Around Town: Art of stage, music and canvas honored

Notables

Honorable performance

The Rotary Club of Laguna Beach recently honored Makenna Pitz as Laguna Beach High School Student of the Month for March in the Performing Arts Department.

Makenna performed in the high school’s “Guys and Dolls” musical. She also earned a M.A.C.Y. special recognition award, a Theatre II Pride Award and the DAR Citizenship Award.

She is planning to attend a four-year university in Southern California, majoring in sociology or communications, with a goal of an entertainment business career.

Makenna was honored with a certificate of recognition at the weekly Rotary meeting, where she was introduced by the school’s director of performing arts, Mark Dressler, and will receive a scholarship at the honors convocation in June.

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Carl St.Clair to Deliver Keynote at Art Star Awards

The Laguna Beach Alliance for the Arts announced that Music Director Carl St.Clair will deliver the keynote speech at the eighth annual Art Star Awards on Sunday at [seven-degrees].

During the event, awards will be presented to organizations, businesses and individuals who have contributed to and shaped Laguna Beach arts and culture.

In addition, a Laguna Beach artist will be announced as the recipient of the $5,000 [seven-degrees] of Inspiration Grant to develop an arts project or program that advances recognition of Laguna Beach as a progressive arts city. This year’s finalists for the grant are Cheryl Ekstrom, Rebecca Faubion and Pamela Madsen.

St.Clair is in his 24th season with Pacific Symphony. He led the orchestra’s move in 2006 into its home in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

From 2008 to 2010, St.Clair was general music director for the Komische Oper in Berlin, where he led several successful new productions. He also served as general music director and chief conductor of the German National Theater and Staatskapelle in Weimar. In 2014, St.Clair will become the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Costa Rica.

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Laguna artist recognized

Southern California’s largest fine arts festival, Mission Federal ArtWalk, will recognize Laguna Beach local Steve Kell among its featured artists.

Kell works mainly in plein air and depicts landscapes, seascapes, missions and urban settings.

Selected from more than 700 applicants, 12 featured artists will join the festival’s 350 artist participants on April 26 and 27 in San Diego for the event’s 30th anniversary.

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AROUND TOWN is a column about people and events Laguna Beach compiled by city editor Alicia Lopez. Please submit information about your fundraiser, charity event or a person deserving attention to coastlinepilot@latimes.com or alicia.lopez@latimes.com.