Arts Corner

Arts Corner – Mayor’s Ball for the Arts

Contributed by Rachael Dzikonski, Executive Director, Riverside Arts Council

After a busy month of Riverside Arts & Culture Month, we find ourselves in California Arts & Culture month to continue the celebration of the arts and culture our state has to offer. In California alone, the arts and culture industry make up 7% of our economy, around the same percentage as agriculture. We can be proud to live in a state, county, and city that recognizes and supports the arts and culture as an integral part of our daily lives. Last month, on March 23rd at Riverside’s Main Library, the Riverside Arts Council held the first Mayor’s Ball for the Arts after a decade-long hiatus, with a new goal of spotlighting the passionate artists and arts community we have in Riverside and the accomplishments they made in 2023.

After a month of soliciting nominations from the community, the top nominees were added to a ballot for the community to cast their votes and after receiving over 1,200 votes, we had our winners!  Winning artists were announced at the Mayor’s Ball for the Arts, hosted by the Riverside Arts Council and the honorable Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson. The ballot categories and nominees (in order of 1st – 5th) include:

Public Art: Historic Mural by Tiffany Brooks; Casa Blanca Mural by Juan Navarro; Rise! Mosaic Mural by Erin Maroufkhani, Rochelle Kanatzar, Shea Tracey & more; Grandmother murals by Denise Silva at the libraries; and Sunnyside & De Anza Mural by Raymond Argumedo.

Art Based Event: Day of the Dead by Division 9 Gallery; Riverside Art Market by Riverside Art Museum; Inland Empire Dance Festival by Inland Empire Contemporary Ballet, INC.; Art After Dark by Riverside Community Arts Association; and Love with Joy Art Club by Cynthia Huerta;

Musical Performance: Jazz Junkies; El Santo Golpe; Quitapenas; Dan Bernstein; and Deladeso.

Theatre Performance: Ramona High School Theater; Tropicaleiza Dance + Drum Co.; Beauty & the Beast at Fox Theater; Riverside Community Players; and Full Circle Players.

Dance Performance: Ballet Folklorico Riverside; The Limonadas; SALT Dance Studio; PLACE Performance; and Makeda Kumasi.

Literary Arts: Riverside Main Library; Inlandia Institute; Evan Turk; Susan Straight; and Ellen Estilai;

Art Facility: Riverside Community Arts Association; Division 9 Gallery; UCR ARTS; Eastside Arthouse; Mudhut Pottery Studio; and Pain Sugar Gallery.

Wild Card: Bonominio Park Skate Park Street Art; Jesus Aleman@succs2byou; Denise Kraemer; Creative Corps Inland SoCal; La Sierra Traffic Signal Pilot Program.

The Riverside Arts Council and the City of Riverside had 3 more categories of awards: Creative Revolutionaries which was awarded to The Cheech and Cosme Cordova; Emerging Artist awarded to Rosy Cortez; and Community Champion awarded to Erin Maroufkhani.

A special recognition was made in memoriam of David St. Pierre and Ofelia Yeager-Valdez for their contributions to the Riverside Arts Community which they cherished.

We look forward to experiencing the continued growth and impact that our community has made through the arts and culture and to seeing who the community chooses to celebrate next year!