San Diego’s cultural identity is evolving, thanks to lots of interesting people who are constantly testing out ideas. The best way we’ve found to learn about a handful of them in one evening is our arts and culture event, “A Meeting of the Minds.”
It’s been six months since we piled into Logan Heights’ storied Cramer Bakery — which is being transformed into an arts center, Bread and Salt — and our next “Meeting of the Minds” installment is coming up on Sept. 18. We hope you’ll join us.
The event follows what’s called a pecha-kucha format. That means each of our six speakers will select 20 images they’ll display for just 20 seconds each. It’s a rapid-fire, visually compelling format.
Here’s a little about our speakers:
• Michael Rosenberg, managing director of La Jolla Playhouse: Mike came to the very first “Meeting of the Minds” in Little Italy in June 2011, and I’ve been hoping to include him as a speaker ever since. He’ll be featuring some highlights from the portfolio of scenic designer Robert Brill, a notable artist who’s now artist-in-residence at the La Jolla Playhouse.
• Irma Esquivias is an artist and activist whose current work for the San Diego Museum of Art focuses on using art as a community-building tool in southeastern San Diego neighborhoods. She’ll tell us about a project she’s working on in which art is more than a luxury, but a mechanism to “change and heal” the intersection at Imperial and Euclid avenues.
• Kate Hatmaker is a violinist in the San Diego Symphony and the co-founder of Art of Elan, a popular chamber music group that one of our speakers told us about in the first “Meeting of the Minds.” Hatmaker’s got her finger on the pulse of interesting contemporary music in town, and she’ll tell us about the upcoming Carlsbad Music Festival.
• Peter Holslin‘s another music guru, having written about the topic for many years for San Diego CityBeat and now for Rolling Stone. He’s going to be our guide to San Diego’s mutant-punk underground. “San Diego has always been a hotbed for crazy rock sounds, but in the past 10 years or so there’s been a handful of bands that take it to a deeper level,” he said. “Some of these bands are fairly well known around town; others are practically unheard of.”
• I met Melissa Adao last year when she competed in a contest for young choreographers. She dances hip-hop and teaches it at Grossmont and Mesa colleges, but for that competition she was trying her hand at other styles of choreography. She’ll paint the landscape for San Diego’s various “dance enclaves.”
• Peter Rowe writes profiles and features for U-T San Diego, and he also pens the U-T’s beer scene coverage and reviews. He’ll take us through 10 key moments in San Diego’s rise to craft brew dominance.
What a line-up! I hope you’ll join us.
Here’s more info: The night’s going to be open to Voice of San Diego members only. But don’t despair if you’re not a member yet! You can join that night for a special discounted rate of $20. That’ll get you in to other members-only events all year. And at “Meeting of the Minds,” your admission will include two beverages.
We’re going to be at the intersection of 15th and F streets in East Village, at a new community space called Silo in Makers Quarter. We’ll open the doors at 7 p.m. so you can grab a drink or some food at a food truck.
Take a look at the poster, designed by my friend Joel P West.
This is going to be a special night. I hope you can make it.
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