TRUCKEE ARTS ALLIANCE

Truckee Arts Alliance is a collaborative of artists across all disciplines inviting community stakeholders who believe in the role of the arts as a lever for change. It is fiscally sponsored by Nevada County Arts Council.

Truckee Arts Alliance formed at a critical moment in California’s recognition of arts as a lever for societal change, and particularly creative placemaking as a tool for community development, following the passing of Assembly Bill 189. We partnered with a key group of cultural leaders in early 2016 to highlight the potential for Truckee in preparing an application for the new California Cultural District Program. Nevada County Arts Council worked with Truckee Arts Alliance to forge a partnership with Truckee Public Arts Commission, the Town of Truckee and Truckee Chamber of Commerce and, in 2017 successfully gained state designation as Truckee Cultural District.

Following Truckee Cultural District’s state designation, we agreed three key areas of work, to be achieved in collaboration with our partners:  

• A Public Art Master Plan as part of the Town of Truckee’s General Plan, and as a first step towards supporting an overall county-wide Cultural Plan process that integrates the vision for both Truckee and Grass Valley-Nevada City Cultural Districts. 

• In partnership with Truckee Chamber of Commerce the creation of collateral material for Truckee Cultural District

• To encourage an effective organizational / communication structure for Truckee Cultural District which promotes diversity of representation and stakeholder engagement.

Truckee Arts Alliance works closely, as part of the Truckee Cultural District advisory team, with the Town of Truckee, Truckee Public Arts Commission, Truckee Chamber of Commerce and us, Nevada County Arts Council and supports Nevada County Arts Council’s efforts to engage and promote the Truckee arts community.

Sara Smith, Co-Chair

Sara is a full time, lifelong artist, living in and serving the Truckee-Tahoe area. She is a long time professional fine artist specializing in environmentally inspired gallery work, large scale mural installations and community collaboration public art projects. She creates unique, well researched, multi-layered works and when she’s not painting, will be strategizing for Truckee Cultural District.

Lauren O’Brien, Co-Chair

Lauren co-founded Truckee Arts Alliance in 2015 with Robie Litchfield, current board member at Truckee Public Arts Commission. Lauren is Chair of the Board of Directors for the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation and Vice-President of Operations at Venture Beat in San Francisco, before which she served as CEO at Shift Communications and Consulting and Principal Consultant at Jumpstart Marketing. She is a long-time Truckee resident, combining a love for the arts with the outdoor living that the High Sierra is known for.