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City submits California cultural-district application; compiles 344 cultural assets
Summary
City staff described a fast-tracked application to the California Arts Council to designate a Sonoma Cultural District under AB 189, compiling a 344-item cultural asset inventory, proposing a walkable district footprint and seeking a $10,000 CAC grant (with a local match). Staff said a site visit could occur if the application advances.
Senior Management Analyst Sarah Tracy told the Cultural and Fine Arts Commission that the city filed an application for a California Cultural District designation, a program that traces to Assembly Bill 189 and is administered by the California Arts Council. Tracy said the council was accepting applications again in 2025 after a pause and that the Arts Council planned to designate roughly 10 districts in this round.
Tracy said the city’s application required three co-applicants: a government entity with land-use authority, a business organization or chamber, and an arts organization with programming. The city served as lead applicant and included local partners such as the community center and chamber of commerce as co-applicants.
Tracy described the program as focused on equity, access and inclusion and summarized the grant component as $10,000 spread over two years; the application requires a local match. “The proposed use of CAC grant funds, which is, dollars 10,000 over 2 years,” Tracy said, noting the amount is intended to bolster existing local efforts rather than fund a fully autonomous program.
As part of the rapid application, staff compiled a cultural-asset inventory of 344 items in and near the proposed district footprint. Tracy said the inventory included institutions, events, historical associations and cultural practices tied to the area’s identity — from Buena Vista and Bartholomew Park to literary influences such as Jack London and M.F.K. Fisher — and in some cases included assets outside the city limits when those assets influence Sonoma’s cultural life.
Tracy said the California Arts Council encouraged a walkable, focused footprint for cultural districts; Sonoma’s map follows the Broadway corridor, Sebastiani and the cemetery and state-park-edge areas that staff and partners identified as the highest concentration of cultural assets. If the Arts Council advances Sonoma’s application, Tracy said, the agency may select Sonoma for a site visit (staff said the Arts Council had indicated an approximate site-visit timeframe of October, but provided no firm date).
Tracy said the application and asset inventory will be refined with public review and ad-hoc commission input; she described the inventory as a “living” document that staff intends to iterate. She also said the designation can improve eligibility for additional grant funding and provides promotional benefits via the Arts Council’s materials and web directory.
Why it matters: a cultural-district designation would formally recognize Sonoma’s local cultural assets, may unlock modest CAC grant funds and could strengthen eligibility for future cultural grants. Even if not selected, Tracy said the application work yielded inventory and planning materials that staff will keep using for public-art and cultural planning.
Speakers who addressed this topic include Senior Management Analyst Sarah Tracy; Connie (community/historical partner); Chair Schlenlein; and City Manager David Guin (noted by staff).
