Santa Monica Festival May 9, 2009

Revelers at the 18th annual Santa Monica Festival will enjoy an eclectic day of music, dance, and visual arts by some of the most exciting performers and artists in the region. Celebrate Mother Earth and all moms this Mother’s Day weekend while indulging in guilt-free shopping from vendors featuring earth-friendly artistic wares. Eat fresh foods from an assortment of local eateries and participate in art workshops using recycled and repurposed materials. This year, the festival advances its effort to become a zero-waste event in order to reduce its impact on the environment and the community.

OCEAN STAGE

Headlining the day’s entertainment on the Ocean Stage is LA’s own The Little Ones – an upbeat indie pop band, featuring a bright sound that'll get your feet shuffling. The five band members have been playing together since early 2006. Their influences include the Beach Boys and The Zombies. Other performers on the Ocean stage include: AguaLibre – performing Afro-Latin sounds, hip hop, soul, funk and reggae guaranteed to get you moving; Glank – a percussion performance art group that creates complex rhythms on instruments made of found objects; and Masanga Marimba – presenting traditional and popular music and dance from Zimbabwe and Latin America. Master of Ceremonies, Boise Thomas – is the fresh face of Adrian Grenier’s Alter Eco, an environmentally-focused lifestyle show on Discovery’s new channel Planet Green. In addition to emceeing, Boise will share tips on how to be smart with your time, money and resources.

YOUTH STAGE

Performers on the local youth stage include: Santa Monica College Chamber Choir – presenting popular chorale repertoire from the Renaissance to today; Morgan-Wixson’s Y.E.S. Children’s Theatre Company – performing excerpts from their upcoming musical production of The True Story of the Three LIttle Pigs; Lincoln Middle School Jazz Band – playing classic jazz tunes; Downbeat 720 High School Talent – Santa Monica’s premier open stage for high school performers sponsored by the City of Santa Monica; and The re:Fashion Catwalk – showcasing creative couture from the re:Fashion Workshop, Season 3, hosted by Paul Zaloom, comedic puppeteer, political satirist, filmmaker and performance artist. Dynamic duo Joe Hernandez-Kolski and DJ Jedi, Emmy winners for Outstanding Youth Programming for Downbeat Showdown, the televised version of Downbeat 720, will be the Youth Stage Master of Ceremonies and DJ respectively.

WORKSHOPS

This year’s art workshops focus on creating fantastic works using recycled and repurposed materials. Families have an opportunity to create fabulous new fashions from recycled paper bags at the re:Fashion Workshop, Season 3 with award winning costume-designer Ann Closs-Farley and then strut their earth friendly fashion down the re: Fashion Catwalk. Other workshops include: compost gardening and planting seedlings with Santa Monica Public Library; cardboard cobbling with Phranc of 18th Street Arts Center; making trophies with Asuka Hisa of Santa Monica Museum of Art; writing poetry or creating a piece of visual art in response to environmental issues with SmART Schools West; and an interactive model of Santa Monica with James Rojas.

Official Website: http://arts.santa-monica.org/SMF%20Website_old/Santa_Monica_Festival_2009/Welcome.html