Press Release

December 14, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Siskiyou County Arts Council Announces Placement of Ten Art DROP Boxes

Placed in Communities Around Siskiyou, Art DROP Boxes Provide a Space to Share Art

Mount Shasta, CA—The Siskiyou County Arts Council announces the placement of ten Art DROP Boxes across Siskiyou County, made possible through funding from the Pacific Power Foundation, California Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Arts Endowment Fund of the Community Foundation of the North State.

Based on the ‘little free library’ model, Art DROP supply stations provide a fun, free, and accessible space to share and discover art supplies and projects in communities that have significantly lower regular access to the tools of creative practice. Nine retired newspaper vending machines, and one bonus box upcycled from an old refrigerator, were decorated by local artists and placed in communities throughout Siskiyou. The stations will serve as both public works of art and places to retrieve, deposit, and share art supplies.

Ten boxes in total were placed, serving Hornbrook, Happy Camp, Tulelake, Gazelle, Montague, Etna, Weed, Dunsmuir, and McCloud, with a bonus box placed in Mount Shasta. Boxes were completed by artists Brenda Montaño, Mark Oliver, Monica Zinda, The Yreka High School Art Club, Michael Sanchez, Jacob Kirkby, Trinity Holsworth, Maureen Woodley, Bella Hernandez, Sabrina Taylor, and Baruch Inbar.

Program Manager Trinity Holsworth said this of the project “It has been amazing seeing the response to the stations as we’ve been placing them. At one location, a family immediately took part in art projects from the station when we installed it. Afterwards, they neatly returned the leftover supplies and proudly showed off their work. At another station, community members have been collaborating on artworks together by leaving partially finished paintings for others to take and finish. Witnessing the community come together through art has been truly inspiring.”

Carrying through organizational values to Arts Council programming, the DROP in Art DROP is an acronym for Discover, Re-source, Offer, and Practice and will help rebuild the deeply rural but waning practice of repurposing and resourcefulness. SCRAPS video content, the digital counterpart to our SCRAPS Art Cart, also provides facilitated art programming to complement Art DROP supply caches. Available for free on the Siskiyou County Arts Council’s YouTube channel, SCRAPS video instructables will be released on a periodic basis.

Special thanks are also due to the 2022 Flagship Design Studio team at Sacramento City College for their design of the Arts Council and program logos used for box signage and digital media.

Each box, box locations, and statements from artists are featured on the Siskiyou County Arts Council website at https://siskiyouarts.org/events-art-drop-program/. Supply requests and feedback forms are also available.

This activity is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov. The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. It supports local arts infrastructure and programming statewide through grants, initiatives, and services. The California Arts Council envisions a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts.

More information on the California Arts Council’s support for the Art DROP program can be found at https://siskiyouarts.org/local-organizations-awarded-multiple-california-arts-council-grants/.

The Community Foundation of the North State is a nonprofit, public charity serving the people of Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama counties, with a mission to impact the region through the power of giving. Learn more at https://cfnorthstate.org/. The Community Arts Endowment Fund of the Community Foundation of the North State was started by generous donors during the Shasta-Siskiyou ARTicipate campaign and supports public art in our region today and forever, thanks to continued contributions and the power of endowment. The fund awards grants primarily for the creation and presentation of new public artwork by artists and arts organizations in Shasta and Siskiyou counties. More information is available at https://cfnorthstate.org/donations/community-arts-endowment-fund/.

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov. The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.

The Pacific Power Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Pacific Power. Their mission, through their charitable investments, is to support the growth and vitality of communities. Learn more at https://www.pacificpower.net/community/foundation.html. More information on Pacific Power Foundation’s support of the Art DROP program can be found at https://siskiyouarts.org/press-release-siskiyou-county-arts-council-receives-grant-from-pacific-power-foundation/