The Sonoma Community Center Podcast

Nao Kobayashi Is a interdisciplinary artist and 2024 Trashion Fashion "Most Theatrical" Designer . She explores expressional and contemplative art through puppetry, costume, butoh dance and performance. She shares her story of feeling like an outsider in Japan and America and finding her voice through performance art and mindful expression. She continues her ongoing expansive journey to cross bord...

Haylie Jimenez is the 2024 Sonoma Ceramics ceramics artist in residence ( SCC program) and she's the visual  arts bada**  you you want to be when you grow up. We go on the journey from her birth in Orlando, growing up in rural Georgia, attending  the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the wide open spaces on Montana and now here in CA at the time.      Cool as a cucumber,  she is a BIPOC arti...

Back for a second time is Maeve Smith! This time as director of Sonoma Arts Live's musical, "The Hello Girls." The compelling and  true story of Hello Girls was the name for American female switchboard operators sworn into the U.S Army in World War I as the first female soldiers. They served as bilingual telephone operators on the front line that helped shape the outcome of the war before they eve...

"The Duke of the Dumpster"- Robert Stickley, stops by to chat! Trashion Fashion winning Designer, prior Trashion judge and all around fun loving chap tells us all about how his one of a kind creations come to life  -from rubbish to the runway! We get details  on his unusual foraging for materials and how his designs draw inspiration from historical references and his roots from his homeland, Scotl...

Ever wonder where clay is mined from around the world , the  history of ceramics or what  is a firing cone? Welcome to the beginner's guide to clay and ceramics with Meg Billingham and Dan Clauson. We take a fascinating ride into all things ceramics and in particular our amazing department of Sonoma Ceramics. We also talk Contemporary approaches to clay through performance, movement, and touch as...

Tim Zahner from Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau and our other favorite podcast, The Sonoma Spiel,  stops by and talks with Gerardo and Molly about recommendations,  best foodie spots and a behind-the-scenes look for those that want to know a true locals guide to  Sonoma.    We also learn how to pronounce Milwaukee  the right way "Mi-waukee" from Tim's time at college, coming back to CA and that ther...

Vanessa Glamore Ronglien has had various reinventions and career shifts throughout her life, including being a stylist, a student, a wife, an a cappella singer, and now the leader of Sonoma Community Center. Her leadership brings warmth, humanity and the fearless attitude that anything is possible at the Center. This interview will touch on her Puerto Rican roots, East Coast upbringing, and her jo...

The 2nd annual podcast party is here! Gerardo and Molly chat with the staff at SCC and get their take on lessons learned in 2023 and all the programs, events and goals for 2024 at the Community Center. Lots of talk about gallery shows, clay mining shortages, the 4th of July memories when SCC ran it with only 8 staff members and an eventful 2023. Not to make anyone's head spin but everyone shares a...

Chef Maria Teresa Capdevielle fills the halls with mouth watering aromas whenever she is teaching one of her popular, authentic Italian cooking and baking classes in the Rotary Kitchen here at The Center. We get the chance to chat with Maria about growing up in Venezuela with her Italian immigrant parents whose roots are from the Abruzzo region in Italy and has influenced much of cooking. After a...

Stopping by to chat before a rehearsal of Sonoma Arts Live Theater Company production, Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical!  is Andrew, Maeve, Fiona and Teagan...The Smith family! Andrew is directing, Maeve and Fiona performing and of course the littlest, Teagan as Dad's "co-director." What a talented crew they are.  We talk about the family's love for the theater, growing up athletes, see...

Daniel Clauson is a Queer and Trans Artist who is  currently the Artist in Residence at the Sonoma Ceramics department of the Sonoma Community Center. Dan utilizes their past experiences of gender dysphoria, relationships, and ‘home’ to influence their work and connects contradicting ideas of love and pain, trauma and acceptance, intimacy and ambiguity. This episode is Dan’s journey thus far from...

It’s the interview you’ve all been waiting for! We sit down with UFOlogist, Jim Ledwith aka “UFO Jim” and get the scoop on all things extraterrestrial. From Jim’s childhood to a young adult, his first abduction in Sonoma, and to the aliens “walking among us, ” including what are mantoids? We ask questions that you want to know and Jim happily answers. “This is the Greatest Story Ever Denied!” - UF...

Jose Martinez keeps his head in the clouds and pours his heart onto the canvas. Born in Oaxaca, Mexico and migrating to CA , Jose Martinez found his way to painting and hot air ballooning. Through his artwork, he expresses commentary on social and culturally relevant issues through the medium of paint and mixed media. Jose is also a flyer of hot air ballooning co., Sonoma Ballooning Co. Teaching b...

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, is an intimate interview with our very own podcast co- host, Jose Gerardo Diaz Lerma. A born storyteller , Chef G. and known to some as “Grande” , ( legit name won in an arm wrestling contest ) shares his up and down rollercoaster story of love, hardship, food, friendships and family. From his early days in Mazatlán, cooking with his beloved Grandma, to crossin...

 "Try Something New" is a personal motto of Simon and Kimberly Blattner and that is personified in the journey of their lives.   A muse is defined as a person or a personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist and The Center has an annual tradition of choosing a notable local as a muse and then celebrating them with a gala. The 2023 Muses this year are - drumroll please...

Turiya Gross is a Ceramic Artist based in Taos, New Mexico and has been an artist in residence as well as instructor at the Sonoma Community Center. Her work is influenced by her upbringing in Mexico, her experiences in a Craft Community in Upstate New York, learning Turkish brushstroke and her travels and residencies all over. She aims to create pieces that encourage people to slow down and appre...

Robert Mahar describes himself as craft driven, design inspired and vintage obsessed on his IG page (15.6K followers.) We think of him as a Craft Master and are lucky enough to have him as a Community Center instructor and a wonderful addition to the Sonoma Valley community!  He is an ambassador to Spoonflower, Alumni of NBC’s Crafting Competition Show, “ Making It ”, and had a highly successful Y...

Gary Saperstein is everywhere! With what seems to be boundless energy,  he is the owner and operator of Out in the Vineyard, an experimental Wine Tour and Events Company for the LGBTQ+, Director of Development of Face to Face,a non profit with a mission to end HIV in Sonoma County and our delightful Master of Ceremonies at SCC’s Trashion Fashion Runway Show. Gary shares his experiences and stories...

Gerardo and Molly pull their sound editor, Takeshi Lewis from behind the mic to share his story and fall down the rabbit hole.  We get schooled about sound engineering for radio, movies, and podcasts and how engineering mixers are worth more than houses. We get some scoop on his tough as nails Dad, family upbringing, early music lessons right here at the Center, Bowie memories with Molly, and guil...

Focusing on Sonoma Community Center's Trashion Fashion month,  we interview creator, innovator, and NYC legend Debra Rapoport who has listened to her heart and let it guide her into a  wildly creative and adventurous life. Working with non-traditional and repurposed materials since the 1960's, she creates hats and accessories out of using found material. She is an Instagram sensation, star of Adva...

We interview Ellen Toscano, a woman of many talents and one wears many hats! From a national Fundraising Consultant and Singing Auctioneer to  Reiki Master teacher and founder of  Toscano Reiki, Ellen balances the hustle with grace and flow.  Starting as a dancing bon bon n the Nutcracker right here at the Sonoma Community Center as a child,  Ellen takes us on her journey through sports, NYU,  bei...

In this episode, we interview 2023 current Sonoma Ceramics Artist-in-Residence, Fred Dewitt. Fred is an African American interdisciplinary artist with a disability who is researching and exploring ways to deconstruct notions of white supremacy as it is promoted in early American art. DeWitt’s artwork reflects the life he has lived and what a story it is. A truly moving and inspirational man, he sh...

 In this episode, we feature podcaster and KSVY Radio host Francisco Kilgore and dancer/choreographer/performer Jessica Fudim. "Everyone has a story" is Francisco's motto and today we turn the tables by interviewing one of the Sonoma podcast  OGs! A little family story of his Brazilian and wild west roots, how he "uncorks" a story, and what he is up to these days! The current Community Center's da...

It’s here Scream the Movie fans! Celebrating our 70th birthday with ongoing history segments, it’s the scoop from Dan Casabonne, who was the Asst. Executive Director in 1996 when Scream was filmed at the Sonoma Community Center. He talks about how he wheeled and dealed a contract with the Scream production company, the real deal with filming and downtime on the set, what didn’t happen with a “frie...

History storytellers unite! A Sonoma Community Center 70th Birthday special filled with stories of a cheap bid for the historic building, time capsule, shooting ranges and a love story. We kick off our 70th birthday and upcoming gallery exhibit “That 70th Show” with an interview of  the SCC historian and artist;  Mike Acker, founder of our Sonoma Ceramics program, Tom Collins and godson, Gordon Li...