Using the Arts to Celebrate L.A.’s Cultures

From an “I Love Lucy” marathon in Beverly Hills to a performance of Philippine folk dancing, Los Angeles County showed off a stunning spectrum of cultural diversity Saturday in a burst of color, song and crafts.

Whether deep inside the Angeles National Forest, where Native Americans read poetry, or in breezy Santa Monica, where artisans opened their studio doors, about 75,000 people converged on 150 locations throughout the county as part of the seventh annual L.A. Arts Open House.

Best of all for the audiences, everything Saturday was free, a gift from the scores of artists who said they welcomed the opportunity to share their hobbies, passions and heritage with the public.

“I think it’s wonderful for people to see dances like this, to see a side of the Philippines that is not just some Third World country,” said Cathy Singson, 29, of West Hills. She’s a financial analyst who performs with the Kultura Philippine Dance Company.

She and her troupe appeared at the Cal State Northridge Performing Arts Center, one of dozens of theaters, museums and auditoriums that opened their doors to the public.

Officials at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art said attendance was twice as high as normal because of the free admission. Normally, an adult ticket costs $7.

In downtown Los Angeles, a family festival drew crowds for puppet making and origami as well as music from Africa and Asia. Nearby, about 500 people showed up for concerts at California Plaza. In Long Beach, crowds surged to 1,000 at the Museum of Latin American Art.

Santa Clarita organized a street-painting festival at its Town Center Mall, where visitors could chalk up the sidewalk until their fingers were numb.

Nearly 150 visitors to the Downey Museum of Art were treated to an exhibit by Northern California sculptor Phillip Glashoff, who transforms discarded metals--from old wrenches to horseshoes--into pigs, bulls, dragons and angels.

Though the events were designed to carry celebratory themes, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 heightened awareness of the need for cultural understanding, especially of the Middle East.

In one poignant moment at the John Anson Ford Theatre in Hollywood, Jordan Elgrably, who helped establish a new Middle Eastern cultural center in Los Angeles, stood before about 200 people to introduce a Persian dance troupe and a Sufi music ensemble.

“When you think of the Middle East today, you think of . . .” he paused, then continued: “You think of terrorists, the Taliban maybe, people in bunkers.” The audience fell silent.

“But today,” he said, “we are here to think of the Middle East as a cradle of cultures. These performers show the wealth of Mideast culture in Southern California.”

That was just the reason Jim Cruess, his wife, Juana Ventura, and their three children drove from Placentia to Hollywood for the performance. They wanted a day of culture and wanted to better understand people from the Middle East.

“For all that is going on in the world today, for all the headlines right now, the real work of bridge building can be done through the arts,” Cruess said. “It’s part of our responsibility as parents to expose our children to this.”

‘This Music Reached Into My Soul’

As the male vocalist of the Lian Ensemble sang melodic poetry in Persian, many in the crowd were moved.

“I had no idea what he was saying, but it was clearly powerful,” said Petty Officer Brian Arrington, 32, on weekend leave from his Navy duty in San Diego. “I just wanted to come here and be a local citizen and enjoy culture outside of a military assignment.”

Arrington said he has been stationed in the United Arab Emirates, but the many restrictions on what people are allowed to do there left few opportunities to learn the culture.

After the performance, Tannaz Laghaee, an Iranian American, rose to her feet in cheers and applause. “This music reached into my soul,” she said.

For many, L.A. Arts Open House provided a full-day itinerary with many cross-town options. Glenn Lopez and his family settled on activities at the 18th Street Arts Complex in Santa Monica and later traveled to a dance performance in Canoga Park. “There were all these events within 20 minutes of our house,” said Lopez, who came from his Fairfax district home with his wife, Anai, and children Niete, 6, and Aaron, 4. “We are just settling down [in Los Angeles] and the fact that it’s free is a big plus.”

Said his wife: “We wanted to be everywhere, but we can’t.”

Numerous small rooms and two small stages around the art complex offered everything from modern dance to music and poetry--even a bake sale to benefit women in Afghanistan.

The programs started at noon--with adults and children trickling in slowly. But by early afternoon the crowd had grown to a couple hundred enjoying the festival atmosphere.

Eileen Moskowitz and her 9-year-old daughter, Mariah, decided against a theater experience and instead drove to the Haramokngna American Indian Culture Center in the Angeles National Forest.

Sharing Ancient Traditions

Native Americans from all over Southern California showed up to teach and share their songs, stories and traditions.

Rudy Ortega Jr. stood in the shade of a sycamore tree, singing songs passed down to him from older members of the Fernandeno Tataviam tribe. Jacque Tahuka-Nun’ez, wearing a skirt of willow bark strips, traveled from San Juan Capistrano to share stories about the creation of stars told by her people, the Acjachemen.

Mariah, an animal lover, said she picked the Native American event because “they want to save nature.” Eileen, recently laid off from her job as an educational media producer, appreciated not having to pay to expose her daughter to the array of cultural offerings.

At the Stages Theater in Hollywood, the Towne Street Theatre company put on a two-act reading of a play about Sally Hemings, one of Thomas Jefferson’s slaves who is thought to have been involved in a love affair with him and borne one or more of his children.

Audience members listened as the 11-member cast read the tale about racial and class struggles two centuries ago. Kim Dyer of Los Angeles took her 8-year-old son, Christian Bouldin.

“I saw this on the list of open house events and I knew I wanted to take him,” Dyer said. “I wanted him to be exposed to the story.”

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Times staff writers Carol Chambers, Daren Brisco, Cara Mia DiMassa and Dalondo Moultrie contributed to this report.