City Council Memorandum
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DATE: MARCH 22, 2022 FROM: MUSEUM DEPARTMENT WARDS: ALL
SUBJECT: COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMMING UPDATE
ISSUE:
Receive and file an update and presentation on Riverside-based collaborative public programming.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council receive and file an update and presentation on Riverside-based collaborative public programming.
BACKGROUND:
For many years, Riverside-based cultural organizations and their colleagues in neighboring communities have informally met to identify shared interests and develop related programming in collaboration. In 2018, for example, a multi-organization program series centered on citrus-related exhibitions mounted by the Mission Inn Museum and the San Bernardino County Museum took place over several months. In 2020, a program series centered on the centenary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving U.S. women the right to vote was in the works when the COVID-19 pandemic forced program cancellations. Organization leaders continue to meet periodically to identify shared programming and marketing opportunities.
DISCUSSION:
In late 2021, leaders of several cultural organizations recognized that many were planning programming related either intimately or tangentially to local civil rights stories. Riverside has a long and unique civil rights history, and many of its stories relate to success and triumph for historically marginalized groups.
Knowing that the grand openings of both the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture and the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California were projected for 2022, it was determined that related programs offered by all organizations would be marketed and promoted together under a series title “In/VISIBLE, Un/HEARD: Riverside’s Civil Rights Stories.” Organizations participating directly or offering support to coordinate these programs include:
Black Voice News
Center for Social Justice and Civil Liberties, Riverside Community College District Empower You Edutainment in partnership with Second Birth Church Fox Theater Foundation
Inlandia Institute
Jensen-Alvarado Historic Ranch, Riverside County Parks
Mission Inn Museum
Museum of Riverside, City of Riverside
Riverside Art Museum and the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture Riverside Public Library, City of Riverside
Trujillo Adobe, Spanish Town Heritage Foundation
UCR Arts, Culver Center for the Arts
UCR Library and Rare Book School
Programs are scheduled throughout 2022 and include exhibitions, performances, lectures, and events. Most programs are free of charge, and many are held outdoors. Organizers have worked to reduce or eliminate barriers to participation.
Several of the organizations listed above are collaborating on a single program on April 9, 2022, a self-guided auto tour to experience short performances at several civil rights sites. This particular program is supported by a contribution from Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel as well as the programming budgets of all participating organizations.
In/VISIBLE, Un/HEARD marketing will be continually updated as the year progresses to reflect new related programming that may be confirmed for later in 2022.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT:
This item contributes to Strategic Priority No. 1 Arts, Culture and Recreation and Goal No. 1.2 – enhance equitable access to arts, culture, entertainment and recreational service offerings and facilties.
This item aligns with each of the five Cross-Cutting Threads as follows:
Community Trust – Confronting and interpreting histories that can be uncomfortable to examine is a duty of historians and cultural interpreters. Community trust is built when programs are developed in good faith with broad participation and designed to foreground marginalized populations, the realities of their experience, and their achievements.
Equity – Participating City departments (Museum, Library) strive to develop programs inclusively that draw upon the unique experience of a broad range of the local population.
Fiscal Responsibility – Programs are developed within the scope of available budgets and with additional support from non-City sources. Non-City partner organizations each cover their own program costs.
Innovation – Collaborative aspects of this program series offer models for future partnerships and achieve economies of scale in promotion and resources use. Performative programs are innovative examples of educational approaches that can support the schools as they work to meet ethnic studies teaching mandates.
Sustainability & Resiliency – Telling and retelling historic stories through multiple contemporary lenses ensures that unique local narratives are preserved and kept relevant, and that the lessons history contains are not forgotten. Multi-cultural programming supports the missions of all participating organizations.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with receiving this report.
Riverside County Supervisor support in the amount of $2,500 was solicited and accepted on behalf of the collaborative program by the Riverside Museum Associates, a 501(c)(3) organization supporting the Museum of Riverside.
Prepared by: Robyn G. Peterson, Ph.D., Museum Director
Certified as to
availability of funds: Edward Enriquez, Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer Approved by: Lea Deesing, Assistant City Manager
Approved as to form: Phaedra A. Norton, City Attorney
Attachment: Presentation, In/VISIBLE, Un/HEARD programming Collaborative Regional Public Programming ● Page 3