AGRICULTURAL & RURAL LIFE MUSEUM Year Founded: 1983 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 6 paid, 40 volunteers Budget: $105,000 (831) 385-8020 mcarlm.org BIG IDEA: King City’s Agricultural & Rural Life Museum provides visitors with an immersive portal back in time, bringing activities like butter churning, blacksmithing and adobe brick-making to students through its 4th Grade Jamboree program. The nonprofit is working to bring this immersive, standards-based California history education event to even more Monterey County schools. It is also developing a Big Idea for older students: Donations will support the hiring of more teen interns, who not only help put on the Jamboree for younger students, but also gain valuable experience in museum education, public history and event coordination. “I got to go to the Gold Rush Jamboree with my class, and it was the best field trip ever! We panned for gold, made butter and saw a real blacksmith. I didn’t know history could be so fun! I learned a lot about how people lived a long time ago, and now I want to come back with my family. I think every kid in Monterey County should get to go—it’s like stepping into the past!” -Fourth-grader at Del Rey Elementary CAMERATA SINGERS Year Founded: 1982 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 2 paid, 12 volunteers Budget: $51,565 (831) 642-2701 camerata-singers.org BIG IDEA: Local audiences are able to experience live choral music performed by the Camerata Singers. But what about prospective audience members who cannot attend a concert? Twice a year, every spring and winter, this choral group brings music to skilled nursing facilities. Camerata Singers prepare an audience-participation portion of each of these special concerts, where participants vote on the group song and follow along with provided lyrics. Camerata Singers’ Big Idea brings concerts to residents of skilled nursing facilities, where they make music together. “When I received a call from you asking to perform for us, I was thrilled! I knew all our seniors would love hearing you. I was right. After the performance, I saw so many smiles from the seniors (and staff as well)! Your performance and letting us also sing some songs was the absolute best performance we have ever had in the building. Please, please come back for Christmas.” -José CARL CHERRY CENTER FOR THE ARTS Year Founded: 1948 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 2 paid, 89 volunteers Budget: $187,275 (831) 624-7491 carlcherrycenter.org BIG IDEA: For the last 77 years, the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts has invited the community into its “sanctuary of creativity.” Beyond staging concerts and plays and hosting art exhibits, local high schoolers become Cherry Center performers via its Big Idea: the Monterey County High School Poetry Awards. These awards are held annually in conjunction with Thinking Out Loud, the Cherry Center’s high school art exhibition. More than 1,300 high schoolers across Monterey County participate each year, ensuring this invitation to the public includes the next generation. “Thank you! I can’t tell you how much the Monterey County Poetry Awards impacted me! The classes and teaching were not just about learning metaphors of verse. The opportunity was also about finding the courage to read, create and find a voice. The program gave me confidence. It 26 Monterey County GIVES! 2025 mcgives.com ARTS & CULTURE DONATE ONLINE MCGIVES.COM “I didn’t know history could be so fun!” -Fourth-grader at Del Rey Elementary, Agricultural & Rural Life Museum ART ABILITIES Year Founded: 2022 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 8 paid, 23 volunteers Budget: $368,000 (831) 915-4611 artabilities.org BIG IDEA: Everyone can be an artist and benefit from cultivating creativity—and that includes adults and children with intellectual disabilities. Art Abilities offers classes in subjects from drawing and painting to clay work, textiles and dance. Participating artists create, market and sell their art, developing economic opportunities (not to mention pride) alongside new art skills for participating students. Art Abilities’ Big Idea has grown a lot in only three years and the group is not slowing down. Donations support this program’s Big Idea: to become a certified full-day program for students with disabilities enrolled in the San Andreas Regional Day Center. “Art Abilities is an exceptional place filled with patient, caring and responsible staff and volunteers. With his highly structured schedule, our son Colin eagerly anticipates his twice-weekly art classes. Colin initially required one-to-one assistance from staff members but now creates, explores and flourishes with increasing independence. This growth has enhanced his ability to manage not only his classroom experience but also his interactions within the broader community.” - Scott and Christina Seeley SPOTLIGHT
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