CULTURE : Santa Monica Festival Offers Expanded Horizons

Sometimes you do get something for nothing.

The Santa Monica Festival 1995 begins with a free all-day celebration Saturday in Clover Park.

The parking is also free. And in a repeat of last year’s successful theme, the festival will honor African American and Latino culture with a wide range of events--including ethnic and modern music, native dance, puppet shows, folk tales, mask-making and selling of traditional foods--followed by a week of far-flung community offerings.

The festival debuted in 1991 as a two-day event at the Santa Monica Pier, headlined by the San Francisco Mime Troupe. In 1992 came an “anti-Columbus” quincentennial. Cultural Affairs Administrator Maria Luisa de Herrera said the event celebrated African American and Native American culture. “It was a very personal, very special event.”

The festival took a year off in 1993 but returned last year with “a more curated effort, targeting the African American and Latino communities.”

“Most people, when they think of Santa Monica, don’t relate it with the African American and Latino communities,” De Herrera said. “They’ve been underrepresented and under-presented, and the media certainly doesn’t help bring a positive image of them most of the time. We found both communities were very happy and excited to be addressed.

“We picked Clover Park because it’s not identified by any particular culture, and it’s very accessible.”

Next year, organizers will go back to a broader theme, she said, because “we don’t want to exclude anybody.”

In addition to Saturday’s events, De Herrera persuaded several Santa Monica institutions to join in the celebration. “We sent letters to every arts organization and public service group, saying, ‘If you’re having a poetry festival, why not have it be Latino or African American work?--and we’ll embrace it as a festival event.’ ”

With a $23,000 city grant--another $11,000 came from the California Arts Council and an additional $6,000 from area sponsors--De Herrera’s office coordinated permits, parking and police, and tapped the event’s producer, Community Arts Resources, to select festival participants.

“It’s definitely become a community event, with all levels of people getting involved,” said De Herrera, who began planning the festival last summer. “But no matter what we do,” she added, cheerfully, “the last few days, you always pull your hair out.”

Clover Park is located at 2600 Ocean Park Blvd. Please park on 28th Street. For further information about festival events, call (310) 458-8350.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Schedule of Events Saturday’s performance schedule at Clover Park: Stage One: 11:30-11:45 a.m.--Opening ceremonies 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m.--UP Choir (contemporary gospel) 1:00-1:30--Los Tres de America (Jarocho music from Veracruz) 1:45-2:15--Caravan Project (tap dance) 2:45-3:30--Strangefruit (fusion of funk, rock, jazz and hip-hop) 4:00-4:30--Clarita and the Arte Flamenco Dance Theatre 5:00-5:45--Marcos Loya (Latin jazz) Stage Two: 12:15-1 p.m.--Blackstreet USA Puppet Theatre, with Gary Jones 1:30-2:15--Quebradita Dance Workshop 2:30-3:00--Mariachi Chapala (traditional Mexican music) 3:15-4:00--Hip-hop dance workshop, with Fatima Robinson 4:30-5:15--Black Coffee and Jam (House of Blues band) Workshop tent: 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.--Rosalie Ortega with Lotteria rattles 1:00-2:15--Matthew Thomas with African mask-making 2:30-4:00--David Orozco’s Carros pintados (dream cars) 4:15-5:30--Dorothy Taylor with African-inspired doll-making Storytelling tent: 12:15-1:00 p.m.--Olga Furginson with papel picado demonstration 1:15-2:00--Ellaraino with African American folk tales 2:15-3:00--Ruben Garfias with ancient Mexican and South American stories 3:30-4:15--Inliss Kyte with African American hair-braiding demonstration * Santa Monica Festival events, beginning Saturday: Live Music and Performance: “Fierce Tongues: A Festival Celebrating La Mujer .” Saturday-Tuesday, Highways Performance Space. $10. “Sonia Sanchez and Other Poets.” Saturday, Midnight Special Bookstore. Free. Spanish rock and reggae. Saturday, April 28-30, Tampico Tilly’s. $8-$10. “Trilogy n’ Sistahood” (poetry performance group). Saturday, Midnight Special Bookstore. Free. Concert in Lincoln Park: Bobby Matos and his Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble, Sunday. Free. “Rhythms of Brazil: An Evening of Music and Dancing.” April 27 at 14 Below. $5. “Stretching My Skin Until It Rips Whole” by performance artist Elia Arce. April 27-30, May 4-7, Highways. $10 (Benefit for Chicana Service Action Center, April 27, $20.) Concert in Virginia Avenue Park: “Africa, the Global People,” April 29. Free. Santa Monica Symphony: “A Tribute to William Grant Still.” April 30, Civic Auditorium. Free. Galleries: Group show of new artists. Through April 29, First Independent Gallery (FIG). Free. Slide lecture by artist John de Heras. Sunday, FIG. Free. “New Work: An Exhibition by Frank Romero.” Tuesday-May 27, Robert Berman Gallery. Free. Slide lecture on Diego Rivera by Jim Urmston. April 29, FIG. Free. “Emerging Artists II,” featuring African American work. Through May 27, M. Hanks Gallery. Free. Jameel Rasheed: “My Ancestral African Soul.” Through May 20, Barbara Ackerman Gallery. Free. “Contemporary Stone Sculpture from Zimbabwe.” Ongoing, Barbara Ackerman Gallery. Free. Exhibition of works by Jose Lozano. April 28-May 23, Julie Rico Gallery. Free. Family events: “African American and Latino Film and Video Festival,” presented by CityTV, Channel 16. Through April 30. Storytelling (focusing on African American and Latino experience), Tuesday. Toddler stories, today and April 27. Santa Monica Public Library-Fairview Branch. Free. Storytelling and crafts. Tuesday, Santa Monica Public Library-Montana Branch. Free. After-school story time. Wednesday, Santa Monica Public Library-Main Branch. Free. “The Quilt Project,” a collaboration by Santa Monica High School’s MEChA Club, Black Student Union and CLUE. Reception April 28, Santa Monica Museum of Art. Free. “An Evening of History and Stories by African American and Latino Elders,” Santa Monica Museum of Art, April 28. Free. (Donations invited.)

Interactive storytelling: Guilherme Barcelos presents an interactive retelling of “Sister Moon Brother Sun” using Brazilian Indian masks and costumes. April 29, L.A. (The Bookstore). Free. Lecture and Workshops: Batik art by Jim Barry. Saturday, Wildfiber. $5 in advance, $7 at the door. Mask-making workshops (teatro and commedia dell’arte) for adults. Saturday, Highways. $5; materials included. Special video selection of works by African American and Latino directors, Ongoing Vidiots. $2.50 members, $4 non-members. Discussion of Chiapas uprising with writer John Ross. Saturday, Midnight Special Bookstore. Free. African drumming workshop, Sunday, Verdite Africa Gallery. Free. Screening of Carla Thompson’s documentary “The Root of It All.” Sunday, Midnight Special Bookstore. Free. “Getting to Know You: Insight Into the Culture of Our Community,” a seminar sponsored by the city of Santa Monica. April 26, Ken Edwards Center. Free. Mexican cooking class and luncheon with chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. April 29, Border Grill. $40; reservations required. (310) 451-1655.