PETALUMA, CA — On Saturday, April 17th, from 3 to 6 pm, 350 Petaluma and the Petaluma Arts Center will co-host an Earth Day celebration at the Petaluma Arts Center, located at 230 Lakeville Street in the historic Railroad Depot Freight Building, next door to the Petaluma Visitors Center.

With a focus on kids and youth, this “Climate Action Adds Up” event has the goal of adding voices of all ages and raising more awareness about the climate crisis. The event organizers hope to inspire our community to take climate actions in large and small ways.

This event is also part of the next chapter of the Petaluma Arts Center’s successful community outreach program DEEDS: Art as Action. Historically Petaluma Arts Center continues to draw from the precepts of social movements and the creative voices that have been key driving forces behind them. Building on last year’s successful Get Out And Vote campaign, this new campaign will address climate change and is entitled ACT: Climate Action Now. Petaluma Arts Center is partnering with 350 Petaluma to actively engage our community in an ambitious campaign to raise awareness of how together we can mitigate climate change and to “think globally and act locally.”

The event will include a drum circle led by Kim Atkinson from 3 to 4 pm, followed by a climate poetry slam at 4:30 pm. Throughout the afternoon, kids, youth, and the entire community are invited to participate in a variety of ways to express creative messages to raise awareness and inspire our community to address the climate crisis —from making postcard Pledges to the Planet to drawing messages to Earth on seeded paper that can be planted later at home to creating sidewalk chalk art to painting posters for the social sculpture, the Talking Fence.

On Earth Day, Thursday - April 22nd, from 3 to 6 pm, the Petaluma Arts Center will again provide a space for celebration where visitors can view the new climate artworks installed on the exterior of Petaluma Arts Center and winning poetry from the climate poetry slam added to the Talking Fence. All participants will continue to be invited to add their voice to the collective call for climate action on the Talking Fence. Both events will be outdoors and follow current pandemic protocols to help keep participants safe. “We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to collaborate with the Petaluma Arts Center,” said Annie Stuart, a member of the 350 Petaluma steering committee. “We’re fortunate that Petaluma Arts Center is finding creative ways to help our community become more climate aware and climate active. The time for climate action is now and we all can make a difference.”

About 350

Petaluma 350 Petaluma is an all-volunteer, grassroots group inspired by 350.org, an international climate action organization. With a deep love for Petaluma and the planet, we organize locally to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, advocate for climate-safe policies, and help build a regenerative future that is socially just and economically fair.

About the Petaluma Arts Center

The Petaluma Arts Center is dedicated to building community through art. The Petaluma Arts Council began in June 1998, as a grassroots effort to acknowledge and celebrate local artists and their contributions and to involve the whole community in appreciation, involvement, and recognition of art as an enriching component of our daily lives. Ten years later—in September 2008—with the support of the City of Petaluma and a particularly generous donor, the Petaluma Arts Council opened the Arts Center, a 4,500 square foot facility located in the historic Railroad Depot Freight Building, next door to the Petaluma Visitors Center.