the Butte-Shasta-Trinity tribal region, they drew community to Wintu Culture Center in Trinity and Redding Rancheria in Shasta, and via Workshops strove for language sovereignty.

Serving: Butte, Shasta, and Trinity Counties

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, The Creative Collective launched a one-year workforce development and public health campaign in Glenn and Tehama Counties. The project, titled “The Work of Art,” pairs artists with under-resourced youth to co-create and install five public murals and launch one project website. The murals and website promote activities proven to create mental and emotional health. The youth internships will sustain through 2026 using the Job Training Center of Tehama County's funding.

Serving: Glenn and Tehama Counties

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, eight culture bearers, with their collective experience, led The Black Resiliency Project and designed an app for over 80 black-owned businesses in Northern CA. This social justice project amplified Black artists, writers, photographers, our culture, and our voices, offering guidance on fostering inclusivity and recognizing businesses that promote inclusivity through a "seal of approval" system. The platform enhanced cultural competence by providing education and feedback to improve the experience for people of color. Our app prioritized Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) disproportionately affected by injustices. The app also featured a digital magazine available online and printed issues to further expose Black art, businesses, and culture at local establishments.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Chico artists Zeke Lunder and Jeb Sisk forged 1880's wrought iron salvaged from the wreckage of Honeyrun Covered Bridge destroyed by the Camp Fire, into a large pair of wild chinook salmon and installed at the Covered Bridge Park on Butte Creek, once the bridge is restored. The creek hosts one of the only runs of wild salmon left in California. The sculpture celebrates the resilience of the salmon and recovery of the community following the devastating Camp Fire.

With support from the Upstate California Creative Corps, The Watershed Research and Training Center and Ellen McGehee helped artists shift their relationship with fire by examining indigenous context, fire ecology, mentored site tours, and participation in prescribed burns. The cohort worked together as an artistic group to develop a concert program that shares their experience in fire-affected communities of the North State. Participant and audience curriculum combined with music, video art, and poetry created an immersive concert experience that inspired healing.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Butte County Local Food Network led an awareness campaign for public health, on why eating locally grown food is an essential component of wellbeing for people, animals, community, our local economy and the planet. Via inspiring visual art and education supported by building a community that grows food together to empower us during a collapsing food system and build an insurance policy for food sovereignty now and for the future.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, the LABELS project group created an interactive exhibition on the role of assumptions in maintaining our social divides, especially as they relate to the growing crisis of homelessness. Using written word, visual art and film, both participants and viewers were asked to name their assumptions on both sides of being homeless, in deciding how best to respond to this social, civic and humanitarian issue.

Supported by Upstate California Creative Corps, our team of artists at Chico Creative Reuse produced and hosted a mobile creative reuse center that featured art made from upcycled materials, interactive activities and opportunities for an art and makers resource exchange. Through our efforts we engaged the public and community leaders increasing dialogue, advocacy and action related climate mitigation through waste diversion and provided a creative resource recovery model for our region.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, the M.A.T.S.U. Project, led by Tazuo Yamaguchi in partnership with OneLife Foundation, showed the beneficial results of the arts in healing and recovery from social, economic and emotional traumas caused by environmental, public health and social injustices. The M.A.T.S.U. Project supported individuals and communities through the experience of art as therapy. They achieved their goals through fostering intergenerational learning, supporting compassionate and supportive communities and creative self-expression.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Jesi Naomi and WWASH Project (Wintu We are Still Here) ignited the livelihoods of Native artists’ ongoing cultural work; strengthening native community bonds and tribal relations to non-natives and mobilizing social justice, mental, emotional and physical health rehabilitation via traditional arts and language. Through the lens of indigenous culture bearers of the Butte-Shasta-Trinity tribal region, they drew community to Wintu Culture Center in Trinity and Redding Rancheria in Shasta, and via Workshops strove for language sovereignty.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, culture bearer and artist Richie Ragudo, built an awareness campaign, “Building Bridges for a Diverse Community,” on how community engagement creates opportunities for social justice through a countywide cultural gathering event celebrating diversity with performances and displays by local dancers, musicians, visual artists, culture bearers and traditional folk arts from various cultural backgrounds of people in Colusa County. The event included representation and displays from community resource organizations with opportunities for civic engagement and environmental healing. A series of workshops preceding and during the event led by various culture bearers and artists facilitated intergenerational learning.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, California naturalist Laura Leidner installed a renewable, free, and interactive seed library at the Colusa County Free Library, to increase community awareness of the environmental benefits of native plants and address food insecurity. As part of this experiential art project, Leidner organized workshops in partnership with other culture bearers and created an interpretive exhibit to help beginning gardeners start their own food gardens and introduce native plants to public green spaces. With an accessible repository for vegetable, herb, and native seed, Leidner intended to spark cross-generational discussion on gardening in a changing environment while deepening connections to agrarian roots.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Daniel LoPilato created a hybrid literary work comprised of a book-length naturalist's guide to Northern California's Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, and a series of interactive digital modules promoting public health and engagement with Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument's unique ecosystem.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Mark Vargo created seven "Preservation Stations: Windows Into Our Wildlife" interactive collage sculptures as part of an awareness campaign focused on preservation of local endangered, vulnerable, and protected species that are housed within the seven Colusa County Free Public Libraries, within the lowest quartiles of California HPI. A series of public workshops served to collect local original art which was included in the sculptures along with descriptions, local poetry and other written expression displayed in Spanish and English as part of engaging the community, heightening awareness of environmental issues and facilitating intergenerational learning.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, artist LK James offered a series of printmaking workshops to adults and children in community centers in rural Colusa County to help those least represented unlock their creative voice and use it for self-advocacy and their community. Visual communication skills are inherent in the basic principles of printmaking and these skills can harness the power to raise awareness for issues, challenges and solutions.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Marcia Morgan created an animation video and book to focus on nature and the imperiled pollinators, and gathered educators and students to participate in an educational Pollinator Fair. The video incorporated original illustrations and animation, with a storybook on nature. Together, they created awareness for the vital work of pollinators and their relationship to our own food future well-being, and shed light on steps we can take to help them.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Terri Glass created Plea for Wildlife, a series of poems to bring public awareness of the endangered wildlife in Del Norte County. She invited the community through readings, discussion and a public display of her art to engage in conservation on the local endangered species, and raised awareness for the regeneration of a more biodiverse and healthy environment. This project engaged those most touched by this environmental threat, those of our county’s low-ranking quartile of the California Healthy Places Index.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Kara Starkweather, Lauren Godla, and Jessica Swanson collaborated as dance and video artists to document the monumental removal of the Klamath River dams and investigate the potential precedent this could set for other Northern California Rivers. Using vertical dance as a tool to explore the environmental and cultural significance of restoring these rivers, they activated communities to engage in this ongoing conversation.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Daniel LoPilato created a hybrid literary work comprised of a book-length naturalist's guide to Northern California's Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, and a series of interactive digital modules promoting public health and engagement with Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument's unique ecosystem.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Ross Travis and collaborators inspired community action to counter the effects of climate change on youth in Mendocino, Lake and Glenn Counties through a traveling, multi-disciplinary bouffon theater piece (also filmed and edited into a documentary) that used a powerful mix of irreverent comedy, tragedy, shamanistic ritual and interactive ecstatic play to inform, provoke and provide tools for agency and community action on this issue.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, The Creative Collective launched a one-year workforce development and public health campaign in Glenn and Tehama Counties. The project, titled “The Work of Art,” pairs artists with under-resourced youth to co-create and install five public murals and launch one project website. The murals and website promote activities proven to create mental and emotional health. The youth internships will sustain through 2026 using the Job Training Center of Tehama County's funding.

With support from with Upstate California Creative Corps, Centro del Pueblo Movimiento Indígena Migrante formed a sustainable arts and Latinx culture program, promoting diversity and community advancement in Humboldt. Artistas Santuario, a community of artists and cultural bearers, led traditional and innovative workshops and events at Sanctuary Gardens to transform the social landscape.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Outer Space Arcata implemented “Cistem Failure”, a youth-led drag performance, that fosters creativity and resilience while increasing visibility and community support for vulnerable youth artists in Humboldt County. Through mentorships, monthly workshops and a quarterly recorded and live streamed event, youth were given opportunities to develop performance skills while engaging with a diverse community to address critical social justice concerns affecting young people in the LGBTQIA2S+ community.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, ColorMaiz promoted healing from intergenerational trauma by creating spaces in the community for the converging of artists and creatives. Individuals were able to explore the definition of safe space as they expressed themselves through art. Programming took place in itinerant laboratories for artists and in workshops providing information around mental and physical health for the BIPOC, 2S/LGBTQ+, and neurodiverse communities. ColorMaíz empowered local underrepresented artists by providing spaces for inclusion and introspection, providing free access to spaces and public events and opportunities for creative expression and mental health education to under-resourced communities in Eureka and Fortuna.

With support from the Upstate California Creative Corps, The Watershed Research and Training Center and Ellen McGehee helped artists shift their relationship with fire by examining indigenous context, fire ecology, mentored site tours and participation in prescribed burns. The cohort worked together as an artistic group to develop a concert program that shares their experience in fire-affected communities of the North State. Participant and audience curriculum combined with music, video art, and poetry creating an immersive concert experience that inspired healing.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Playhouse Arts, the Northcoast Environmental Center and Arcata House Partnership worked with the houseless community- employing various art mediums, this project addressed social and environmental justice concerns by bringing awareness to the overlapping flaws in our system that leave people behind and damage our environment. “Our Space” provided support and creative opportunity, allowing houseless, housing insecure and housed artists to have artful conversations while diverting trash from the wastestream into the artstream.

With support from the Upstate California Creative Corps, Daniel Nickerson & Tayloranne Finch addressed the environmental and public health of rural communities by producing a rustic multimedia puppet performance. The show invited rural youth to creatively engage with the issues facing their families and communities: a fragile environment, an unsure economic future, and limited access to social support systems. Rural resilience was the unifying theme, encouraging youth to take an active role in recovery efforts, and in restoring balance to the environment. Based in the imaginary community of Cowtown, the performance featured folkloric storytelling, marionette puppets, & interjections of live music. Nine artists in total collaborated to build the show & execute a spring 2024 performance itinerary that included Humboldt County schools, libraries, farmers markets, theaters & other rural cultural hubs.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, the Da Gou Rou Louwi’ Cultural Center, the Wiyot Tribe, and the North Coast Repertory Theatre, together with other tribal councils, arts organizations, and government agencies, produced an original performance, educating the larger community about the traditional Indigenous use of fire as a tool to manage land, prevent devastating wildfires, protect people and wildlife, and promote healthy ecosystems.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, local artist Rolf Kriken, the Tribal Advisory Committee to the Museums of Lake County and the County of Lake, created a life size bronze statue of a Lake Pomo Family in Museum Park in Lakeport, our most public space. The Pomos’ rich cultural heritage and family bonds were represented by a pre-contact Pomo mother and child with a contemporary male Pomo dancer, and evoke resiliency, and intergenerational connections of past, present and future.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Daniel LoPilato created a hybrid literary work comprised of a book-length naturalist's guide to Northern California's Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, and a series of interactive digital modules promoting public health and engagement with Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument's unique ecosystem.

With support from Upstate CA Creative Corps, Middletown Art Center installed RECIPROCITY and revitalized the EcoArts Lake County Sculpture Walk in a public park and nature preserve razed by wildfire. RECIPROCITY is a framework where multiple artists and culture bearers were able to make meaningful work. Together, they engaged diverse people in co-creation and intergenerational learning, raising awareness for social justice and environmental issues in the under-resourced, rural Lake County.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Corine Pearce continued reawakening endangered Pomo weaving arts traditions by offering classes to brand-new, beginning, intermediate, and advanced weavers throughout a 7000-square-mile Tri-County area encompassing ancestral Pomo territories. Her instruction included training in material procurement and processing, following an intergenerational “trainer of trainers” model to enable a sustainable legacy of ongoing cultural revitalization.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Ross Travis and collaborators inspired community action to counter the effects of climate change on youth in Mendocino, Lake and Glenn Counties through a traveling, multi-disciplinary bouffon theater piece (also filmed and edited into a documentary) that used a powerful mix of irreverent comedy, tragedy, shamanistic ritual and interactive ecstatic play to inform, provoke and provide tools for agency and community action on this issue.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Christopher LaMarr created film curriculum through the Native Elder Youth Curriculum Film Project. The Project created film curriculum by having local Native American Youth interview local Native American Elders about the history of Native Americans' impact and experience in Lassen County. This film formed a key part of an awareness campaign by the Susanville Indian Rancheria, and has been shared broadly across generations, supported by Lassen Union High School District; as well as shown at film festivals.

With the support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Indigenous artists of Coastal & Northern Pomo (Antoinette Ascencio), Southern Pomo (Michael Racho), and Tongva-Chumash (Monique Sonoquie) descent, engaged Tribal and rural communities, brought community awareness about the importance of conservation and climate in relation to Traditional arts and environmental sustainability and supported the well-being of current and future generations.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Daniel LoPilato created a hybrid literary work comprised of a book-length naturalist's guide to Northern California's Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, and a series of interactive digital modules promoting public health and engagement with Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument's unique ecosystem.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Deep Valley Arts Collective provided people recovering from substance abuse with a series of guided art therapy workshops. Working with established substance abuse programs and organizations, a series of collage workshops culminated in a gallery exhibition, a book, and a multimedia art presentation. Together they formed community bonds, built resilience, and created awareness for public health resources.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Corine Pearce continued reawakening endangered Pomo weaving arts traditions by offering classes to brand-new, beginning, intermediate, and advanced weavers throughout a 7000-square-mile Tri-County area encompassing ancestral Pomo territories. Her instruction included training in material procurement and processing, following an intergenerational “trainer of trainers” model to enable a sustainable legacy of ongoing cultural revitalization.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Jenn Procacci and Michelle Peñaloza created Round Valley Reader, a community focused publication showcasing the trajectory of Round Valley, and exploring imaginings for the future of our rural community in the face of climate change, wildfire pressure, economic and social justice challenges, and the hardships that are associated with being in the lowest quartiles of the California HPI. With joint experience in engaging communities through journalism, storytelling, creative writing and documentation, two artists explored the past, report the present, and worked with the community to imagine our collective future using these methods.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Willits Center for the Arts curated and marshaled a Mendocino County Artists Corps of 19 Local Artists and Culture Bearers. The Artists Corps provided after school dance and art workshops, monthly art history lectures for youth and elders, arts summer camps, monthly dance and visual art workshops and programming targeted to uplift and engage youth, families and seniors as part of a campaign to raise awareness for increasing mental health outcomes, civic engagement and social justice opportunities. This served our community which struggles in these areas, as highlighted by our performance in the lowest quartiles of the California Healthy Places Index.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Ross Travis and collaborators inspired community action to counter the effects of climate change on youth in Mendocino, Lake and Glenn Counties through a traveling, multi-disciplinary bouffon theater piece (also filmed and edited into a documentary) that used a powerful mix of irreverent comedy, tragedy, shamanistic ritual and interactive ecstatic play to inform, provoke and provide tools for agency and community action on this issue.

Supported by Upstate California Creative Corps, Agave Baroque conducted a year-long virtual and in-person residency at Surprise Valley Culture and Arts during which they engaged with local musicians across multiple generations, who studied and perform music composed by women and composers of color over the past 500 years, culminating in a free, public concert in Cedarville as part of a campaign of awareness for social justice issues, which also included social discourse and a series of radio programs on each composer, broadcast on community radio, KDUP-FM.

Supported by the California Creative Corps, Shawn-Paul Gilbert developed a series of large scale oil paintings depicting California Wildfires; highlighting human involvement and human cost, while creating public awareness for the health risks of fire and smoke to the land and peoples of California and creating awareness for critical environmental issues such as water conservation and the consequences of drought and the need for forest management.

Supported by the Upstate Creative Corps, BIPOC artist Brandon Greathouse led a social justice awareness campaign for artists in affordable housing in the High Sierra. Through stirring podcasts and community engagement, Empowering Voices lent agency to those seeking relief from California’s workforce housing crisis, as they find creative ways to breathe life into a world of impossible odds—solving everyday problems and contributing to the social fabric of an area threatened by gentrification.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Jared Witkofsky created Falling: A Comic with Exceptionalities, an autobiographical comic book focused on living with exceptionalities. The project documents his struggles with neuropathy and navigating the healthcare system. The full-color 44-page comic book creates awareness for the needs and struggles of the disabled community, as well as to promote vital services. His book addresses these issues with humor and honesty, using the specific voice and experiences of the creator.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, artist Love Andreyev created a mural depicting the interconnected web of food justice work in the Truckee-Tahoe area as part of an awareness campaign for public health. In close collaboration with Slow Food Lake Tahoe and Sierra Community House – two local nonprofits that serve an area in the lowest quartile of the California HPI – Love’s work inspired communal engagement and awareness for Ecology of Care.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, composer Alexis Alrich wrote a 50 minute, 10-movement educational anthem and instrumental concert piece called the “Wolf Creek Anthem,” in celebration of this natural resource. In preparation, guided by members of Wolf Creek Community Alliance (WCCA), Alexis walked the creek in locations from the source to its confluence with the Bear River. She researched its history and biology, and consulted Nisenan Tribal Members, artists, and poets to inform her work. As part of Listening to Wolf Creek, WCCA hosted educational workshops with school children and adults to teach the singing of the anthem. The final concerts were presented on Earth Day, April 21st and 22nd, 2024–where audiences sang along to the chorus and gave standing ovations. 

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, The Story of Land, Water, and People built on the foundation of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP) ’s Visibility through Art initiative by coordinating collaborations among artists and Tribal culture bearers to increase public awareness and engage the public related to environment-related issues including water, land and social justice.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, culture bearer and artist Jai Hanes created an anti-racism program for BIPOC youth and their allies called Positive Elevation Arts Culture Education (P.E.A.C.E.). Through this program, Jai heard the need for a safe space for BIPOC youth to gather in community along with their families and allies. Working with a local mentor, Jai achieved this through education of history, culture, family engagement and intergenerational learning; partnerships with other cultural awareness groups; and development of community-based curriculum. Jai hosted basketball clinics, a skate jam, radio and dj workshops at KVMR as vehicles to hold space for these underrepresented youth, their parents, and allies. The response to P.E.A.C.E. has been overwhelmingly positive, and the impact of providing valuable educational and artistic opportunities significant.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, The Poetry Crashers created Postcards from Earth!, an awareness campaign centered on the effects of the climate crisis, and practical ideas for planetary healing close to home. With collective experience in facilitating intergenerational learning through poetry, performance and publishing, The Poetry Crashers engaged the many voices of those most touched by environmental injustices—in areas within the lowest quartiles of the California Healthy Places Index.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Say Something! used writing, spoken word, and storytelling as liberatory tools, and engaged LGBTQIA+ youth on Nisenan Land in Western Nevada County in a creative process of self-discovery and community building. Facilitated by Yasmin Badshamiah and zsa’lai grammer and centering young queer voices, Say Something! created courageous sanctuaries where historically silenced individuals could explore self-expression, own and share their stories, find solidarity in belonging, and build bridges across differences.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, singer-songwriter and community activist Michelle Amador embarked on transformative Solidarity Sessions, a series of events that built cultural solidarity through music, fostered critical discourse, and drove social change. Michelle delivered six mesmerizing performances of newly created music that examined critical social issues, invited post-show discussions with 30 fellow BIPOC community members, and provided opportunities for 18 artists to share perspectives through "open mic" artistic/performance responses. Additionally, Michelle collaborated with 36 artists, facilitating six sessions where artists developed impactful plans for partnering with their chosen social causes in Nevada County. Programs prioritized artists from the regions in the lowest percentage quartile of the CA HPI index.

Con el apoyo de UCCC, la artista Paola Bragado propone un trabajo, que incorpora mujeres migrantes que trabajan en Tahoe a diversas actividades ofertadas a los turistas asociadas a la fusión cultural, bienestar o al descanso- lugares no frecuentados por trabajadoras migrantes. La práctica en común de deportes como esquiar o trabajos artesanales como la cerámica y bordado como manera de integración y salvaguardar su identidad, generando espacios físicos y emocionales contra la exclusión y el racismo.

With the support of UCCC, artist Paola Bragado will introduce migrant women working in Tahoe to activities rarely available to them, through an awareness campaign which exposes them to cultural fusion, wellness and rest, spaces that are generally inaccessible to them. Social practice arts, self-advocacy, and arts will support integration, while safeguarding identities, and generating safe physical and emotional spaces that work against racism and exclusion.

With support from the Upstate California Creative Corps, Blue Line Arts will partner with contemporary place-based artist and culture bearer Tiffany Adams for a visual arts and curatorial residency project uplifting Indigenous artists. Adams, who is Chemehuevi/Koyoomk’awi/Nisenan, will curate and interpret a group show with, by, and for Indigenous artists, develop her own solo exhibition with a performance piece as a participating resident, and plan an Indigenous Art Market event to engage the regional community around issues of social/restorative justice, civic engagement, and environmental protection through the lens of Indigenous peoples.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Astrid Mendieta will create a coloring book and facilitate art workshops for vulnerable communities at Kings Beach, in the lowest quartile of the California Healthy Places Index. The coloring book will be bilingual in English and Spanish and will tell Señor Taquito's story through his healthy lifestyle practices. Community workshops will teach acrylic painting with local produce, with wild plants and plant roots as a focus, symbolizing the importance of wellbeing, ancestry, family and community.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Troy Corliss and Sara Smith will produce a community developed art project that focuses on an interpretive study of the human / open space interface surrounding Kings Beach, partnering with The Boys and Girls Club, S.W.E.P., Sierra Community House and Gateway Mountain Center. The project will include an intergenerational learning component through drawing and journaling from direct observation as well as graphic design skills needed to compose larger compositions intended for the fabrication of sculpture.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Almanor Recreation and Park Department, in partnership with local artist and Art Teacher Hillary Edwards, a team of high school art students, and the Maidu Summit Consortium designed and created two public murals adjacent to a new community garden. Through cross cultural discussions and inter-generational learning opportunities these community members designed murals that promote healthy lifestyles through outdoor activity, healthy eating, social interaction, and the lasting relevance of native culture and community history. These murals were installed by and for communities in the lowest quartile as indicated by the Healthy Places Index.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, artists Liz Swindell and Tina Thorman collaborated with community members of all ages to teach them how to design, prep and paint a mural in downtown Quincy, the County seat. The mural —in the shape of Plumas County and painted on Main Street adjacent to the County courthouse — is in one of the most highly visited and visible areas in the county, making it accessible to the constituents of the county, including those from our most underserved areas. As the rebuilding of the community moves forward the mural includes imagery illustrating the strength in diversity of the area. The collaborative aspect of the creation of this mural has worked to solidify county-wide pride and unity, bringing awareness to those concerns which most affect us including healthy lifestyle, resource management, and resiliency.

Supported by Upstate California Creative Corps, Coral and Trent Cash created awareness around environmental issues by capturing the real-life stories of those most directly affected by wildfire and the changing climate of California. These stories were then shared with others in the community through the development of a graphic novel and board game. To promote accessibility to the areas of highest need the graphic novel and game were distributed through several outlets including schools, libraries, social media, and a community event. This strengthened civic knowledge and encouraged civic engagement through the principles of forestry and fire ecology, and how policies affect them.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Lost Sierra Food Project employed visual artists in residencies to create artworks and host free community-based workshops — focused on a variety of traditional arts and modern mediums through inter-generational learning — designed to bring awareness to the environmental issues of food security and the importance of resource conservation as it relates to ecological farming in Plumas County. To promote accessibility and community engagement throughout the region the works created were shared in a traveling exhibition, inviting the audience to engage in deeper dialogue around the ties between food access, community, and a healing relationship to the land.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Corinne West composed and produced an original 5-song project, culminating in five free community-based concerts. Each song addressed issues specific to the county and related to the needs of the community ranging from wildfire displacement and climate mitigation, watershed health and resource management, to social justice and mental health. West’s focus was to bring awareness to these issues and catalyze personal empowerment through a song circle that promoted intergenerational and cross-cultural learning.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Viva Downtown Redding, Inc. hosted an Artist Residency of 33 creatives connecting Redding Cultural District residents to core issues of social justice and public health in partnership with Healthy Shasta and the Downtown Resident Coalition. Together they showed how active, accessible participation in the arts has visible and transformative health outcomes for community members residing in an area in the lowest quartile of the California Healthy Places Index.

With the support of Upstate California Creative Corps, Radley Davis (Pit River), Jonathon Freeman (Choctaw/Chichimeca), and Sky Scholfield (Wintu/Pit River), conducted the Indigenous Summer of Interviews (ISI). ISI aimed to empower under-resourced Native American youth, capture invaluable wisdom from elders and leaders, provide skills and paid employment opportunities, and instill a sense of ownership over their community's history and culture, thereby addressing health equity.

With support from the Upstate California Creative Corps, The Watershed Research and Training Center and Ellen McGehee helped artists shift their relationship with fire by examining indigenous context, fire ecology, mentored site tours and participation in prescribed burns. The cohort worked together as an artistic group to develop a concert program that shares their experience in fire-affected communities of the North State. Participant and audience curriculum combined with music, video art, and poetry creating an immersive concert experience that inspired healing.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Jesi Naomi and WWASH Project (Wintu We are Still Here) ignited the livelihoods of Native artists’ ongoing cultural work; strengthening native community bonds and tribal relations to non-natives and mobilizing social justice, mental, emotional and physical health rehabilitation via traditional arts and language. Through the lens of indigenous culture bearers of the Butte-Shasta-Trinity tribal region, they drew community to Wintu Culture Center in Trinity and Redding Rancheria in Shasta, and via Workshops strove for language sovereignty.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, local artist Marjorie Voorhees, of the Paiute Nation, created the Headwaters Stained-Glass project. In the wake of the climate crisis, Sierra County watershed communities have been among the most affected communities within the lowest quartiles of the California HPI. This project created an intergenerational public awareness installation that boosts civic pride while reflecting the environmental importance of watersheds that originate in our rural county and that are essential to the health of the entire State of California.

With support from the California Creative Corps, the Sierra County Land Trust worked with nine artists and writers long inspired by the Sierra Buttes and Lakes Basin to publish a book of photography, art and writings, together with a culminating exhibition along the themes of: 1.) How will preserving our high elevation forests and watersheds buffer climate change impacts in California?, and; 2.) How can we do our part locally by protecting the iconic Sierra Buttes and Lakes Basin of Sierra County?

Supported by the Upstate Creative Corps, Colectiva Seeds of Ancestral Renewal (SOAR) aimed to increase wellness and health equity at the intersections between Siskiyou and Modoc Counties by offering a series of free and bilingual seasonal Wellness Gatherings in Dorris, Tulelake, and Alturas that centered on traditional ways. Although open to all community members, our hope was to cultivate spaces that center the Spanish-speaking, Latin@/Hispanic, and Indigenous community experience and to provide opportunities for engagement in cultural arts practices and arts-based healing.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, The Klamath-Siskiyou Art Center created awareness for the effects of environmental change and climate crisis, along with new avenues for civic engagement, in the most remote reaches of Siskiyou County in Karuk Aboriginal Territory. With collective experience in facilitating intergenerational and multicultural learning through poetry, performance, music, visual art and event production, artists and culture bearers engaged the voices of those living in areas of the Siskiyou region who score in the lowest quartiles of the California HPI and who are at risk for environmental and economic hardship.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, director Kate Jopson created a series of short online films to demystify how data about the Klamath Watershed is collected and how that data impacts the water use and livelihoods of residents in Scott Valley and the Mid-Klamath region of Siskiyou County.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Autie Carlisle created two of twelve episodes of Shasta Stories, a docuseries highlighting the diversity, history, and fortitude of individuals and communities in Siskiyou County. The series created awareness about racism, ageism, and the environment; examined with the intent to create active change in the community to increase equity and environmental healing into the future. They offered free community events and episodes are available online.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Madelyne Joan Templeton developed intergenerational learning campaigns during week-long community based mural camps in Tehama and Yuba Counties. This initiative fostered creativity among local youth, and educated them about public health and environmental concerns related to water and energy. By engaging with these important topics, youth gained a better understanding of how to improve the well-being of their community.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Culture Bearers of Tehama County held a Native American Cultural Celebration on September 23rd, 2023 in Red Bluff, CA, featuring Native American drummers, dancers, storytellers, vendors and a traditional games demo. They partnered with local tribal organizations and other community organizations to provide resources and health services. They honored the local Paskenta Nomlaki Tribe, original inhabitants of this land.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, The Creative Collective launched a one-year workforce development and public health campaign in Glenn and Tehama Counties. The project, titled “The Work of Art,” pairs artists with under-resourced youth to co-create and install five public murals and launch one project website. The murals and website promote activities proven to create mental and emotional health. The youth internships will sustain through 2026 using the Job Training Center of Tehama County's funding.

With Support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Associated Hayfork Artists engaged community vision for a more positive future for Hayfork, using the artistic process to dismantle issues around race, poverty, and rural access. By creating an inclusive environment for conscientious artmaking, we celebrated identity and used artistic expression to connect contemporary manifestations of oppression to historical contexts, develop a deeper understanding of our lived experiences and a stronger cultural identity for Hayfork as a whole community.

With the support of California Creative Corps, Kalah Wooten, Kacey Collins, Angel McMarrow, Casey McWilliams, and Jennika Flinck, created an educational art mural to raise awareness of the impact of non-native species on local ecosystems. The 400 sq ft mural, using various mediums, highlighted the differences between native and non-native flora. With collaboration, this project educated the community and inspired a sense of collective responsibility towards the environment.

With support from the Upstate California Creative Corps, The Watershed Research and Training Center and Ellen McGehee helped artists shift their relationship with fire by examining indigenous context, fire ecology, mentored site tours and participation in prescribed burns. The cohort worked together as an artistic group to develop a concert program that shares their experience in fire-affected communities of the North State. Participant and audience curriculum combined with music, video art, and poetry creating an immersive concert experience that inspired healing.

With support from the Upstate California Creative Corps, Randolph Sanchez created a new handcrafted sign for the Nor Rel Muk Wintu Tribe. The Trinity River Natives’ Cultural Center is a new gathering place for the Nor Rel Muk on their ancestral lands along the Trinity River located in Big Bar, California. With the help of tribal liaison Amanda Gibbs, Randolph designed, created and installed a signpost for the vital cultural center that houses tribal offices, and is the center for cultural learning and ceremonial gatherings. Methods included wood carving techniques for animals and birds, hand painted lettering on a prepared metal background, construction skills, and log wood posts for installation. This multimedia project is a signpost for future generations and enhances the visibility of the underserved Native American population of Trinity County through healing intergenerational trauma, revitalizing spirituality and the ancestral knowledge of how to protect the environment.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Brady McKay and Taylor Aglipay formed a countywide all-inclusive "upcycled" percussion/vocal ensemble. This all ages ensemble provided opportunities for intergenerational learning while addressing health equity and environmental issues. Rehearsals were held throughout the region to promote accessibility to the most underserved portions of the community. The project included live performances and culminated with a professionally produced music video distributed across social media platforms, with the cooperation of several local organizations. Filmed in various locations throughout the county, the music video featured the beautiful landscape and diverse people of Trinity County.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Jesi Naomi and WWASH Project (Wintu We are Still Here) ignited the livelihoods of Native artists’ ongoing cultural work; strengthening native community bonds and tribal relations to non-natives and mobilizing social justice, mental, emotional and physical health rehabilitation via traditional arts and language. Through the lens of indigenous culture bearers of the Butte-Shasta-Trinity tribal region, they drew community to Wintu Culture Center in Trinity and Redding Rancheria in Shasta, and via Workshops strove for language sovereignty.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, the Eco-Explorers utilized multiple art forms to create movable mural environments that showcased their understanding of green spaces. Creativity and personal expression blossomed in sculpture, painting, and recycled art projects. Intergenerational interactions brought together culture bearers, diversity icons and artists resulting in an appreciation and a focus on advocacy to protect community green spaces in areas within the lowest quartiles of the California Healthy Places Index.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, the Alliance for Hispanic Advancement created a program in Yuba/ Sutter Counties to teach youth the art of Mariachi music and Ballet Folklórico. The Youth Mariachi Orchestra was trained by multiple culture bearers and arts educators, they then performed at public events to introduce all members of the community to these art forms. Performances took place at local cultural festivals, service club meetings, libraries, and museums and for other special occasions. This program helped to break down social justice and cultural barriers and enable the students, who live in the lowest quartiles of the CA HPI, to rise above and take pride in these cultural art forms.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Madelyne Joan Templeton developed intergenerational learning campaigns during week-long community based mural camps in Tehama and Yuba Counties. This initiative fostered creativity among local youth, and educated them about public health and environmental concerns related to water and energy. By engaging with these important topics, youth gained a better understanding of how to improve the well-being of their community.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Tom Galvin created a song cycle of twelve songs reflecting historical events and the mistreatment of the powerless by the powerful occurring in the Yuba Sutter area from the time of the gold rush to the present day. Titled Heroes and Victims, the name of this album represents the general theme connecting all twelve songs. From gold rush trail blazers to local judges, Ishi the last Yahi to survivors of the Donner Party and its victims, to the more recent history of the Japanese internment camps and water sovereignty, the songs on Heroes and Victims explore the rich and nuanced history of Yuba Sutter. The collection of songs balances the stories of oppressive behavior and the oppressed with those that have risen above for the common good of the community.

With the support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Monica Farbiarz, mentored by California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), co-created MAI – The Salmon Journey. This project promoted environmental awareness and community engagement through intergenerational participatory arts programming. The Salmon Journey educated the community and brought awareness about the environment, the Yuba River ecosystem across two counties, and the interdependence between nature and humans.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Jess Riegel and Kira Greene produced a series of video reports, highlighting unique challenges and attributes from communities residing in the lowest quartiles of the California Healthy Places Index, in Del Norte, Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, Plumas, and Yuba Counties. Funds supported important investigations resulting in at least 18 one-minute videos, housed on their own website, and accessible via Instagram and other free online platforms.

Supported by the Upstate California Creative Corps, Marc Flacks adapted the screenplay for Salt of the Earth (1954) into a play that was performed in the Spring of 2024. Originally produced by blacklisted artists during the McCarthy era, Salt of the Earth is the story, about Mexican American miners and their ethnic, class, and gender struggles. This adaptation reshaped Salt of the Earth for a new generation of American viewers and was staged for the first time. The production included community members as co-creators.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Director Shon Harris created the film, The Road to Resilience, to generate awareness, support, and understanding of the plight of homeless people in our community. With a storyline inspired by detailed interviews and direct participation of those experiencing homelessness within the lowest quartiles of the California HPI, the film aimed to drive public sentiment, foster intergenerational learning, inspire resilience, and spur politicians to action.

With support from Upstate California Creative Corps, Emiliano Gomez created Work Week, a series of reportage for public awareness, health, and mutual understanding in a community that is among the lowest scoring on the CA Healthy Places Index. Searching for unspoken or unheard truths that impact the urban areas of Yuba and Sutter Counties, he spent a week's days and nights with unseen community members: a grocery clerk; a neighbor who has lived on the same corner for 70 years; an owner of hectares of orchards; a forklift driver; an ER doctor; home-owning high school sweethearts; the recently un-homeless and newly un-housed; whoever needed to speak but hadn't gotten to or been given the opportunity.

With support from the Upstate California Creative Corps, the Yuba Sutter Rotary Night Club, in collaboration with the Blue Zones community wellness project and the Partnership for Health Equity and Inclusion conducted a 48 Hour Mural Marathon, Health and Art Festival to bring awareness to all four UCCC program goals in one of the lowest scoring regions on the HPI scale. Five 20’x22’ exterior wall murals were created in 48 hours by five different artists on the side of the historic Sutter Theater in Yuba City. Murals were pre-selected from submissions from CA artists using methods in compliance with the goals and artistic excellence as the guide to participation. The weekend-long event included exhibits by local county and city health agencies, the Blue Zones Project and others with local artists displaying relevant work and an area for students to create a guided mural project on the same program themes.