As a photographer and owner of the Morrison Hotel Gallery with locations in New York, West Hollywood and Maui, Peter Blachley understands how powerful the arts can be. So when he heard about Image Nation, a local photography program to help veterans, he wanted to get involved.

Comstock’s monthly look at business news in the Capital Region. Want to know what happened in September? Then read on, my friends.

Comstock’s interviewed artist Marianne Bland about her artistic direction and recently being named the first recipient of the Gloria Burt Sacramento Region Arts Fellowship.

On a sunny August afternoon at Selland’s in East Sacramento, I had the pleasure of sharing some French press coffee with Kevin Rahm. You probably know him as Lee McDermott from Desperate Housewives, Ted Chaough on Mad Men or maybe even as your neighbor.

Miel Apothecary, housed in the old Pedroni’s Pharmacy building constructed in the early 1900s on Broadway and 34th Street in Oak Park, is a potpourri of healing salves, locally-sourced perfumes and vintage clothing.

While many supporters of local music may agree that Sacramento needs a homegrown music festival, this type of event isn’t easy to produce, and doesn’t always get the financial backing it needs.

As the sun rises on Mill Street in Grass Valley, Erica Henderson starts the opening routine in her new store Gather & Mill. She rolls out a decorative bicycle and sets up sandwich boards indicating to customers that they are welcome. The sounds of Amos Lee drift through the space as she slips kaftan-style dresses on hangers. When everything is perfectly in place, she opens the coral-colored French doors.

There was a moment leading up to 2013 when it looked as though the record store would join the dodo on the extinction list. Record sales were plummeting due to rampant pirating, digital sales became the primary metric and the major labels were scrambling to shut down the piracy, while appealing to the modern user. Then, reports began circulating that vinyl sales were up.

Comstock’s reached out to Lennee Eller, interim director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, for her advice on how artists can improve their chances of success. Here’s what she had to say.

Believe it or not, it’s possible to make a living as an artist in Sacramento. All it takes, according to those who’ve succeeded, is a base of communication, community, willingness to treat your work as a business and a good share of bull-headed persistence.

Amal Iqbal has years of experience with struggling to understand how work plays into her identity as a Muslim-American woman, and challenging cultural expectations when necessary. This experience informed her decision to launch her own business that incorporates fashion, interior and graphic design into one shop.

Traditional museums and old-school performance centers — with silent hallways and auditoriums where photography is forbidden — are being rethought in favor of interactive educational spaces. The Capital Region boasts a number of vital, enriching educational institutions that intentionally link the arts and education communities to create welcoming spaces that are both inspiring and accessible.

In 1986, the B Street Theatre opened as a simple touring theater for children. Since then, it has grown to be one of the West Coast’s premier children’s theaters, producing 19 shows per year and serving 300,000 people annually. But the two-theater playhouse had outgrown its original space and sought options.

Randy Roberts, deputy director of the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, offers her insight into the essential role of museums as community organizations.

Founded in 2000, Music to Grow On focuses on special-needs children and works in 20 school districts throughout the greater Sacramento region. Barth describes music therapy as “the use of music to reach non-musical goals,” which can include everything from communication and motor skills to memory and academics.

The Capital Dance Project recently announced a partnership with the Sacramento Kings and the Kings Foundation to produce their inaugural Sensory-Friendly Dance Performance on Friday, Aug. 25 at Crest Theatre.

Bessie Barth, director of Music to Grown On, offers her insight into the role of music therapy.

Can Sacramento continue to invest in the arts when public budgets remain tight and the economy continues to underperform? Wrong question. Rather, we need to ask ourselves whether we can afford not to invest in the arts. We need to change the debate away from a competition for dollars and toward building an understanding of the many avenues by which a vibrant arts scene complements and promotes robust economic growth in our region.

Art in the workplace is more than cosmetic; it can actually improve employee attitudes, performance, and even the company’s bottom line. This feels almost blasphemous. By definition, we think of “art” and “profit” as two distinct and even clashing concepts, with the unspoken assumption that chasing profits will corrupt art, and that art drags down profits. Conventional wisdom says “art for art’s sake”: Art is not a means to an end, art is the end.

Comstock’s monthly look at the business news in the Capital Region. So what happened in July (and the tail end of June)?