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To guide the evolution of local creatives, the Public Arts Advisory Committee (PAAC) in Twentynine Palms created a mentorship program benefitting the entire community.
But first came Workshop29, a series of arts and culture classes that began in October 2023 and ran through March of this year. The four unique workshops featured ecology through dance; storytelling for People of Color + LGBTQ+; voter activism through music and singing; and emotional transformation through sculpture.
Woven through the workshops, the mentorship program was designed to build the next generation of creative leaders in Twentynine Palms. The Workshop29 Mentorship Program of an adults-only program that was funded in part by the California Arts Council, and a grant from the Inland SoCal Creative Corps, via the Inland Empire Community Foundation.
With six mentors and nine mentees, the program aims to share knowledge and experience with those forging their own artistic paths. The program features coaching and classes on submitting successful grant applications, conducting community outreach, outlining budgets, and developing arts programming.
PAAC Vice-Chair and Mentor Program Manager Kate Short explains: “Basically, we’re hoping to create a larger pool of people who are interested in being involved and with that involvement then we can grow the arts in our community more,” says Short. “In general, we want to be able to continue this type of programming in Twentynine Palms and the way to do that is to get more people in our community involved and to be able to find funding to make it happen. We were really lucky to get this $100K grant and we pushed that money as far as we could and we’re really hoping that that will springboard us into being able to do more for our community.”
Unique projects are now emerging from the program as mentee visions are coming to life. Short is mentoring Brianna Dandurand to create an after-school teen center at Patriotic Hall in Luckie Park. Dandurand talked about her experience as a mentee and what she gained from the program.
“It also gave me tons of confidence in my art capabilities and my, y’know, planning capabilities that I did not have before,” says Durand. “I mean, since the start of this program, I went from working full-time at the laundromat and doing my art part-time and now doing my art full-time. I get to do this awesome teen arts program too.”
Short is also mentoring Kat Roberts who is putting together a craft/crochet art show for the Twentynine Palms Visitors center, her first curated show. Roberts, a lifelong resident of Twentynine Palms, was recently the librarian at the Marine base and now assists former soldiers transition back to civilian life.
There are nine mentees in the program – two for each workshop – plus one person, Graham Kolbeins, working with the workshop videographer as a mentee in filming.
Kolbeins and his partner made a film starring Lady Chillaine and initially planned to submit to various film festivals before realizing they could instead create their own festival while making history at the same time.
“Actually, one of the big things that’s come out of the program for me, is they encouraged us to start a local project. And my boyfriend, Jonathan Cuilliton, and I have started the 29 Queer Film Festival and we’re applying for a TBID grant right now and we’re hoping to make the events debut this fall. So that’s just something that I don’t think I would have tried to do if I hadn’t gotten the encouragement and push from people within Workshop29.”
