Nearly 300 people packed an old bakery building in Logan Heights last week to learn about coffee, a local arts nonprofit, photographing international migration, costuming an opera production, Mexican folk music and more at our Meeting of the Minds event at Bread & Salt.
Kelly Bennett (who’s off this week and handed me the Culture Report reins) posted some great video reactions from audience members, as well as tweets from throughout the night.
You can check out video of each speaker, captured by Sam Hodgson, here.
Our special event also got a special rendering from local artist Jason Alderman, who sketched this amazing recap from the presentations.
You’re reading the Culture Report, our weekly compilation of the region’s arts and culture news.
Art and Buildings
• The line-up for the San Diego Symphony’s 2013-2014 Jacobs Masterworks Series leaves a lot to be desired, Libby Weber writes on our Active Voice blog — particularly more variety in terms of the composers featured, the time periods from which selections are drawn and the format of the performances.
“Don’t be afraid to program more pieces and composers who you haven’t played before. Don’t be afraid to load a masterworks concert with short pieces or just one or two long ones. We trust you to play what you select beautifully. Trust us to appreciate it.”
• One local artist is literally getting his hands dirty for his craft: Artist Jeremy Gercke joined forces with landscape architect Jonathan Austin and scientist David Lipson to build a sculpture installation that prominently features “various types of soil and nutrient-rich composts found in gutters throughout Barrio Logan.” The result, a piece called “Soil Blind,” is on display at the Woodbury School of Architecture in Barrio Logan. (CityBeat)
• Travel + Leisure has crowned San Diego one of America’s Best Cities for Pizza.
• KPBS and the San Diego Public Library are crowdsourcing submissions for One Book, One San Diego, a community reading program. “Those who take part gain a greater sense of community while meeting and learning about their neighbors and the world,” said Clare Pister, KPBS’s education and literacy coordinator. (KPBS)
• Anthology, the shuttered live music venue downtown, will be auctioned on April 2, reports U-T San Diego. The U-T says at least one investment firm has expressed interest in buying the space.
Local Roots
• Three budding high school film-makers in Carmel Valley were honored by C-SPAN as part of the network’s StudentCam 2013 contest. Ari Moutal, Blake Finley and Emily Wong of Canyon Crest Academy won an honorable mention for their entry, which examined bullying.
• A wildly successful Kickstarter campaign has produced more than enough donations to fund a movie based on “Veronica Mars,” which the U-T’s Matt Hall called the “best-ever San Diego TV show.” It’s not all good news, though: One person connected with the show guesses the movie will be filmed in Los Angeles to keep costs down.
• Georgia Schmid, who serves as dance representative on the Commission for the Arts in Encinitas, practices what she preaches: For the past 14 years, the classically trained ballet dancer has focused on belly dance, a medium she says “has a lot of history and culture.” She also loves belly dancing because it is accessible to women of all shapes and sizes. (U-T San Diego)
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Sara Libby is VOSD’s managing editor. She oversees VOSD’s newsroom and its content. You can reach her at sara.libby@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0526.
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