During the 24 hours of Big Day of Giving (BDOG) on May 6, Davis Media Acccess and KDRT received close to 100 donations, and we exceeded our 24-hour goal for the second year in a row. Thank you for the generous support of our community media! In Yolo County, 98 nonprofits received $1.5 million -- up 75% from the pre-pandemic 2019 figures, according to the Yolo Community Foundation.
DAVIS, Calif. (April 19, 2021) — The popular Picnic Day Parade and the Davis Children’s Christmas Parade were canceled by the pandemic. But the community is invited to enjoy a do-it-yourself parade Saturday, April 24, to honor Davis Enterprise columnist and sportswriter Bob Dunning on his 51-plus years with the newspaper.
By Wendy Weitzel for the Davis Enterprise (April 15, 2021) Local artists continue connecting and sharing their craft, knowing their voice is amplified when they work together. That was the message April 8, 2021 at a virtual meeting of Arts Alliance Davis. The 18 attendees heard first about the newly formed Sacramento Alliance for Regional Arts. The nonprofit promotes and advocates for arts, art education and cultural equity in the greater Sacramento region.
Excitement is building for vaccine availability and the prospect of life beginning to return to normal. I’m starting to field many questions about when Davis Media Access will “reopen,” and would like to take this opportunity to address a number of them in one place. Some things to know:
A celebration of Bob Dunning's unprecedented career at The Davis Enterprise on Friday April 9 at 4pm. The presentation includes his early years in Davis, covering community and UC Davis sports, writing a widely-read newspaper column, supporting community activities and raising a family. Special appearances by friends, elected officials and community members. Hosted by Bob Bowen, set a reminder and watch the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8JQBnfTOAc
As the name implies, Davis Media Access (DMA) is a community media center, but it’s generally classified under the larger umbrella of arts and culture organizations. This is one of those things that has bearing as we apply for grants, but it also plays out in our day-to-day work, as we teach both media technology and media arts.
One of the hats I wear in our community is as chair of Arts Alliance Davis. We're a coalition of arts-minded folks from all around Yolo County: we're artists, we staff diverse arts organizations, and we promote arts opportunities. In normal times, we meet approximately six times per year to network and strengthen the arts in Davis and beyond. I love this role, as I’ve learned much about many hidden gems (people and places) across Yolo County.
It’s been an excruciatingly hard year for many of our participating organizations and artists. As Julie Baker of CA Arts Advocates recently noted on Facebook, “From the CA $227 billion budget, CA is in good shape financially with a $15 billion projected surplus. Preliminary read for creative industries, looks like state arts agency stays around the same with $25 million for Cultural Institutions in grants in the next round of $575 million for small businesses.
“It is a start but considering the devastation to the creative industries as compared to our economic impact pre-COVID (larger than that of both construction and transportation) it is simply not enough,” Baker said.
This month marks 23 years that I’ve written this column in The Davis Enterprise, which has allowed me and many others to write about nonprofits, businesses, lifestyle, arts, climate, culture, and more, for decades.
The City of Davis will honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a virtual celebration including highlights of speakers and entertainment from past years recorded and archived by Davis Media Access. It also contains current messages from local youth, as well as an introduction from Mayor Gloria Partida. It first airs at 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, via the City of Davis website at www.cityofdavis.org where it will be available through the end of the month.
Tuesday, December 22, we rebuilt our computer automation system. And, due to the pandemic, we are currently limiting studio access. Which meant we turned off our transmitter while we did the work. If you heard intermittant periods of no broadcast, that was why- things are back to normal at this time!
Please consider a year end donation to your locally owned, locally operated, all volunteer programmed, low power radio station- go to https://kdrt.org/donate - any donation goes to keep the station on the air!
A beloved local tradition - the "Home for the Holidays" concert - continues this year streaming online. The event will be simulcast Thursday December 17 at 7 PM on KDRT 95.7 FM and DCTV Channel 15, and will be available for video and audio streaming at kdrt.org ( a link will be provided there the day of the show). Concert producer Bill Fairfield has brought together many returning favorite local musicians, as well as adding some new special guests to this year's video program.
