Napa Valley ARTS 2010: October 15-November 14
Various locations; many events free
Opening reception for Meet the Makers photo exhibition:
Oct. 15, Mumm Napa
www.nvarts.org
Introducing Napa Valley Arts 2010: All-county culture festival spotlights homegrown creativity
August 31, 2010 NAPA --- The Napa Valley already hosts plenty of festivals featuring world-famous artists, from painters and sculptors to performers of all genres who take the stage at historic venues around the county dozens of times a year.
Now, for the first time, Napa will celebrate the bounty of its own creative community in a month-long festival of all the arts, with close to 100 events taking place over five weekends from mid-October to mid-November.
"Napa Valley ARTS 2010 isn't a manufactured event," explains Bob Almeida, president of the Napa Valley Opera House and a member of the board for Arts Council Napa Valley, the 30-year-old non-profit that is presenting the festival. "This is simply a compilation of all the artistic effort that takes place all the time, around the year, in the Napa Valley," continues Almeida. "For a place that has about 135,000 residents, this county has such a rich variety of artistic resources---from visual arts to performing arts."
In fact, there's never been a better time for Napa County visitors to sample cultural delights that match the valley's better-known food and wine offerings. "We're celebrating all of the arts, venues and creativity in the community," says Kristina Young, a visual artist who is also acting executive director of Arts Council Napa Valley.
The new festival opens Oct. 15 with a reception at Mumm Napa, where the winery's renowned photography gallery will host a three-week exhibition featuring portraits of local artists created by local photographers. The exhibition, "Meet the Makers," will also include panel texts written by "The Art Girls", a trio of talented sixth-graders who jointly interviewed 10 of the show's subjects about their creative practice. The youngsters themselves have been working together on a mural that will be the only non-photography piece in the Mumm show.
Other events in the month-long Napa Valley ARTS 2010 celebration will include plays, concerts, the debut of a new film festival ("Dr. Spin's Propaganda Machine," dedicated to shorter works, and a Day of the Dead reading by Latin-American teenagers who are creating their own podcast about the Latino experience: "La Vida Napa."
Arts Council Napa Valley is producing a catalog of events for ARTS 2010, but more are being added every week. For the most up-to-date listings of what's happening in the Napa Valley arts and culture scene, visit www.nvarts.org.
Contact: Kristina Young
(707) 257-2117
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