Housing Stories

HCAOG awarded multimedia grants to seven artists / organizations to help tell housing stories. Project descriptions and links to the completed work, as available, are below. 

Sequoyah Faulk-Kellog, Humboldt is Home. Watch here

This moving 19-minute documentary humanizes the housing crisis by encouraging the viewer to see people experiencing homelessness as our neighbors who also call Humboldt home.
Original music produced by Sequoyah Faulk with lyrics and melodies written by: Zera Starchild, Gage ATG Anderson, and Francis Verges. 

Arcata Playhouse, "A Woman's Place is In Her Home"

The project will fund additional viewing opportunities of a previously written and recorded play “A Woman’s Place is in Her Home.” Videos of the play are now available to view here. The project also funded the release of a new song by Lyndsey Battle titled "I Used To Be Someone." 

Arcata Playhouse, Homeward

With a team of seven outreach workers and additional funding from the California Arts Council, the Arcata Playhouse was able to rent a space from January to June 2023. Our Space was able to offer participants a safe place to create, be and give their feedback on housing solutions. See the final report, community meeting notes, idea board, and ground rules. Press about Our Space here. Check out the Our Space Art Studio Zine here

Arcata House Partnership, Creating the Grove

The Grove is a 60-unit affordable housing complex located in the Valley West neighborhood of Arcata. The project was funded by California's Homekey 2 program and has 24 hour on-site staff, case management, laundry and a community room. This project funded a 3-part video series outlining the need, the vision, and the occupancy of The Grove. Watch Part 1 The Need         Part 2 The Vision       Part 3 Occupancy

Taylor Snowberger, Housing Insecurity: A Humboldt Community Comic Book

A 25-page comic book illustrating situational homelessness and other challenges of finding safe, affordable housing in Humboldt. The project also sponsored workshops and artist collaborations, culminating in a night of performance. Click here to view the PDF of the comic book

James Adam Taylor, A Portrait of Place

A multimedia series which will utilize photography, audio, and short video clips to highlight the complex and challenging nature of housing in our community. Adam will create still and video “Portraits of Place.” Portrait subjects will include those navigating housing insecurity, paying particular attention to the fact that this is a diverse group that includes a broad swath of community members. Portraits will also include those working towards growing the housing supply, trades people and the construction technology


Margaret Kellerman, Studio 95501

This is a sculpture installation made using unusual, creative materials. The full-scale model demonstrates model units that could shelter homeless families. Once installed, participants will be invited to provide feedback about how such a model could be used to address homelessness. See the photo gallery of the Open House event from October 28, 2023 at the Jefferson Community Center. 

City of Blue Lake, Homebound - A Comprehensive Look at Affordable Housing in Blue Lake

The City will create a videography series that explores challenges of securing housing, the housing crisis impact on Dell’Arte students and their programs, and the increasing amount of financial and logistical barriers that young adults and families encounter when seeking residency in Blue Lake.  The video documentary will showcase interviews and a breakdown of the General Plan Housing Element.  The City will also create a dedicated webpage to help prospective and current residents navigate housing in Blue Lake.

About the program:

In April 2022, HCAOG released a Call for Projects as part of the Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) program. The scope and purpose of these grant funds is to educate and inform the public and increase community discourse on housing issues; the goal is to increase prospects for, and decrease barriers to, production of housing in Humboldt. The maximum grant award amount was set at $7,500. In total, we received twenty applications requesting a total of $115,000.  

Orignal call for projects: HCAOG is seeking creative expressions from the community to build greater understanding and awareness of housing needs in our area. The aim is to convey the hardships and barriers that Humboldt residents (or potential residents) face due to the shortage of housing at all levels, but especially affordable housing, or the lack of housing near school, work, services, or other basic needs.  HCAOG’s aim is also to highlight and advance strategies for solving the housing crisis. The Association of Governments is funding artists, makers, and changemakers to produce a multi-media catalog to share these housing-needs stories.  As well as residents’ views, the stories may also include views of housing developers, teachers, students, care providers, emergency responders and firefighters, realtors, and other professionals and community members. We are seeking proposals from artists, community organizations, professionals, amateurs, students etc. to create and produce ways to tell these stories in print, audio, visual or digital art and other media such as music, recordings ofperformance pieces, short film, dance, murals, comics, etc.

Deadline to apply: May 13, 2022

Max award available: $7,500

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