CNL Member since 2005
Founded: 1982
Visit Website: www.northcolumbiaschoolhouse.org
Mission & Purpose:
The mission of the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center is to inspire and educate the community by providing a venue for performance, art and educational gatherings that enrich and sustain our rural character and traditions. We strive to produce a wide range of programming that enhances our rural life. Some examples include: Balinese dance by Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the Autumn Shindig Harvest Festival, readings by Pulitzer-prize winning poet Gary Snyder, and the annual Sierra Storytelling Festival founded by Steve Sanfield in 1985.
Success Story:
The Schoolhouse has been recognized as a model rural arts organization and presenter of folk, traditional and contemporary art through grants from the California Arts Council, the Nevada County Arts Council, the L.J. and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation, Cal Humanities, Poets & Writers, the S.H. Cowell Foundation, the Rose Leo Memorial Philanthropic Fund, the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest fund and the National Endowment for the Arts. Innovative programming at the Schoolhouse has drawn attention from audiences and artists far beyond the San Juan Ridge.