• First L.A. County Civic Art project scheduled to be dedicated December 14


• Public invited to participate in Allen Martin Park beautification project January 19 and 26


• Artists selected for Alondra Park and L.A. County Coroner Annex projects


• Join the public art opportunities email list

Two shows produced by the Arts Commission highlight regional artists expressing the joy of the season.

"L.A. Holiday Celebration" premieres on PBS December 10

This one-hour television music and dance special highlights the best performances from the 2006 live six-hour show at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (see item below for details on this year's live show). This national special will be carried by PBS stations across the country, including KCET, on Monday, December 10, 2007 at 10 p.m. The broadcast will be in high definition for the first time. Groups chosen for this year's national show are Little Willie G y los Tamaleros, Vox Femina, ARC Handbell Choir, Khmer Arts Academy, Salvation Army Tabernacle Children's Choir, Djanbazian Dance Company, Mariachi Sol de Mexico, JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble, Los Angeles Master Chorale, TRIP Dance Theatre in collaboration with KITKA, Los Pinguos, Harmonic Bronze Handbell, Angahara Dance Ensemble, The Klezmatics, Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles and the Mariachi Divas. More information, including a feature on the artists' favorite L.A. places, can be found at http://www.pbs.org/holidaycelebration.

48th Annual "L.A. County Holiday Celebration" live at the Music Center on December 24

L.A. County's biggest holiday show featuring more than 40 musical ensembles, choirs, and dance companies - unfolds at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center Monday, December 24 from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. The celebration, which reflects the vibrant spectrum of cultures found in Southern California, is L.A. County's yearly gift to Los Angeles: admission is FREE, as is the parking under the Music Center. Reservations for tickets to the show or parking are not necessary. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Patrons may come and go throughout the six-hour performance. People waiting in line to get in can see the show on the Jumbotron on the Music Center Plaza. This year's hosts include Sheryl Lee Ralph (original Broadway cast of Dreamgirls, To Sleep with Anger), Fred Willard (FOX's new comedy series Back to You and the films For Your Consideration, Best in Show); two members of the comedy group Culture Clash, Richard Montoya and Herbert Siguenza; two cast members from The Closer, Michael Paul Chan and Raymond Cruz; and actor Gedde Watanabe. Complete program details are available at http://www.holidaycelebration.org. Those who can't make it to the Music Center can watch the live broadcast of Holiday Celebration on KCET.

FIRST L.A. COUNTY CIVIC ART PROJECT TO BE DEDICATED DECEMBER 14

The first civic art project to be completed since L.A. County adopted a civic art policy in 2004 is scheduled to be unveiled December 14 at the dedication of the new Los Angeles County Administrative Building, located on Vermont Avenue between 83rd and 84th Streets in South Los Angeles. Four colossal photo murals by artist Ken Gonzales-Day - images of idyllic California landscapes - are on both interior and exterior walls of the building. Images of the ceramic tile murals may be viewed at http://www.kengonzalesday.com/projects/lacadministrative/01.htm.

"It is hoped that the imagery will positively impact clients and community members in a region of the city that provides residents with limited opportunities to experience either art or green space," said Gonzales-Day in a statement about the project.

Gonzales-Day is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Art at Scripps College in Pomona. The art project was administered by the Commission's Civic Art program in cooperation with the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles. The County's civic art policy requires one percent of construction costs of capital projects to be allocated for the incorporation of civic art.

PUBLIC INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN ALLEN MARTIN PARK BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT
JANUARY 19 AND 26

The public has an opportunity to take part in the beautification of Allen Martin Park in Valinda by attending the park's public art workshops January 19 and 26, 2008. The civic art project will unify the park and its new community building and concession stand through color and design; it is also a creative approach to deterring graffiti. Claudia Reisenberger and Franka Diehnelt of MERGE Conceptual Design have designed the color/graphics paint scheme for the park with input from the community. During the January workshops the public can help the artists apply the stenciling. Anyone can participate, however children under 8 years old are encouraged to have adult supervision. Allen Martin Park is located at 14830 E. Giordano Street, Valinda, CA 91744. For information, including the times of the workshops, please call the park office at (626) 523-1248. To see renderings of the designs, visit /civic_martinpark.htm.

ARTISTS SELECTED FOR ALONDRA PARK AND L.A. COUNTY CORONER ANNEX PROJECTS

Kipp Kobayashi and Marta Perlas (Mythograph Inc.) of Claremont were selected to undertake a $130,000 commission in conjunction with renovations at Alondra Park in Lawndale. The park renovations will include replacing the existing pool, bathhouse and equipment building with a 25 x 25 meter pool, a 6,000 sq. ft. pool house and recreation building, a 3,000 sq. ft. water play area, a 14,000 sq. ft. skateboard park, new restrooms, a picnic shelter and various other improvements, such as new tubular steel fencing. The project will also incorporate energy and water conservation efficiency devices, low impact designs, drought tolerant landscaping, and other sustainable green building features that will meet certification requirements of the United States Green Building Council's LEED program.

Erin Shie Palmer of Seattle was selected to undertake a $125,000 commission for the L.A. County Coroner Annex in conjunction with the crypt addition. Palmer was chosen from three finalists who presented schemes to transform an exterior area near the Annex entrance into a quiet garden retreat for staff and visitors. Palmer's art elements include a small forest of copper "bamboo" and delicate metal screens with small, thin pieces of mica which will shimmer in the breeze. The screens and forest will obscure views of the nearby parking garage.

JOIN THE PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITIES EMAIL LIST

Visual artists are invited to join the first southern California master public arts opportunitie email list that will generate periodic emails regarding new projects from the Arts Commission's Civic Art Program, other public art programs in southern California and private art consultants and developers as well as notices about public art events. To sign up, go to /civicart_opportunities.htm.

The Ford Amphitheatre completed a successful summer season with two great dance performance sell-outs by J.U.I.C.E. (Justice by Uniting in Creative Energy) presenting the Ford's first ever evening devoted to break dancing on October 5 and Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company on October 6. The L.A.Times' dance critic Lewis Segal praised J.U.I.C.E.'s pathbreaking show: "If you were at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Friday, you saw young America -- onstage and in the audience -- in the process of becoming a dance culture. No, not a conventional ballet, folkloric or modern dance culture, not yet anyway, but one intently invested in watching street dance develop as a theater art."

These events wrapped up the successful 2007 Target Dance Series (a sponsorship that allowed subsidy of student/child dance tickets so they could be offered for $5 as well as marketing support) that resulted in four times as many students and children attending Ford dance performances in 2007 than in 2006. The dance series also led all other series in average percentage of seats filled (77% or 959 seats in a 1245-seat theatre). Dance accounted for 19% of 2007 season events but 29% of season attendance.

You still have time to catch Circle X Theatre Company's Los Angeles premiere production of Love Loves a Pornographer by Jeff Goode. It runs through January 19 at the 87-seat [Inside] the Ford, the indoor theatre that is part of the Ford Theatres complex in Hollywood. The Los Angeles Times recommends this "deeply silly, thoroughly enjoyable period satire on sexual hypocrisy" as the perfect antidote for those "harassed by Daily Show reruns, turkey leftovers or how much Steve Jobs will make off you this holiday season." For Charlotte Stoudt's complete review visit http://www.fordamphitheater.org/en/about/071117_circleX_latimesrvw11-23-07.pdf.

For performance schedule and to purchase tickets, go to http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=1007&schedule=monthly.

Love Loves a Pornographer is the first production of the Ensemble Theatre Collective at [Inside] the Ford 2007-08 season. ETC@ITF is a collaboration of the member companies and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, with support from the Flintridge Foundation. For season information visit http://www.fordtheatres.org/en/events/Theatre.asp.

The guidelines and eGRANT (electronic) application for the 2008 Los Angeles County Arts Internship Program are now available on the Los Angeles County Arts Commission's website at /internship.html. The program is for Los Angeles County-based nonprofit performing, presenting, literary and municipal arts organizations interested in mentoring and educating an undergraduate college student for ten weeks during summer 2008. Grants of $4,000 are awarded to successful applicant organizations. $3,500 of the grant award is to be used to pay the intern and $500 of the grant is to be used to help defray some of the administrative costs associated with hosting the intern.

An application workshop will be held on Thursday, December 13 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the offices of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission (1055 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90017). Workshop attendance is mandatory for first time applicants and encouraged for new grant-associated staff members at organizations previously awarded internship grants. To attend the workshop you must register in advance through the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/lacac_ipworkshop08.

Organizations interested in this program should review the guidelines for eligibility before beginning an application. Deadline to submit an application is Wednesday, January 9, 2008. Please contact John Arroyo, jarroyo@arts.lacounty.gov, if you have any questions.

The purpose of the County's program is to provide undergraduate students with meaningful on-the-job training and experience in working in nonprofit arts organizations, while assisting arts organizations to develop future arts leaders and advocates.

Individual artists and small budget organizations can benefit from free expert advice and information on various aspects of arts management on Saturday, January 12 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at an "Arts Tune-Up" at the East Los Angeles Library (4837 East 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90022). Even though the event is free, it is recommended that participants register via SurveyMonkey. Please go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/lacac_atueastla08.

The fast -paced "arts tune-up" format works like this: There will be several tables set up with an arts expert/consultant addressing a specific subject located at each table. Participants choose a topic they want to learn more about. After 25 minutes, participants rotate to another table with a topic of interest as the sessions repeat. There will be a total of 5 round-robin sessions of 25 minutes each. Participants are welcome to come by for an hour or stay for the entire morning.

Topics for individual artists include:

• Arts Education In-School Resources (K-12) & Working in Arts Education (K-12)


• Cultural and Community Outreach


• Fundraising for Individual Artists


• Getting & Keeping Health Insurance


• Getting Your CD Made, Played, and Heard


• Getting Your Sh*t Together


• Intro to Public Art


• Marketing for Visual Artists


• PR (for Performing Artists)


• Production 101


• Tax Tips for Artists

Topics for small budget arts organizations include:

• Arts Education In-School Resources (K-12) & Working in Arts Education (K-12)


• Cultural and Community Outreach


• Fundraising for Organizations


• Marketing for Organizations


• Technical Production