In The Arts

Laguna Art Museum and the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach have joined forces to create the show “ImageMakers National Photography Contest: Pacific Regional Winners.”

Images will be showcased at the museum’s Young Artists Society Gallery, on the lower level of the gallery space, from Sunday through May 19.

Presented by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the ImageMakers contest consists of local and regional competitions that pave the way for 4,000 entries to make it to the national headquarters. This year’s Pacific Regional Contest, which was organized by the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach, received entries from seven states on the West Coast. Twelve-year-old Lily Corder is the sole Laguna Beach resident to make it this far with her image titled “Me.”

Local photographers Tom Lamb and Mary Church, and Mike Kahn, director of Sony Alpha Camera Systems and president of Photoimaging Manufacturers and Distributors, selected the best from 800 entries. The submissions came from more than 120 club members, between ages 6 and 18. The 6th Annual National ImageMakers Photography Exhibit was displayed at the main branch of the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach until April 6.

A free reception for the participants who have cleared the Pacific Regional Contest will be hosted at Laguna Art Museum from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

“By introducing members to photography and digital arts, we are giving them the tools and opportunity to explore ways to express who they are creatively and to think outside of the box, starting at a young age,” Laguna Beach Club Art Director Emily Murray wrote in a release.

Admission to the exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach, is free April 30 through May 19

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Groups will celebrate coming of spring

The Laguna Concert Band will take the stage at the Laguna Playhouse at 3 p.m. Sunday to celebrate spring.

Edward Peterson, Peter Fournier and William Nichols will conduct this 70-member community band. Theater personality star and longtime announcer Lona Ingwerson will narrate the program, titled “Matadors and Leprechauns,” which features Latin and Irish music.

A surprise encore is in the pipeline, along with numbers such as “Danny Boy,” “Cry Me A River,” “La Milonga,” “Falling Slowly,” “The Irish Washerwoman” and “Blue Shades” by Frank Ticheli.

The Laguna Flutes are also part of the evening’s lineup and will perform Christopher Caliendo’s “La Milonga,” under the baton of Cynthia Ellis.

Tickets are available at the Laguna Playhouse and cost $15 for main seating and $10 for balcony seats.

— Rhea Mahbubani

Twitter: @RMahbubani