The Deep Valley Arts Collective is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a General Operating Support Grant of $51,000 from the California Arts Council during its final grant cycle of 2023.

Casey Thompson, a Ukiah native, began collecting vinyl as a freshman in 1994. It’s taken a few years, but now Thompson has a substantial collection and will display a unique subsection of his albums at Medium Gallery this coming Friday. The record display is a slice of local history- albums produced or recorded in the county and some artists that resided here.

“We were just awarded our first major grant on the two-year anniversary of the opening of our gallery,” explains Chris Pugh, Vice-President of the Board of the Deep Valley Arts Collective- the non-profit organization that operates the Medium Gallery, located in the Pear Tree Shopping Center.

Today, Upstate California Creative Corps announced a grant award of $33,198 to the Deep Valley Arts Collective as part of a new pilot program serving California’s most vulnerable communities and environments, its least represented peoples, and some of society’s most critical issues.

It took nearly five years to come to fruition, but this week, a small group of Ukiah artists and community members have a lot to celebrate. On First Friday, July 1, the Deep Valley Arts Collective – founders and creators of the Medium Art Gallery – will be celebrating their first anniversary.

The inland arts community lost a legend on Sunday, Feb. 20 with the death of longtime Ukiah resident Adele Foster Pruitt. An acquaintance discovered Pruitt had passed when she entered her apartment to assist with chores.

A new exhibit featuring collage art opened at Medium Art Gallery in Ukiah last week during the February First Friday Art Walk. Titled Cut & Paste, the exhibition features over 60 pieces from a style of art that doesn’t usually take center stage.

For years, a changing group of local residents gathered with a shared purpose of creating more opportunities for artists to create and display their work. At this month’s First Friday Art Walk, the public will have an op- portunity to celebrate the efforts of three of those individuals who are supporting artists and pre- senting art — lots of it — to the Ukiah area.