All In
What does “accessible” really mean? A diverse group of theater artists have the answer.
“It’s not just ramps and handrails,” says Jim Brown, a longtime volunteer with Short Center Repertory, a public outreach program of the Developmental Disabilities Service Organization.
“In this instance, accessible refers to the audience experience, as well as the performers’ experience,” he says. “Getting involved with this has really made me so aware of the ways in which we seldom accommodate people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and low vision.”
Out And About August 2024
Find out what is happening in Sacramento during the month of August!
Page Turners
If you want to be overwhelmed—in a good way—visit the Book Den warehouse.
The unassuming building on Belvedere Avenue is a booklover’s paradise, where thousands of donated books organized into genres await readers.
“It just hooks you,” says Diane Sabo, Book Den’s volunteer coordinator. “And if you like books, it’ll hook you even more.”
Book Den is volunteer-run and operated by Friends of the Sacramento Public Library. Sales of used books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks and computer games support the library and many community groups.
Fully Engaged
Jessica Wimbley is “busy in the best of ways—the way you dream you could be as an artist.”
As an interdisciplinary artist and curator, Wimbley works on multiple projects, from billboards and video installations to collages and portraits.
“I don’t see an artist as solely fixed to working in a specific medium and producing fine art objects,” says Wimbley, who lives in Midtown and holds degrees in painting, visual arts and arts management.
“Being a contemporary artist, I’m constantly learning and finding ways art can bridge different discussions, communities, people and ways of thinking,” she says.
Career Change
Roger Jones has a thicket of trees named for him. It’s called Rawge’s Grove, situated in the Bufferlands natural habitat refuge on the outskirts of the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant in Elk Grove.
Rawge’s Grove—a nod to Jones’ nickname—is part of the 2,150-acre Bufferlands. The grove honors the man who helped create the barrier between the treatment facility and surrounding neighborhoods.
In 1990, when Jones was a young wildlife biologist from UC Davis, he was hired to oversee the area’s habitat restoration.
