El Dorado County wants to build arts community
By Carlos Alcalá, Sacramento Bee
Placerville won’t be Carmel-ized any time soon, but supporters are looking to turn El Dorado County into a region known as much for arts as for history and scenery.
In time, they hope, people will not only come to the area for special events, but will jump off Highway 50 because they know that art abounds in the region.
The El Dorado Arts Council this week rolled out the results of its first-ever Arts Census, a survey of scores of individual artists, arts businesses and businesses that may use arts incidentally.
Aiming to gauge the economic climate for the arts, the survey came up with results that surprised some people.
For example, they identified nearly 200 art-related businesses or individuals and found that the arts constitute one of just eight growth sectors in the El Dorado County economy.
“I hadn’t realized it was such a huge force in the area,” said Elke Schlosser, owner of Enchanted April, a bed-and-breakfast inn in Pilot Hill.