Press Contact:
Sue Bell Yank
310-308-7246
sbyank@18thstreet.org

18TH STREET ARTS CENTER CELEBRATES YOUTH ARTISTS AND EMPOWERING YOUTH VOICES THROUGH SANTA MONICA COMMUNITY FESTIVAL

SANTA MONICA (CA) – 18th Street Arts Center, a 30-year-old artist residency and contemporary arts center in the inland Pico Neighborhood of Santa Monica, holds its third major Pico Block Party community festival focused around youth artists and empowering youth voices on Saturday, May 19, 2018 from 3-6 PM. The free family-friendly artistic festival will feature youth-led art-making workshops, performances, open studios with resident artists, exhibitions, food trucks, and other creative activities.

The Pico Block Party series grew out of 18th Street Arts Center’s in-depth community outreach programs, including its bilingual neighborhood oral history project, CultureMapping90404.org. That project spurred the creation of a Neighborhood Advisory Council in 2018, who helped shaped the content for this Pico Block Party along the theme of “Empowering Youth Voices.”. With many Santa Monica high school and college-age youth deeply invested in political activism and organizing, but also facing challenges such as a school achievement gap and lack of youth services, focusing on youth artists and empowering youth voices became a priority for the Center’s community programming in 2018.

Past Block Parties have drawn upwards of 600 people to the Center’s large campus, and have provided a platform for the artistic and cultural vibrancy of our Pico Neighborhood to intermingle with LA-based exhibiting artists and international artists in our visiting artist residency program.

FEATURING:

Art Workshops

• Create your own Pico Neighborhood Loterίa cards with the Santa Monica High School MEChA Student Group!
• Work with exhibiting artist Mariángeles Soto-Díaz and area youth to screenprint slogans on fabric banners for your next protest march, and customize them with your own messages!
• Paint your own tote bag and collaborate on a community map of your neighborhood with Visiting Artist in Residence Asia Sztencel.
• Collage your own ‘zines with youth from Santa Monica High School, led by Isabelle D’Amico
• Create LED electrical artworks with Camera Obscura artist in residence Brittany Ransom.
• Participate in free movement classes with teachers from Continuum Movement Studio!
• Grab your costumes and act out your favorite stories with Kids on Stage!
• Activities and face-painting for the toddler set from Santa Monica Montessori School
• Experience virtual reality art with Keith Tolch of Art Reality Studio

Performances (on the main stage)

• Dance it up with the Hype Squad with Ebonicia Fischer
• Groove to the stylings of Rondalla Sueño Romantico, a youth band from St Anne’s Church
• Let your voice rise with the SMC Jazz Vocal Ensemble
• Holla for the original rhymes and beats of the Pico Youth and Family Center youth MCs
• In the Gallery, Artist Lab Resident Paul Pescador will perform with his signature costumes as part of his exhibition Going West, or 15 Years in Los Angeles