Coming Distractions …
April 8 – RISE EVENT – Arcata Chamber Mixer at Mad River Adult Day Health (Mad River Hospital) 5:30-7:00 pm
April 8-9 – District Training Assembly – Ukiah Fairgrounds
April 16 – RISE EVENT – Wine & Food Festival at HSU, presented by the Lost Coast Rotaract Club and the HSU Rotaract Club 
May 6-8 – District 5130 Conference – Marriott Napa Valley Resort & Spa 
May 29-June 1 – RI Conference in Seoul, South Korea 
June 11 – RISE EVENT – Rotaract Color Run
June 18 – RISE EVENT – 26th Arcata Oyster Festival – provide beer to the thirsty
July 4 – RISE EVENT – Independence Day on the Plaza – volunteer at the RCAS Family Comfort Station
July 9 – RISE EVENT – Friends of the Dunes’ Sand Sculpture Festival

Sunriser Shorts

• In celebration of April Fools’ Day, President Howard ceded control of the meeting to his alter ego, Captain Infinity!
• We received thanks from the Fieldbrook Fire Department for funding the purchase of an automated external defibrillator (AED). 
• If you have some extra room in your home, Tristan, Mad River Rotary’s current Exchange Student, is looking for a host family. The scheduled family was unable to serve as hosts. And our Exchange Committee is looking for another host family for next year. If you are interested in hosting either student (or both), please contact Ian Schatz or another member of the Committee. 
• While we’re on that subject, our own Sophia will be traveling on the Western Safari Youth Exchange trip, and she would appreciate a ride to San Francisco on June 25th. (She also needs a ride back.) If you can provide transportation, please let a Committee member know.
• Finally, Sophia’s time is waning (see “Sophia’s Stories” below), so be sure to make a “date” with her soon. Remember that the activity doesn’t have to be special – she is here to learn about life in America, so what we might consider mundane may give her more insight into who we are. Also remember that you will need to be vetted for one-on-one contact with Exchange Students (as well as other people we serve who are under 18). Ian is the person to contact to start the process.

Sophia and her Blazer

Sophia Waern-Bugge modeled her Exchange Student blazer, which now has a football, a bow, various tags, and a paper bag attached, in addition to the usual patches and pins. I don’t know whether those were added for April Fool’s Day, or if she’s going to be laden for the next few months …

President Howard showed a photo of students with a number of national flags, which was taken during Sophia’s recent trip to Hawaii. She pointed out that the Swedish flag was being held backwards. (She had to carefully hold the football on her sleeve as she pointed.) She said once again that it was an great trip with an amazing group of people. 

Sophia is now ensconced with the last host family of her stay – Lisa and Chris Hemphill. She told us that the tentative date for her return to Sweden is July 15th, but that date is not firm. She was a bit glum as she told us that. “I’m still really excited to go home to see my friends and family,” she said. “I want to go, but I don’t want to go … can’t my family just move here?”

She was excited about the musical “Chicago”, which was closing last weekend. “We’ve gotten a good response for what we’ve done,” she said. For those who were not convinced, she said that Lisa Hemphill had the best recommendation – “Chris did not fall asleep!” 

Creamery District/Playhouse Updates
Our Featured Speaker was Jackie Dandeneau, who is the Executive Director of the Arcata Playhouse and a prime mover/shaker in the continuing development of Arcata’s Creamery District. Our Club and the Playhouse came together when we did a SWOT Extreme Makeover of the group’s facilities about five years ago. She and Playhouse Artistic Director David Ferney spoke to us in August 2013, just prior to the inaugural Creamery Festival. 

Jackie started by thanking our Club for the 2011 Makeover. She said that we were “instrumental in getting our [facility] up to code, and getting our lighting system done.” She told us

Jackie Dandeneau

that our work allowed the group to reach its potential in its space. 

The Arcata Playhouse started 11 years ago with a budget of $11,000. The budget has grown to around $300,000 in each of the last five years. There are two full-time staffers, three part-timers, and there are five local artists who work in local schools.  

Jackie said, “I’m really excited that I have a job in Humboldt County as a working artist and administrator.” She noted that our Club had a hand in that, as well. Jackie cited the increased rental income that the Playhouse has realized since the Makeover. “We are over 50% earned income,” she said, which is high for a theater nonprofit. They aren’t as reliant on grants as many others. 

One of the Playhouse’s programs is Excite and Ignite, a program for youth. The goal is to get young people to perform and produce in the performing arts. This comprehensive program includes the Artists in the Schools program, the Family Season (low-cost theater performances that target families and grownups), and Apprentice Entertainment (a group of 16 teens who meet weekly to plan and produce events for their peers).

David Ferney books and markets the Playhouse’s music programs, which feature performances by local musicians as well as performers from around the world.

Four on the Floor Theatre is the group’s resident company that produces programs such as “Echoes of War”and “Women of the Northwest”. This company also puts on annual events such as the Christmas show and the Elemental” outdoor spectacle. 

Jackie said that the Creamery District is a program of the Playhouse Arts, the official nonprofit. “The goal,” she told us, “is to get the Creamery District out from under the Playhouse, and the Playhouse becomes a member of the Creamery District. That hasn’t happened happened yet, but it will happen in the next … while.”

Jackie said that about five years ago, the Playhouse received an “Our Town” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to integrate arts with community. Jackie’s goal for the program is to “find an equitable wage for artists within Humboldt County … [and] to find a way that we can support our artists and give them a standard of living that would then show up on our economic prosperity charts”. She also wants people to realize the importance of the arts, that they are “an essential cog in the wheel of our society”. 

The Creamery District has an event coming in May called “Art on the Fence”. The program will enliven the chain link fences in the District, which will sport art pieces as large as 6 feet by 4 feet. The event started last year, with grants from the Puffin Foundation and the California Arts Council. Fifteen pieces have been commissioned, and these will be mounted, mostly along the bike path that passes through the District.

Another coming event is Our Village. This is being presented in conjunction with SCRAP Humboldt, and three local artists have been commissioned to create art “villages” in any scale using found items. The finished works will be installed in the Creamery District. The project will also involve students at local schools creating their own small villages in similar fashion. This will also take place at the end of May.

Jackie also told us about the Fervor Fest, which she described as “a celebration of all things fermented”. These include sauerkraut, kombucha, beer, wine, hard cider, and whisky. This will take place August 13th, from 1 to 5 pm, in conjunction with Humboldt Made. 

The stakeholders in the Creamery District – the property owners, businesses, individuals, and organizations – met last year to define the land use code in the District. They asked what they wanted to see taking place there, and what should be its future. They put in a performing arts space, since the existing code did not provide for that activity. A lot of changes were made, and continue. Open Door Clinic plans to move some of its services to the District, and restaurants are also moving in. Holly Yashi plans to open a coffee shop in their facility. 

You can learn much, much more by visiting these sites: