We’re counting down the days until our next “Meeting of the Minds” event Wednesday — looks like we’ll have a great crowd.
Of course, some of the attendees have an extra responsibility. Six plugged-in artsy folks will be our guide to some very interesting niches and highlights in the local arts and culture scene.
We took a quick video tour through some of the topics in our Behind the Scene TV segment yesterday. Find even more details and photos of our speakers below this clip:
View more videos at: http://nbcsandiego.com.
Some of these names and faces should be familiar to Behind the Scene readers; we’ve looked at aspects of some of these topics before:
• Mario Chacon, is an artist and muralist helping to revitalize the Chicano Park famous murals that we visited a few weeks ago.
• Vanessa Dinning is an actor and director (she played the gravedigger and the cello in the recent “Hamlet” production we stopped in on). I found Vanessa when she included a hashtag quip on her Twitter account about the San Diego Symphony’s pre-concert lecturer, Nuvi Mehta, the so-called “Voice of the San Diego Symphony.” (Nice name.) We once visited Nuvi before a symphony concert to get a taste of the storylines he weaves in; I loved Vanessa’s inclusion of “#nuvirocks.” She’ll be talking about Nuvi’s “Symphony Expose” concert series and how costumes and context help expose the intrigue in classical music.
• Last summer, we were fascinated by the overarching question, “What does a city need?” that the San Diego Museum of Art asked in its summer salon series of Thursday evening arts events. And at many of the installments of the series, the museum involved poets and writers to give readings alongside the painters, sculptors and musicians. K. Lorraine Graham is a local writer who helps coordinate those literary elements; she’ll be talking about why poets belong in the buffet of local arts and conversation.
• Local writer D.A. Kolodenko has researched and written a number of articles about San Diego’s jazz legends and history, in addition to herding some of those jazz cats into some jazz sessions over the years. He’ll give us the scoop on where to check out some of those jams.
• A few months ago, we visited as Eveoke Dance Company prepared to travel to the Dominican Republic with one of its best-loved productions, “Las Mariposas.” Now, the company’s working on a productionwith Lynn Susholtz, artist, educator and owner of Art Produce. She’ll be sharing her perspective on the dance troupe and its community footprint.
• And we’ve enjoyed spending some time among the giant bear and crooked house sculptures at the UCSD Stuart Collection. They’re part of an esteemed collection that’s been 30 years in the making. I knew Constance White has been working on the art program at the San Diego airport, so I asked her to share her highlights of this award-winning collection at UCSD that’s just a ways up the road from the collection White’s building for the airport.
Please join us at the lovely Luce Loft, 1037 J Street in East Village, on Feb. 1. We’ll open the doors around 7 p.m., and after the presentations wrap up we look forward to a rousing conversation fueled in part by Karl Strauss beer, St. Petersburg Vodka cocktails and the MIHO Gastrotruck parked outside. Can’t make it? Tune in online soon to see videos of the presentations filmed by our friends at the Media Arts Center San Diego.
I’m Kelly Bennett, the arts editor for VOSD. You can reach me directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531.
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