The building formerly housed Venus de Fido, a luxury spa for dogs and their humans. In January, 2021, Debra Mumm, Founder and CEO of Create Center for the Arts (CREATE), held a grand opening at their new home, 73600 Alessandro Drive in Palm Desert. “The building, as beautiful as it is, was left empty because of Covid,” says Lindi Biggi, a well-known Coachella Valley philanthropist, and owner of the building. “Renting to Create was of mutual benefit; I had an empty building, and she had a nonprofit in need of more room. I was able to accept very low rent and she was able to cover high building maintenance costs.”
The outside space is gorgeous, with tons of parking and a seated outdoor area. But once inside, each nook and cranny is designed to be an inspiration. The entire building feels alive, humming with a calm, creative energy, underscored by the dulcet tones plucked by harpist and artist Steve Hill’s adept fingers. He and his harp are CREATE’s musical muse, an important part of its creative heartbeat. When he’s not playing in the lobby, you can find him with the knitting and crochet groups, or in Life Classes where artists sketch nude models.
The seven spa rooms are now privately rented studios for artists. The huge indoor dog park is now multi- purpose, a meeting room, event space, yoga and sound bowl therapy studio. It still feels like a park in Rome with its Romanesque facade of columns, tiled roofs and over-sized doors. At the top of the two-story ceiling, puffy white clouds hang overhead, adding drama to the theater productions also held in the space. Mumm is working with Green Home Theater, which provides the kids summer conservatory programs with acting and playwriting classes.
“There’s also a huge limo garage at the back of the space that is not part of our current lease,” Mumm says. “We want to put our woodworking and framing in there. We also learned that theater people need more than a stage, so we want to poke through there and have an actual Green Room.”
The only space retaining its original purpose is the salt therapy room, which Mumm calls the Salt Cave, a healing therapy for allergies, COPD, asthma, and psoriasis. “We also have a Reiki Master and do energy work,” she said.
The nonprofit relies on donations of the monetary kind, as well as time and equipment. Drawing on talent from across the Coachella Valley,
“Joanne Beale Ruggles, a professor from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, retired and had all this cool stuff, including film cameras,” says Mumm. “We have a full darkroom studio, ready to be installed. Matt Cauthron, the head of the Data Academy at Cathedral City High School, used to belong to a darkroom Co-Op. He’ll be helping us get things set up.”
There is a fully-functioning broadcast studio - lights, green screen, camera. “We can produce everything from 30-second spots to hour-long live streams. We’re developing an introductory curriculum for this department.” Mumm said. Next to the broadcast studio is the printmaking studio with block printing, screen printing, monotype and cyanotype (technically antique photography). “We’re flying in Dan Wheldon who invented solar plate printing for a five-day masterclass in print-making.”
The educator of the printmaking studio, Zach Fleming Boyles, is also teaching an animation class for kids 8-12. Funded by the Anderson Children’s Foundation, there’s a $10 registration fee, but normally it’s a $600 class. The Digital Design Lab is divided into two mediums, and both are like something out of Star Trek. The virtual reality studio has both the Oculus Rift and HTC VIVE Pro systems (virtual reality “eyes”) where visitors can learn about the basics of VR by signing up for one-on-one appointments. The 3-D lab has 14 3-D printers!
If you’re into gardening, “The Master Gardener program is 100% volunteers,” Mumm said. “We have a class on Tuesday mornings for the vision impaired. The volunteers sell the plants they’ve grown, and that’s how they fund their program.”
There are places for more traditional art forms - painting, sculpting, weaving, and fiber arts, and classes are held for every art form you can imagine. There is a fully-stocked art store where the boutique used to be. Coming soon is a cafe operated by Aspen Mills Bakery.
The membership is $100 per year and offers discounts on classes as well as other perks.
Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, there’s something for everyone with even the slightest interest or curiosity in any form of art. All you need to bring is your imagination.
CREATE CENTER FOR THE ARTS
73600 Alessandro Drive, Palm Desert
Hours: 10-4pm Tuesday-Friday, 9-12pm
Saturday. 760-834-8318
