Yuba Sutter Arts outlines programs, asks board to consider funding

David Reid, presenter for Yuba Sutter Arts, gave the board an annual overview on May 27, describing the nonprofit’s education programs, facility operations and recent grants. Reid highlighted arts-in-education field trips that take local students to museums, a new youth mariachi program expanding into Marysville Charter Academy, veterans ceramics sessions and plans to complete the second half of the Sutter Theater.

Reid said the organization serves both Yuba and Sutter counties and acts as the local representative to the California Arts Council. He listed recent grant-supported activities including student field trips to Sacramento museums, a youth mariachi program started with Alliance for Hispanic Advancement funding, regranting during COVID that helped local groups, and work to preserve and interpret local history at the Arboga Assembly Center. "We are able to get these programs going thanks to a patchwork of grants and volunteers," Reid said, adding the council has three full-time staff and many volunteers.

He described capital and facility work at the Burroughs Center and Sutter Theater, including architectural plans to restore the theater’s unused rear section into roughly a 299-seat venue and noted festival and mural projects across the area. Reid also described veteran-focused arts programs — pottery, bronze face casting and ceramics workshops — that he said have engaged veterans and active-duty service members and helped participants develop studio skills.

The presentation was for information only; Reid told the board, "With your permission, I'll follow up with a funding request." Supervisors praised the council’s outreach and programming and noted veterans and youth benefits from the arts exposure programs. No board action was required at the meeting.