Moran & Duran. Sounds like a law firm or even a Vegas nightclub act. (But it’s still better than calling them The Two Johns.)
John Moran is a playwright, actor and arts activist, as well as the former proprietor of the late, still lamented Bacchus Deli, and currently an organizer for the Arts Council of Sonoma County.
John Duran once ran the also late, also lamented, Studio KAFE nightclub and cable radio station in downtown Santa Rosa. For years, he was a leader in the annual First Night celebrations downtown on New Year’s Eve.
Now they’re working together on the arts council’s latest effort to bring the county’s artists and arts groups together, and to bring public attention to local culture.
Over the past several summers, the arts council has staged countywide arts promotions by category: Sculpture Sonoma, Performance Sonoma and so on.
This year, the council is staging the most ambitious project yet, Arts Sonoma, a countywide collection of events and exhibits to run from late August through early October.
“What we’re saying to the artistic community is that not everything has to be in a preconceived place, time or format,” says Moran.
And, says Duran: “It’s about having people show up in places you expect and perform things you wouldn’t expect to see there.”
Examples? Dances in gas stations. Poetry on buses. Musicians on street corners.
“What we’re saying, if there is something that you want to do,” says Moran, “and if we think it stretches the boundaries of art, then we’ll try to help with funding.”
To apply, go to http://www.artssonoma.com/app.php. The deadline for the printed program for Arts Sonoma is early June, but the application process will be ongoing.
Arts Sonoma will also embrace the county’s existing arts events during late summer and early fall.
“We’re cataloging things that are already being planned,” Duran says, “and we’re building a web site that lists a thousand events that’ll be going on during that time. Then, in addition, we’re contracting with artists to fill in the gaps and the holes.”
