September 8, 2025
How Sacramento Is Investing in Creativity
Comstock’s Magazine
By Eric Schucht
The EveryDay Creative program, operated by the community development cooperation CLTRE, is one of a handful of initiatives the OAC has funded in recent years aimed at growing the creative economy, which is typically thought of as all businesses making or selling cultural goods or services. More than 100 people applied, and 20 were selected. Among the chosen entrepreneurs were a bookstore owner, a podcast producer, a dance instructor and a fashion designer. Also in the group were two marketing agencies and a retailer who sells mushroom-growing kits. Each received a grant up to $5,000. It’s a deviation from who OAC has historically funded.
Others in the arts think OAC should prioritize its new efforts that directly support creatives. Shira Lane is the founder of Atrium 916, a Sacramento nonprofit that provides programs, resources and a marketplace and business incubator for artists, with emphasis on sustainability. A decade ago, Lane said local artists in Sacramento had a “bitter relationship” with the city because they felt it mainly supported the region’s nonprofits to their exclusion. The focus on economic development changed those perceptions. “We are in a new era now,” Lane says.
From an administrator’s perspective, Lane said, it’s always been easier to award a grant to a nonprofit over an individual because they have the resources to manage the bureaucracy. Giving large sums of cash to a single artist is risky because they could lack the time or financial literacy to handle paperwork properly. Working with them comes with an increased administrative burden, and she commends the OAC for taking it on. “I’m looking at it from the lens of my creatives,” Lane says. “They now feel love from the city of Sacramento. They feel seen, which was very different years ago when they just felt insignificant.”
As for the most recent EveryDay Creative cohort, Lane sees how entrepreneurs like the two marketing firms in the program could be considered creative businesses. That said, she wishes the group had more folks explicitly involved in arts and culture. “There was a little bit that was out of the scope. I really was hoping to see a little bit more in the scope,” Lane says.