*Mayor Darrell Steinberg and councilmember Jay Schenirer give BBoy Morris Isby a certificate of recognition for his Olympic journey*

Sacramento (Apr. 07, 2022) The international stage is nothing new for Sacramento-raised BBoy Morris, but the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris may be his first opportunity to add a gold medal to his trophy case. In support of his Olympic journey and to mark the start of Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month, and offer of a preview of what to expect with California’s Day of Dance, BBoy Morris and several other local artists performed at McClatchy Park and joined local leaders in a call for more arts support statewide.

Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month is a month-long, statewide effort organized by Californians for the Arts. Each week of the month spotlights different themes including: raising visibility and awareness about the value arts bring; empowering arts advocates, and spurring greater investments in the creative economy and creative workforce. The over-arching theme for 2022’s ACCM is “The Arts Work.”

At Thursday’s kickoff celebration, Mayor Darrell Steinberg presented a proclamation recognizing April as Arts, Culture and Creativity Month in Sacramento.

The program also included performances by Sacramento Poet Laureate Andru Defeye, Teatro Nagual, and Sacramento’s Taiko Dan drum team.

“This has been a challenging and difficult week for the city we all love…in the midst of such great tragedy, why are we here today?” Asked Mayor Darrell Steinberg, “That answer for me is that we have to take every opportunity we can to help heal each other and heal our community. The beauty of art in all its forms is that art heals. Art connects. Art inspires.”

The City of Sacramento has invested $30 million in the arts, creative economy and tourism with federal coronavirus relief dollars. According to research done by Californians for the Arts, Sacramento has invested more resources from pandemic recovery legislation than any other jurisdiction in California.

"While it is important to take the time to celebrate the endurance and resilience of the arts, it is also a time to recognize the public policies and investments that arts, culture and creativity industries need to sustain and thrive to help rebuild a more equitable and just industry for all creative workers to access,” said Julie Baker, Executive Director of Californians for the Arts. “The City of Sacramento has shown great leadership in providing support for the arts and culture workforce. We are thrilled to kick off ACCM 2022 here and are grateful to the mayor and council, culture bearers and arts advocates for their work to increase investments in arts, culture, and creativity. The arts work in Sacramento!"

At the kick-off event, Californians for the Arts also recognized Gov. Gavin Newsom as a 2022 CA Arts Champion for his inclusion of historic investments for the sector in the budget during his last four years as Governor and for the work that state agencies such as CDPH, Go-Biz, CAL-OSBA and CAC have done collaboratively with the creative industry to reopen arts venues safely and provide relief funding at a state level.

*Tamaira “Miss Tee” Sandifer giving brief remarks before introducing BBoy Morris*

Tamaira Sandifer, a dancer and Sacramento arts leader, also gave a sneak preview of what to expect for the local California’s Day of Dance celebration which takes place on April 9. California's Day of Dance is the first of its kind to make its way to Sacramento. The primary goal of the day is to inspire California to embrace dance as a fun and positive way to maintain good health, and to promote the availability of quality performing arts in the community. Find out more at https://www.justdancecali.com/

“Dance was the vehicle that saved someone like me from the streets of Richmond, CA,” said Miss Tee. “I was seven years old, there were six of us kids at home, we never knew when our mom would come home. We had to do things that keep us positive, we had to do things that keep us safe, we had to do things that keep us healthy, we had to do things that kept us emotionally sound. So you know what I did, starting when I was 7? I lined them all up and said, you know what we’re going to do? Thriller.”