24 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY november 14-20, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com work in any kind of medium, looking for hidden artistic potential. It’s a mixed-media world and definitely not a classroom setting. You can work anywhere, alone in the corner or right next to other artists. It’s more like a “here you are, here are the tools, create something” type of situation. There are smaller rooms but also the large, main workshop is where young people work with paper mache, ceramics, clay and masks. Everybody works on their project—families, multi-age, 4 years and up. Parents can stay here alongside children, or the Hijos Del Sol team will look after them. Like Nolasco, Ortiz also comes from Mexico, but in his case access to arts was even more decisive in his life journey, because it took him from the streets. He thinks about creativity as an ability to survive. When he arrived in South Monterey County at age 9, he worked the fields. When he left home, he found himself on the street, first living the life of a starving artist. Eventually he went to school and started teaching art and opening studio spaces in Salinas, thanks to the kindness of city and school officials, he says. Formerly with another arts nonprofit in Salinas, the Alisal Center for the Fine Arts, Ortiz saw the demand for programs and in 2011, he opened Hijos Del Sol. Funding comes from Arts4MC, private sponsors and companies; there is also major support from the Salinas Inclusive Economic Development Initiative, funded by the Irvine Foundation. “We need to show ourselves more,” Ortiz says about Hijos Del Sol, hoping for more visibility for his organization. “It’s kind of like a family,” Ortiz says of his small staff. There’s an executive director, a programs director and three art instructors who teach in schools. Ortiz oversees the arts and curates exhibits and observes how young artists grow. “Children are full people,” Ortiz says. “They are born with an organic ability to design and build. When they need assistance, we are here to help.” “Welcome,” says Palenke Arts Executive Director and founder Juan L. Sánchez, beaming in the doorway. He is eager to extend an invitation to participate or to attend a concert, with such enthusiasm that it’s hard to say no. He also makes people believe they should aim big. Palenke Arts, a multicultural arts organization in Seaside founded in 2015, offers 25 different classes each week—such as Latin jazz, ballet folkrórico, hip-hop dance, visual arts and a Spanish book club. Many are multi-age classes by design. Spanish-born Sánchez, tall and oval-faced, is standing in the newly-opened Teen Arts Center, a building that was formerly an elementary school on Elm Avenue and was leased by the Salvation Army to Palenke Arts last April. This is where the Teen Arts Center and the administrative offices of Palenke Arts are now located. There’s a dedicated “loud room” for music and dance, a digital arts studio, a meeting space for teens to socialize, and even a kitchenette that will be used for cooking classes in the new year. Teens and younger students are in separate spaces to encourage communication with peers. And after all, it’s not possible to immediately clean after a painting to make space for a hip-hop dance class—there’s a dedicated “loud room” for music. In this new location, Palenke also has outdoor space too. The original location, still in use, is about a mile away, in a repurposed locker room inside Martin Luther King Jr. School of the Arts on Broadway, where concerts and most of the classes for younger children and adults take place. Yet neither location, the original or the new one, presents itself obviously to the public as an arts destination from the outside. Sánchez speaks boldly about his plan for Palenke Arts and the hope of a “forever home,” a dedicated arts venue in Seaside, which received a $1 million grant from the State of California thanks to advocacy by State Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz. (Palenke is currently negotiating with the City of Seaside the terms of a ground lease to build this future home in a city-owned parcel, Sánchez adds.) The building Palenke wants to construct will allow expansion of its visual arts, music, dance and digital arts programs. “We are at capacity,” Sánchez says, explaining the need. “We don’t want to turn people away. “Our vision is not just to provide classes but also to present festivals and concerts, bring the community together, and uplift the voices and the culture of people that are often ignored by the media.” That is why, in addition to new classroom studios, they are planning to feature a cafe, a community arts room and a 300-seat auditorium with a dance floor. Sánchez talks passionately about the need for such safe spaces in a world that can be pretty hostile. “Many in our community feel left out and isolated. We need to create spaces where we can celebrate each other’s cultures and build a joint sense of belonging.” Sasha Zariñana, a Seaside High School junior, was in middle school when she first started attending after school programs. Then she noticed that other students were also learning arts somewhere else. That place was Palenke, which means a “palisade” in Spanish, but also “an arena,” or “a platform”. It has definitely been a platform for her. Zariñana started with a visual arts class every Wednesday, then gradually became more and more interested in hip-hop dance. “I’m an outgoing kid,” she says. “Palenke made me confident. There’s no judgment here.” Zariñana is currently on the board of the organization. Palenke has 14 teaching artists and five full-time employees. The organization supports itself (and those teachers, who all get paid) primarily with grants from various foundations, the City of Seaside, sponsorships—and also donations through Monterey County Gives! “In today’s culture it feels like we have thrown ourselves into our own digital bubbles,” Sánchez says. “Palenke brings the community together in times when society needs it more than ever. We want to transform our community into a place where everyone feels seen, valued and welcomed through the healing power of the arts. No matter who you are, you are not a stranger.” Monterey County Gives! runs from Nov. 14-Dec. 31. Learn more about Hijos Del Sol, Palenke Arts and Sol Treasures—plus 203 other local nonprofits—and donate at mcgives.com, or refer to the glossy insert in this week’s issue. Above: A dancer at Sol Treasures’ Día de los Muertos event wears makeup representing Katrina, a central symbol of the Day of the Dead embodying the idea that death is an integral part of life, to be celebrated. Below: Participants wearing traditional dresses from Jalisco and Día de los Muertos makeup dance their way down Broadway in King City. ivan garcia ivan garcia
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