ATTENTION, TEENS : There’s More to This Newport Beach Salute to the Arts Than Just Face-Painting and Clowns
Quiet. Twelve-year-old Brynn is saying her evening prayers.
“Um, like, God? I know you’ve got a lot of things going on lately, but I need a favor.
“See, Mom’s been on my case about this art thing again. Now she’s gone, like, totally ballistic, and she wants to drag me to some art festival. On Saturday!
“So, listen. If you can’t schedule a tornado or something, would you at least make sure this thing’s at a mall? And while you’re at it, could you throw in a really hot band, and maybe some food?”
Rest easy, kiddo. New to this year’s annual Newport Beach Salute to the Arts are features designed just for the teen-age and pre-teen-age crowd, ranging from a live rock band to a large visual arts display by their peers. Presented by the Newport Beach Arts Commission, the salute will be held Thursday through Sunday at two locations in Newport Center Fashion Island. Admission is free to all activities.
According to arts commission coordinator Maggie Leyden, organizers hope to attract a larger segment of the 12-and-above crowd to the event by beefing up its usual displays and performances with such groups as N. E. Color, a West Covina band that is “popular on the prom circuit,” and a visual art exhibit by seventh- through 12th-graders from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.
The Salute to the Arts was launched in the mid-1970s as a small art show on the lawn of Newport Beach City Hall, and has grown steadily in scope and popularity, said Leyden. Except for a brief recess during the shopping center’s renovation, the festival has been based at Newport Center Fashion Island since 1981, and is partially funded by the mall.
Tonight, two stages in the Neiman Marcus/The Broadway plaza will be the site of continuous musical performances, beginning at 5 p.m. with the Huntington Brass Players and winding up with a performance by Don Miller’s Big Band from 8 to 9 p.m. (a dance floor will be available for this show).
Other entertainers include T-Lou and his Los Angeles Zydeco Band, vocalist Claudio Marloni and the Overture Company of Opera Pacific. Also from 5 to 9 p.m., festival-goers can sample the wares of 21 area restaurants, including Tutto Mare, McCormick & Schmick’s and Five Feet Too. Restaurant staff will sell snack-sized portions of their wares for $1 to $5, said Leyden, and nonalcoholic beverages will be available.
In the shopping center’s Atrium Court, winning entries from the 1992 salute’s juried art exhibition, as well as the Newport-Mesa student show, will be on view through Sunday on the third floor. An artists reception will be held Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. to honor the 48 participants in the juried show.
Saturday is Children’s Day. Performers in the Neiman Marcus/The Broadway plaza include the Irvine Dance Academy, puppeteers Judy Sofer and Ruben Gerard and Ballet Monmartre, as well as Chinese martial arts demonstrations, origami and storytelling by Barbara Klein, and Newport Beach Showtime, a performing arts youth group. N. E. Color begins its set at 3:30 p.m.; a dance floor will be provided.
Also in the plaza area, hands-on workshops and demonstrations will be offered by the Newport Harbor Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum, the Bowers Museum and Discovery Museum. Children can explore musical instruments with the help of the Orange County Philharmonic Society’s Musicmobile, visit with a clown or dabble in face-painting. Children’s Day activities run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
What: 1992 Newport Beach Salute to the Arts.
When: Thursday, May 14, through Sunday, May 17.
Where: Newport Center Fashion Island, Newport Beach.
Whereabouts: From the San Diego (405) Freeway, exit at Jamboree Road and drive west. Turn left on San Joaquin Road, right on Santa Cruz Drive.
Wherewithal: Activities are free; food prices range from $1 to $5.
Where to call: (714) 644-3130.