Community Outreach

Some of our recent projects include:

Park Improvement

Over the years, the Festival has contributed towards enhancements of Old Mill Park that can be enjoyed all year long, not just during the Festival. Some of the projects are the Main Stage seating area, improvements to the stage itself, the cement ramp located in the lower park, and (importantly!) the restrooms.

Children's Art and Activity

Core to our Festival is helping children learn to find joy in, and appreciate the power of the arts. We believe part of that is letting them "get their hands dirty". In 2017 we established an interactive children's art activity program that lets hundreds of children each year experience excitement of art creation.We are always looking for more opportunities to deepen our impact and improve our diversity. If you have ideas, let us know!

Emerging Artist Scholarship Fund

In 2010 we established a scholarship program for Tamalpais High School students who excel in the arts. $500 awards are given to two senior Advanced Placement Studio Art students and $250 awards are given to two juniors in either 2D Design, Drawing or 3D portfolio. Unlike most scholarships that go to the institution, our awards go directly to the student to be used for tuition, art supplies and encourage them along the path to becoming artists.

The 2021 Scholarship recipients. Their stories:

Luke Osborn (Senior)
"Creating art is an insatiable itch. So, I've devised a simple solution. I don't stop scratching. Every summer I attend an art program to learn new techniques and hone in my artistic skills. And when I'm not attending an art program, I challenge myself to make art every single day. Each time marking my progress on a calendar, never letting myself break the chain. I do this because I fear the alternative. Taking a day off without putting my hand to paper, I seem to lose some sense of self. It's a difficult feeling to describe, but to put it simply, I feel the day is incomplete. I could run a marathon, do an hour of meditation, and eat all 13 essential vitamins, but if I didn't create something, I would still feel like I hadn't been productive that day. This feeling drives me into a malaise. I make art because I'm scared of what I might become if I didn't."

Lindsey Tenaglia (Senior)
"Down to my roots I like to consider myself a storyteller and I feel a lot of my work often reflects that. I do what I call 'one frame stories' which is essentially me trying to convey a story with a singular piece. In my pieces, I like to focus on capturing tone and mood more than anything else to convey what a character might be feeling without having to use any words. Color theory and composition are other aspects of my work that I love to experiment with as well so I try to incorporate it into each piece I create. "

Natalie Nong (Junior)
"I make fantasy style artworks that tells stories of my own original characters. I love storytelling through visual means and I try to draw characters of color to represent the people in my life and the communities that I am a part of. I believe representation in artwork is extremely important and I rarely ever see characters of color in fantasy stories which is something I would like to change. I also love creating environments that are colorful or are inspired by places that I have been before such as Vietnam which is where my family is from. Art been a significant part of my life since middle school and has helped me grow in personal ways as well. I have also made artwork that is meaningful to me and that has helped me use my voice to speak out about issues that are important. I would like to pursue a career in art, possibly illustration or concept art, and be able to create more artworks that are meaningful to me and that I can share with others."

Fiona McDermott (Junior)
"I started off drawing multicolored dragons in elementary school with whatever colored pencils I could get my hands on. I checked out art books from the library and sketched what I found inside, or used the images as inspiration to create something unique. I filled sketchbooks and the margins of my homework with an ever expanding menagerie of mythical creatures. I can’t remember the singular moment where childish creativity bloomed into purposeful creation, but I do remember when I first started drawing digitally on my iPad right around the beginning of high school. It was obviously a shift from what I’d been used to, but one that I had sought out ever since I’d first put stylus to screen. I’d finally found an art medium that I felt I could use to capture the scattered daydreams and ideas that circle my mind endlessly. It took years and multiple different programs, but with every piece I worked through and finished, I learned something new. As with all of art, it was and continues to be a journey to an unknowable end."

We are always looking for more opportunities to deepen our impact and improve our diversity. If you have ideas, let us know!