Sonoma County
Emerging Artist Awards 2008

It’s one program with two benefits. The Sonoma County Artist Awards boost the reputations of working artists early in their careers, and raise public awareness of local arts. The awards are a collaboration of the arts community, with leadership from the county’s Arts Council and Community Foundation.

A stunning catalog showcases the 2008 visual arts award winners. They were drawn from a cadre of nearly 100 eligible artists. A panel of area curators and art professionals narrowed the list of applicants before a set of outside experts from the Bay Area chose the three winners: Julie Cavaz, Sarah Frieberg and Geirrod Van Dyke. Each received a $5,000 award—the largest available to individual artists in Sonoma County.

A public celebration of arts and artists

In Sonoma County fashion, the artists were celebrated in a creative light. The three award winners enjoyed their first museum opening on a spring Saturday evening. Earlier that day, 32 of the nominated artists were honored through an invitational exhibit sponsored by the City of Santa Rosa. It took place in Courthouse Square.

“It was accompanied by wild and wooly entertainment—stilt walkers, fire dancers, hip-hop demonstrations,” reported Melissa Kester, Arts Development Officer for Community Foundation Sonoma County. “A marching band then led the way to the Sonoma County Museum reception two blocks away, where the three winners’ work was being shown.”

The biennial Artist Awards have been so well received that, in 2009, the Community Foundation and Arts Council of Sonoma County are adding another award to encompass performing, music and literary arts.

This program was begun through Communities Advancing the Arts, a major funding initiative of The James Irvine Foundation.

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