Guest Host Cheryl Gleason interviews Marsha Mason, artist/treasurer Rancho Cordova Arts

Arts and Entertainment: Rancho Cordova is known as the "City of Events" and houses one of the best Art Complex in our region The MACC. The City has its own orchestra, Symphony D'oro, a Swing Dance Band, a Black Box Theatre, and features one of the largest July 4th fireworks displays in the region, and a whole slate of large outdoor events.

Every month Director/ Curator of The MACC, Cheryl Gleason speaks to visual artists, musicians, actors, theatre groups as well as other notable influencers in the art scene in the Sacramento Region.

It is not uncommon to hear people marvel at the explosion of the arts in Rancho Cordova, and for good reason. Where ever you go in our city, you are likely to experience a bit of art – whether painted on the side of a utility box, as music heard wafting through a grocery store or enjoyed during a casual wander through the Mills Station Arts and Culture Center.

 It’s true that the arts have continued to grow in Rancho Cordova in so many ways that it is easy to forget that it has been only 10 years since this spark was ignited, and how the wonderful Marsha Mason has guided it to success.

Marsha brought a background as a landscape architect with experience running large programs in the public sector to Rancho Cordova’s newborn arts movement back in 2012. She was CEO of Sites Pacific, Inc., a landscape architectural firm specializing in public works projects and visual impact assessments. She taught landscape architecture courses as a lecturer at U.C. Davis. Marsha served as President of the Sierra Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, was a founder of WalkSacramento.

 Those skills all come together in 2012 as Marsha joined a small group of local artists to work with the Cordova Community Council to form what has become known as “Rancho Cordova Arts.” That year, the first City Hall exhibit launched with a fine art exhibit of local artists aptly named “Genesis.”

Most artists are content – and prefer -- to simply work on their art, but Marsha is not like most artists. Understanding the importance of having an organization of people committed to an artistic future, she rolled up her sleeves to accomplish less glamourous foundational tasks like creating a non-profit organization, developing a website, creating a newsletter and focusing artistic energy in the community to produce memorable art events.