Cultural Revelation Is Aim of 2-Day KidzArtz Festival : SAN DIEGO COUNTY

Art for kids’ sake. That’s what the KidzArtz Festival is all about.

This comprehensive cultural enrichment event, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Balboa Park, is designed to spread the word about the arts to San Diego schoolchildren.

The outdoor festival will feature artists from a myriad of disciplines, at a dozen locations throughout the park. Music, dance, opera, drama, puppetry, literature, painting, mime and sculpture are all part of the vast potpourri of live performances, demonstrations and hands-on, arts-related activities heading our way this weekend--all free of charge.

KidzArtz, the brainchild of Elaine Krieger, was created in 1987 as a way of exposing children to the full palette of arts experiences, and it took off like a rocket. Last year, the one-day event drew more than 25,000 people, and the overwhelming response from participants, as Krieger explained, was that “there’s too much to see and do. We need two days.”

That was music to Krieger’s ears, and she immediately set out to expand this year’s festival to a full weekend, despite the uphill battle to fund it. The list of activities and number of participating artists has burgeoned as well. In fact, the festival slate will be jammed both Saturday and Sunday, with many events running concurrently. The hours are 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

What kind of effect can this shotgun blast of exposure have on children with absolutely no arts background on which to build?

Former soccer star Juli Veee, youth chairman of the festival and one of more than 50 artists on this weekend’s roster, believes the festival has the power to change lives.

“One minute of exposure to something (artistic) can make all the difference,” he said. “If they see some children playing the violin, they

might decide they want to play--instead of doing drugs.

“I was exposed myself as a child in Hungary. Here, children are exposed to athletics more than anything else. And that’s a mistake. I always had two careers, soccer and painting.

But being a sports hero “is one-dimensional,” he said. “It dies. But art has a lasting effect on a person. It’s not right that athletics get the biggest recognition.”

KidzArtz is not just kids’ stuff, as Veee pointed out. “Parents are hungry for it, too. They want to get involved when they watch the kids.”

California Ballet dancer Jewel Tiveten, one of many San Diego dancers scheduled to appear at KidzArtz, is living proof that a little can go a long way to impress a child.

“I saw the San Francisco Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ when I was only 5, and when I watched Linda Meyer dance the Sugar Plum Fairy, I really thought she was a fairy,” Tiveten recalled.

“I’m hoping I can make that kind of magic for somebody else--and I think it can happen in just a few minutes. After I saw that ballet, I knew I had to be a ballet dancer, and I begged my parents for two years until they agreed to let me take lessons.”

Matthew Garbutt, principal tuba player with the San Diego Symphony, will lead 14 colleagues in a performance at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion during his brief appearances at KidzArtz Saturday and Sunday. But he has no intention of making it a passive experience for the children.

“We’re going to give group lessons in conducting,” Garbutt said. “We’ll pass out white straws and show them the beat patterns, the dynamics, entrances and exits. We’ll even pick a few kids to actually conduct on stage.

“Some people think the conductor just stands there and swings his arms. I’ll conduct the first movement and then explain what I did,” he said. “If somebody is interested in conducting, great. But at least we hope to give everyone more of an appreciation for what a conductor does. Children are not usually exposed to anything like this.”

Many of the artists, including the Clogging Company (scheduled for a 30- minute stint at the Puppet Theatre on Sunday), will concentrate on performing. But even then, there are lessons to be learned.

“We’ll explain a little of the history of clogging,” said Jean Adkins. “We won’t do a lot of talking, but we’ll tell them about its origins as a hillbilly art form in the Appalachians. Children adapt to clogging very easily, so it’s very good for young people.”

Dancer Susan Wingfield, whose local performance credits date back to the heyday of the now-defunct San Diego Ballet, will teach creative movement to 5- and 6-year-olds, and take the older children through the rudiments of jazz dance.

“I taught last year, and I couldn’t believe the response,” she said. “After they watch dance groups perform all morning, they’re so glad to be able to get up and do it. I do a grand march that gets everybody up--even the littlest ones.”

Musician Richard Lawrence will use sound structures as “a medium to create a dialogue, a language,” he explained as he assembled the elaborate percussive frame he uses for his music making. And the benefits should extend to the classroom as well.

“I’ll show the children the different textures and frequencies. I allow them to hear the sounds and then make them for themselves. Children are inquisitive,” he said. “This is a tool for developing learning skills and improving their attention span.”

All this child’s play is tough work for head honcho Krieger, whose biggest challenge is raising funds for the annual event.

“We have a budget of $154,000 this year,” she said. “We’ve raised nearly $60,000, but the festival needs community support in order to continue.”

Krieger appears to devote her energy to this once-a-year event with missionary zeal.

“I know if the children are exposed to enough positive things, it will have an effect,” she said. “This is the third year, so we’re continuously touching their lives and pushing them forward. By keeping the festival free of charge, we’re making it available to everybody. We’re even busing in 2,500 children from low-income areas, and we want to do more and more of it every year.”

Corporate sponsors, such as Play Co. Toys, have jumped on the bandwagon because they feel KidzArtz fills an important gap.

“We do a lot for sports, but this is basically a way of making the children a little more rounded,” said company Vice President Howard Labow. “The kids need KidzArtz.”