Capital City Arts Initiative Director Sharon Rosse stands with Margaret Stillwell’s oil painting ‘Purrfect Peace’ in the Carson City Community Center Robert Crowell Board Room.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.
Update: The original story incorrectly stated Capital City Arts Initiative board was paid and received stipends. A correction was made to reflect that CCAI provides honoraria to the artists it presents, which represents 16% of the budget. Program production totaling 13%, marketing costs of 16% and staff fees of 55% complete the expense list.
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The artwork hung in the Carson City Community Center’s Robert Crowell Board Room is larger in scale than in years past and offers more color for the city frequented meeting space. Paintings and photos mounted on its walls help to breathe life among often serious presentations and discussions.
“When we first talked about doing work in here we thought, ‘Oh, you know, it's locked all the time,’” Capital City Arts Initiative Director Sharon Rosse said. “Well, they get amazing amounts of people in here. And we sort of flatter ourselves that sometimes they might be bored in the meeting and they can sit and they can look at the art on the walls. But we don't say that out loud.”
The CCAI has announced Rosse will retire from her position Oct. 1 and with her departure the nonprofit organization dedicated to the contemporary visual arts and programs for 22 years will close.
“It’s time,” Rosse said. “It’s been wonderful.”
The challenge in looking back at CCAI’s accomplishments is choosing a few favorite works of art or moments of celebration.
But funding has dried up and leaves CCAI with a modest budget of $70,000 per year. The CCAI board receives a portion of its $70,000 annual budget. CCAI provides honoraria to the artists it presents, which represents 16% of the budget. Program production totaling 13%, marketing costs of 16% and staff fees of 55% complete the expense list.
This amount pays small stipends for the nonprofit’s five board members and Assistant Director Christel Passink.
“Our very first grant was from Nevada Humanities, and then we've gotten consistent grants from humanities and from the Nevada Arts Council,” Rosse said. “But if their grants were triple in size that we got them maybe, but you know, it just wasn't there.”
An advisory board representing various industries also has encouraged involvement in programs, partner schools and exhibitions and through memberships.
Rosse majored in visual arts at the University of Nevada, Reno and began creating her own work. She opened an art gallery at the Western Nevada College.
In 2002, the CCAI launched and has held 186 exhibitions, published 69 essays detailing artists’ processes and shared 84 videos on YouTube. The videos continued displaying the artwork and sharing stories virtually when the pandemic closed facility access to galleries in 2020.
“We started doing videos when COVID hit because we were still hanging shows and the buildings were closed,” Rosse said. “So we got 84 up and we’ve got three more we’ve recorded that are in the process of being edited.”
CCAI also still has five more galleries to exhibit before its closure, Rosse said.
Glenn Clemmer, who has served on the board for CCAI’s entirety, said it’s been gratifying. He called Rosse the “memory bank” for the nonprofit, remembering everyone by name in her interactions.
“I’ve worked with Sharon, who has just a rather incredible of job of maintaining and working on all the seats of developing with CCAI … with a majority of the work constantly writing grants, getting the proposals, constantly on the ground and developing new ideas,” Clemmer said. “It’s been an awful lot of fun. I’m not an artist, but I can be supportive here and there.”
Whether the CCAI hosted student or professional galleries, all the collaboration it fostered throughout the years was special especially in encouraging young talent.
“It’s so sweet when the kids walk in the door and they have Mom and Dad and Auntie and siblings with them,” Rosse said. “And they'll sort of walk in the door and their eyes are big and they just stand there. They don't know what to do. They said, ‘Come on in.’ They'll find your work, go show your parents where your work is, but they they're just sort of shy.”
Current exhibitions are “Wild” featuring photography by Heather Nicole and Andrew Strom in the Carson City Courthouse Gallery through June 10; “Desert Whispers” by Anne Hoff in WNC’s Bristlecone Gallery through April 9; “Photo Finished 2025” featuring advanced photography by 14 Carson High School students in Carson’s Community Development building known as the “Brick” through March 20; and the Crowell Board Room now has artwork by 28 artists that were juried and chosen for the Nevada Artists Association Invitational.
“This (NAA) show is the second time we've done this,” Rosse said in the Crowell room. “We did it last year and it was so much fun immediately as everybody brought everything in. We just said we have to do this again. … It’s very accomplished work, but there’s a wide range of subjects in media, so I think that works well in this room.”
Rosse said the visual arts and the stories that support them serve as important enrichment and public education.
“The cultural life of a community is very, very important,” Rosse said. “It's the beating heart of a community. So you can't have a lively environment with just roads and paperwork and buildings, and you have to have a lifeblood of a community to help energize everyone there.”