With support from the California Arts Council, EcoArts of Lake County DBA Middletown Art Center (MAC) will weave the arts into the fabric of life in an historically underserved county. We will ensure affordable, equitable, and inclusive access to meaningful arts and cultural programming. As we forge new partnerships and deepen relationships with artists and cultural practitioners, our collaborations will develop innovative strategies and programs that reduce barriers to participation and reach, engage, and uplift people of diverse cultures, backgrounds, and abilities across generations.
We celebrate local cultures and heritages to sustain and grow the inclusive arts landscape we have cultivated through art shared in exhibits, cultural exchanges, and at community events. We will keep our doors open as a vibrant arts and cultural hub, and one of the few arts resources in this region.
Community-focused, MAC offers a range of visual, cultural, literary, and performing arts programming to the people of rural Lake County. We prioritize cross-cultural exchange and engagement onsite and within underrepresented communities. We reach, serve, connect, and uplift people of diverse backgrounds and cultures in an economically challenged, geographically dispersed, and isolated region where arts resources are few.
Prioritizing community outreach, inclusion, and engagement, we offer free, community-engaged art at festivals and centers of activity in underrepresented communities. Events at MAC include cultural celebrations, concerts, dances, open mics, and readings. Cultural arts workshops and projects are collaboratively designed with and led by culture bearers and BIPOC artists. We offer workshops in visual arts, writing, drumming, and artists’ professional development (promotion/documentation). In partnership with Woodland Community College, MAC hosts accredited art classes.
MAC hosts field trips and initiates artist-in-schools programs. Students are exposed to contemporary art and cultural expressions through inquiry-based learning and creative arts expressions of understanding. Teachers are exposed to arts integration and students’ diverse learning modalities. Families have access to affordable summer art camps, homeschool, and after-school classes.
Artist opportunities include curated thematic exhibits, Art Talks, installations at the EcoArts Sculpture Walk at Trailside Park, promotion, documentation, and web presence. Musicians and poets can perform. Artists are invited to teach, submit public art proposals, and collaborate on project design. Youth are mentored in teaching, mural-making, event management, and promotion.
All engagement options are free, by donation, or low-cost to increase and ensure equitable access.
MAC has generated a burgeoning local art scene where artists and art appreciators coalesce. We have innovated, adapted, and responded to years of regional wildfires, seasonal power cuts, and COVID-19. We uplift Lake County’s diverse communities, celebrate our resilience, and strengthen our sense of interconnectedness through the power of the arts and shared cultural experiences.

