Valley College Arts Fest Begins Thursday

After a six-year hiatus, Valley College has resurrected its Arts Festival, a four-day medley of music, theater, dance, poetry and visual art running Thursday through Sunday.

The festival was never an annual event, said festival director Dianne Wintrob, and “the Faculty Senate decided that it would be nice to have it again” this year.

Among the festival highlights will be a production of “West Side Story,” an all-day “Jazz on the Green” performance Saturday, a performance by the Valley College Guitar Ensemble and Orchestra and a one-woman show called “Margaret Sanger, Radiant Rebel, 1916,” about the crusading advocate of contraception.

“Almost all of our activities involve programs on our own campus, as opposed to bringing in outside groups,” Wintrob said. “The idea is to showcase what we do on our campus.”

A few of the productions will involve participants from CSUN and neighboring Grant High School, she added.

The festival is open to the public.

The guitar ensemble performance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sunday. “West Side Story” is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as well as May 9-11. Admission for “West Side Story” and the guitar ensemble performance range from $5 to $7. Two-for-the-price-of-one tickets are available for “West Side Story” on Thursdays. All other events are free.

For more information, call Wintrob at (818) 781-1200, Ext. 347.