It’s been 12 years since Estella Sanchez signed rent papers on the first Sol Collective Arts and Cultural Center in Del Paso Heights. More than a decade, hundreds of art exhibitions and thousands of community events later, Sol Collective recently purchased the building on 21st Street in Sacramento. We sat down with Sanchez to talk art, activism, the importance of building ownership and snacks.

Fred Palmer, who handles sponsorships for Sacramento Pride, recalls the festival’s 33-year journey from a gathering in McKinley Park to a larger event in Southside Park in Sacramento, finally making “a big, big leap” in 2010 to Capitol Mall, where about 13,000 people are expected to gather this year.

Sometimes it’s better the second time around. At least, that’s what Sacramento artist and gallery owner Theresa Gutierrez, aka Lady Tee, believes. Recently retired as chief of the Centralized Operations Unit in the Center for Health Care Quality of the California Department of Public Health, Gutierrez has become a fixture in the local arts scene with her mural work and recent opening of the ARTners Collaborative in the heart of downtown.

Founded in 2010, Sofar’s first shows were in London, but now includes gatherings in 333 cities worldwide — including countries like Switzerland, Azerbaijan, India, Serbia, Egypt, Brazil and Russia. It considers music and musicians as an untapped global resource in the same way that people with a spare bedroom are replacing the hotel establishment.

April is National Poetry Month and if you’re looking for poetry in Sacramento, “Mahogany Urban Poetry” at Queen Sheba Ethiopian Cuisine on Broadway is a mandatory first stop. For almost 18 years, Mahogany has provided a weekly stage every Wednesday night for both local and touring poets to express fearlessly.

Walking into the Sacramento warehouse where Kelly and Russell Conroy house their woodworking company, Timber + Main, it’s easy to see the source of their inspiration. Salvaged wood slabs, planks and posts rest against the walls just waiting to be turned into something sustainable, beautiful and functional.

Don’t have Fourth of July plans yet? How about a ski weekend … at Lake Tahoe?

That’s what Andy Wirth, CEO of Squaw Valley, is proposing after an historically snowy winter that surpassed 700 inches of snowfall this week. He’s so sure that this season’s snowfall will stick around, he’s hoping to stay open straight through the summer months and into the 2017-18 winter season.  

Seasons Coffee is gearing up to serve at Midtown Sacramento’s performing artist haven, E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts on N Street. The exact timeframe for Seasons’ opening remains to be determined, but with the signing of this lease, the CLARA facility is now fully-leased. And the transformation of the 100-year-old former school into an artistic hub for the city is just about complete.

Sitting on the deck of his family’s tasting room, Warren Bogle looks out over the vineyard his grandfather planted in 1968 in the low-lying land of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. That first planting of 20 acres of vines in Clarksburg transformed the Bogle family from row crop farmers to one of the region’s most successful winemakers.

Are you the kind of person who thinks in pictures? If so, then storyboarding is for you. Are you the kind of person who doesn’t think in terms of pictures? If so, then storyboarding is for you, too — you may just not know it yet.

April Walker made her first $10 as a musician on the wooden sidewalks of Old Sacramento five years ago. A then-transplant from Fairfield, Walker — whose stage name is SpaceWalker — carried her guitar case and a desire to expand her artistic roots to the historic district, the K Street tunnel and other downtown spots.

The Sacramento Guitar Society Orchestra is one of several programs run by the Sacramento Guitar Society, a nonprofit that’s been around for more than 50 years. Among these programs, the Society also hosts concerts, offers scholarships for guitar camps and facilitates guitar donations for various music programs

Hackbarth’s life in politics and advocacy was the right course of action for her, until it wasn’t. So she did something about it — returning to school and experimenting with different jobs until she landed on the new career that best suits her as a wellness coach.

Edible Sacramento is back in print with a March/April edition that might be headlined “Under New Ownership.” The bimonthly food magazine is now owned and published by Reno residents Amanda Burden and Jaci Goodman.

Most recently known for her work with M5’s Art Hotel and Art Street, Franceska Gamez has left her mark as a muralist from coast to coast. Gamez sat down with Comstock’s in between sledgehammer swings deconstructing Art Street to talk about her early influences, creative messages and deserted islands.

The mayor is putting aside $500,000 to be distributed in the city’s eight districts. The money is intended to activate arts innovation hubs and programs, but many in the arts community don’t see the funding as an aid if entertainment permit policy demands they hand the money back over to the city.

Inspired by current politics and an increased focus on California and its state capital, two Sacramentans are looking to instigate dialogue around a new project coming to downtown.

We reached out to some of the rising young professionals featured this month by Comstock’s to find out what one book has made a major difference in their personal or professional journey. Here is what they said:

Glimpse the future of our region through the eyes of its emerging leaders in our annual salute to to young professionals.