We’re getting ready for a great evening of cross-pollination and rapid-fire glimpses of jazz, dance, poetry, murals, sculpture and symphony music. Our next installment of “A Meeting of the Minds” is coming Feb. 1 at Luce Loft in East Village. U-T San Diego arts blogger Shawnee Barton calls it a “have-to-go happening.”
You should be there.
Six creative, plugged-in speakers will be our guides to interesting highlights around town in a quick format called pecha-kucha. That means each will be up and down in just about seven minutes. We first experimented with this type of event last June and had a blast. If last time’s any guide, we’ll have a full house. Plan on getting there early to make sure you get in. Admission is free, and it’s first-come, first-served. More details here and on our Facebook event page for the night.
One of our speakers, Mario Chacon, will tell us about the revitalization effort underway at Chicano Park.
You’re reading the Arts Report, our weekly compilation of the region’s arts and culture news.
San Diego Roots
• I returned yesterday from a delightful and cold weekend at Sundance Film Festival. Some friends of mine made a film rooted in the San Diego music and art scene called “I Am Not a Hipster” that premiered there Friday. San Diego CityBeat has an interview with director Destin Daniel Cretton and film songwriter/composer Joel P. West about their collaboration to weave a storyline through a script and songs. I’ve known Destin for several years; the stories he tells are always compelling and real, even as he picks up buzz and attention and awards. Here’s a taste of his attitude from the CityBeat story:
“Awards and that kind of recognition, it always passes,” he says. “The thing that continues is the relationships, the very real relationships that are not based on how great your last piece of art was.”
KPBS interviewed West and another San Diego directing pair with a film at Sundance this year.
• For the first time in five years, former Old Globe artistic director Jack O’Brien will attend the theater’s annual meeting on Jan. 30. The Globe is searching for new leadership after chief Lou Spisto left at the end of the year, and some local critics have wondered whether the theater will go back to the double-leader model like when O’Brien was there. (U-T San Diego)
• When it was replaced, activists didn’t want to see the old border fence tossed out; the Mexican side of the fence was covered in graffiti and murals. My pal and former VOSD colleague Adrian Florido has the story of an 18-wheeler emblazoned with “Border Patrol” rolling into Logan Heights to drop off the panels earlier this month. (Fronteras)
Happening Here
• Bonnie Wright is fascinated with noise, experimental music, electronic music and lots more. She’s back in San Diego from a few months in New York City and plans to resume her “soiree” discussions of musical topics like “The History of Doom” and “amplified Sludge.” She’ll also be putting on shows in her Fresh Sound series at a new location: Space 4 Art in East Village. (San Diego Reader)
• South Korean-born artist Lila Jang has work on display now at Encinitas’s Lux Art Institute, but couldn’t commit to living and working onsite in Lux’s typical arrangement. Three local artists are working there in short stints instead. We visited one of them, Kim MacConnel, last year for our look at his home art collection. (North County Times)
The U-T has a look at one of MacConnel’s pieces at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
• Four days before a play was due to open at San Diego Repertory Theatre, American folk singer Pete Seeger pulled out. He said he didn’t want details of his life to be the subject of the play. So the theater had to rewrite the play to be about protest music in general, and in a hurry. (KPBS)
• If you go see “Salome” at San Diego Opera, opening this weekend, James Chute advises keeping “your therapist’s (or bartender’s) number handy” to process the gripping, disturbing story. (U-T)
• A local gem, the “Snake Path,” stretches for 560 feet around the Geisel Library at UCSD. (U-T) The path belongs to the Stuart Collection of public artwork, one of the topics in our upcoming Feb. 1 event.
Here’s a peek at our poster, designed by our friend Chadwick Gantes with Sezio:
(Want to recommend this arts newsletter to someone? Share this sign-up link.)
Kelly Bennett is the arts editor for VOSD. You can reach her directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531. Or you can keep up with her on Twitter @kellyrbennett or on Facebook.