What’s So Great About Coachella?

The Power of Indie Pop, Shakespeare, and Fine Art Festivals to Create Community and Make People Happy

This weekend, tens of thousands—maybe even nearly 100,000—music fans are rocking out at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. With multiple stages going full-blast, festivalgoers will face difficult decisions such as: Should I catch the soulful roots-rockers Alabama Shakes or the haunting Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li? Should I skip the electro-pop duo Odesza to get a good spot to see the superstar hip-hopper Drake?

And music isn’t the only delight on offer: When fans get tired from dancing or being packed cheek-to-jowl in the crowd, they …

April 11, 2015

Don’t Count on Your City to Build an Arts Scene for You

In Riverside, Coachella’s Director, the Local Arts Walk Founder, and a Historian Say the Best Thing Artists Can Do Is Make Things Happen for Themselves

by Sarah Rothbard | March 19, 2015

Who or what creates and builds a city’s arts scene? How can a flourishing arts community advance to the next level? At a “Living the Arts” event co-presented by the …

Can a Small City Build a Global Arts Scene?

How Creativity and Collaboration Can Put Riverside on the Cultural Map

March 17, 2015

To determine if a city has a vibrant arts scene, you’d check out its museums, galleries, and theaters. You’d look into any recurring arts events or festivals. And you’d gauge …

Central Valley Kids, Meet Beethoven

In a Rural California County, We're Bringing the Symphony to a New Generation of Musicians

by Bruce Kiesling | February 4, 2015

One May evening last year, I found myself driving on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in South Los Angeles, away from Exposition Park towards the neighborhood of West Adams. My …

‘Visalia Times-Delta’ Editor James Ward

To Be a Fly on Orson Welles’ Wall

February 3, 2015

James Ward is an editor at the Visalia Times-Delta in California’s Central Valley, where he oversees sports, lifestyles, and arts & entertainment coverage. Before moderating a panel on the role …

Printmaker Richard Peterson

House Music Gets Him on the Dance Floor

February 2, 2015

Richard Peterson is a printmaker and professor of art at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California. Before participating in a panel on the role the arts play in …

Why Do Coachella Valley Festivals Rock So Hard?

The Best Arts and Music Festivals Are Devoted to Quality, Diversity—and Their Communities

What California Festivals Need–More Garlic, Less Gaga

In a State Overrun with Coachella Clones, Small and Local Beats Big and Corporate

California Can Reconceive the Arts by Offering More Choices and Ways to Participate

Demographic and Technological Shifts Could Let Arts in the Golden State Better Serve Communities

The Arts Can Do for California What Politics and Big Business Can’t

The Cultural Sector Retains Its Credibility, Imagination—and Ability to Bring People Together

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