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Sacramento is the capital of the U.S. state of California, and the county seat of Sacramento County. Located 
along the Sacramento River and just south of the American River's confluence in California's expansive Central Valley. With a 2007 estimated population of 460,242, it is the seventh-largest city in California. Sacramento is the core cultural and economic center of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area which includes El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo counties and has a combined population of approximately 2,136,604. The region has also been cited as one of the ten "most livable" regions in America in 2004, and the city was cited by Time magazine as America's most integrated in 2002.
Sacramento became a city due to the efforts of John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant, and James W. Marshall. Sacramento grew faster due to the protection of Sutter's Fort, which was established by Sutter in 1839. During the California Gold Rush, Sacramento was a major distribution point, a commercial and agricultural center, and a terminus for wagon trains, stagecoaches, riverboats, the telegraph, the Pony Express, and the First Transcontinental Railroad.
California State University, Sacramento, more commonly known as Sacramento State or Sac State, is the major local university. It is one of the twenty-three campuses of the California State University system. In addition, the University of California, Davis is located in nearby Davis, 15 miles west of the capital. The UC Davis Medical Center, a world-renowned research hospital, is located in the city of Sacramento.
The oldest part of the town besides Sutter's Fort is Old Sacramento, which consists of cobbled streets and some historic buildings, some from the 1860s. Buildings have been preserved, restored or reconstructed, and the district is now a substantial tourist attraction, with rides on steam-hauled historic trains and paddle steamers.
The "Big Four Building", built in 1852, was home to the offices of Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and Charles Crocker. The Central Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Railroad were founded there. The original building was destroyed in 1963 for the construction of Interstate 5, but was re-created using original elements in 1965. It is now a National Historic Landmark. Also of historic interest is the Eagle Theatre, a reconstruction of California's first permanent theatre in its original location.
There are several major theatre venues for Sacramento. The Sacramento Convention Center Complex governs both the Community Center Theatre and Memorial Auditorium. The Wells Fargo Pavilion is the most recent addition. It is built atop the old Music Circus tent foundations. Next to that, is the McClatchy Main stage, originally built as a television studio, it was renovated at the same time the pavilion was built. It is the smallest of the venues providing seating for only 300. The Sacramento Ballet, Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sacramento Opera perform at the Community Center Theatre.
Professional theatre is represented in Sacramento by a number of companies. California Musical Theatre and its Summer stock theatre, Music Circus lure many directors, performers and artists from New York to Los Angeles to work alongside a large local staff for their productions at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. During the fall, winter and spring seasons Broadway Sacramento brings bus and truck tours to the Convention Center Theatre. The Sacramento Theatre Company provides non-musical productions as an Equity House Theatre, performing in the McClatchy Main stage. At the B Street Theatre, smaller and more intimate professional productions are performed as well as a children's theatre. The Sacramento Shakespeare Festival provides entertainment under the stars every summer in William Land Park.
The Sacramento area has one of the largest collection of smaller Community Theatres in California. Some of these include, the 24th Street Theatre, River City Theatre Company, Runaway Stage Productions, Magic Circle Theatre, Fourth Stage, Beyond the Proscenium Productions, KOLT Run Productions, Kookaburra Productions, Big Idea Theatre, Celebration Arts, Flying Monkey Productions, Lambda Player, Synergy Stage and the historic Eagle Theatre. Many of these theatres compete annually for the Elly Awards overseen by The Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance or SARTA.
On Wednesday June 13, 2007 a new studio for the performing arts was announced to be built alongside the Sacramento Theatre company and the Wells Fargo Pavilion. The new multi million dollar complex will be named the "E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts" and will provide rehearsal space for 4 of the regions principal arts groups, the Sacramento Ballet, California Musical Theatre, Sacramento Opera and the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, centralizing most of the city's Arts organizations.
The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission is an organization which was established as the Sacramento arts council in 1977 to provide several arts programs for the city. These include Art in Public Places, Arts Education, Grants and Cultural Programs, Poet Laureate Program, Arts Stabilization Programs and Other Resources and opportunities.
Sacramento Second Saturday Art Walk is a program of local art galleries that stay open into the late evenings every second Saturday of each month providing a unique experience for the local population as well as tourists to view original art and meet the artists themselves.
Classical music is widely available in usual and unusual venues. The Sacramento Philharmonic, the Sacramento Choral Society & Orchestra, the Sacramento Youth Symphony, the Sacramento Master Singers, and the Camellia Symphony each present a full season of concerts. Two local churches feature unusually sophisticated classical music programs. Sacred Heart Church, located in affluent East Sacramento, is host to Schola Cantorum, an ensemble chorus that features a full season of performances, while also participating at Sunday liturgies at Sacred Heart. All Hallows Church, serving working class south-central Sacramento, is host to the nation's only parish-based full symphony orchestra, which presents a full range of performances each season. Sections of the orchestra also perform at significant parish school events, and orchestra members teach a complete curriculum of choral music at the inner-city school. The parish also features periodic individual recitals, including on its Yamaha Concert Grand Piano and Italian-built Viscount Digital Pipe Organ, one of only nine four-manual Viscounts in the world. All Hallows promotes its vast music programs around the theme "Transforming the Inner-city Through the Beauty of Art."
Each year the city hosts the Sammies, the Sacramento Music Awards. Sacramento also has a reputation as a center for Dixieland jazz, because of the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee which is held every Memorial Day weekend. Events and performances are held in multiple locations throughout the city. Each year thousands of jazz fans from all over the world visit for this one weekend. Sacramento is also home to the Sacramento French Film Festival, a cultural event held every year in July that features U.S. premiers of French films and classic masterpieces of French cinema. In addition, Sacramento is home to the Trash Film Orgy, a summer film festival celebrating the absurd, B-movies, horror, monster, exploitation.
A growing number of hardcore and metal bands hail from the Sacramento area, including Deftones, Far, and Dance Gavin Dance. Other bands such as A Skylit Drive hail from Lodi. Famous alternative rock band Cake hails from Sacramento as do rock bands Tesla and Oleander.
The Sacramento French Film Festival is an annual event held in July at the Crest Theatre. It celebrates the present as well as the rich history of French cinema featuring new releases and rarely seen classics. It is the only festival dedicated to French cinema in Northern California and one of only two on the West coast. It was described in the Sacramento Bee in July 2003, as “the Cinematic Highlight of Sacramento's Summer”.
The SFFF opens each year on a Friday night with a catered reception followed by the opening film. Films continue all day long Saturday and Sunday for two consecutive weekends. Midnight movies are presented on Saturdays for mature audiences. The Festival ends on a Sunday night with an informal champagne cocktail following the closing film. All films are presented in French with English subtitles. Each film is shown either once or twice.
The Festival also has a short film program of French and locally made films. The festival posters are created by local Sacramento photographer, Kent Lacin.
The Sacramento Shakespeare Festival is produced by City Theatre at Sacramento City College and strives to provide quality Shakespeare performances and training to the Sacramento community, utilizing the resources, teachers, and students of the Sacramento City College Theatre Arts Department, and the both amateur and professional artists from the Sacramento area. SSF produces full-length plays in William Land Park, shorter versions of Shakespeare¹s plays in various locations throughout the Sacramento area, travelling scenes and workshops to classes, community centers, and an on-site High School Internship program.
