Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Arts Festival Returns to Charles White Park in Altadena

After an absence of more than 25 years, the Altadena Arts Festival at Charles White Park, is coming back to celebrates its local artists and community. The new nonprofit organization, Altadena Arts, is proud to present and produce a day-long festival on Saturday, October 23 at 10am-5pm. This free and family-friendly event will highlight twelve local artists showing their artistic works and five professional musical groups performing on a stage set-up for the festival. Also, there will be a variety of community groups present along with arts and crafts activities and food-trucks.

The Artist’s Village is sponsored by Hughes Auctions and includes twelve local visual artists showing a diverse range of genres and styles. The artists include LaMar Anderson, Bernard Kane, Dale E. LaCasella, Paul Martinez, Yeu Q. Nguyen, Gayle Nicholls-Ali, Riea Owens, Bart Ross, LP Ækili Ross, Gloria Sanyika, Delbar Shabaz, and Shé Shé Yancy. All artists either live, work, and/or have studio space in Altadena and Pasadena.

The Altadena Arts Festival Stage will feature five professional musical groups performing 45- minute sets starting at 10am. Among the musical genres will include jazz, reggae, world music, and Latin flamenco. There will also be poets reads their works on the stage. Below is the schedule of the bands performing:

10am – Kimera
11:30am – Flogging Seagulls
1pm – Upstream 2:30pm – Just Us
4pm – Rhythms of the Village

Altadena Arts was founded in August 2020 by Executive Director, Eugene Hutchins. “After more than a year and half in which the arts were devastated with closures and cancelations due to the pandemic, I am excited to revive this ‘Art in the Park’ festival that was originally organized by Frances Barrett White, the widow of artist Charles White, from 1980 until the early 1990s.” says Hutchins. “We honor Charles White’s artistry by celebrating the resilience of the next generation of artists who continue to create art and bringing the community together.”

Altadena Arts is dedicated to celebrating artists in the spirit of Charles White*, especially artists of color, women, and artists with disabilities, through the creation, production, and presentation of accessible and inclusive public artworks and arts education programs throughout Altadena. Besides the Altadena Arts Festival, Altadena Arts’ other programs include developing public art in the community, Art of the Month collection, and an in-school arts education program titled: “Seeing Ourselves.”

Funding for Altadena Arts is provided by its Founding Members, Board of Trustees, and the following institutional funders: Pasadena Tournament of Roses Foundation, Wilheim Foundation, Hughes Auctions, Altadena Community Chest, and Rotary Club of Altadena. Altadena Arts extends its gratitude to its community partners: Altadena Libraries, Altadena Heritage, Altadena Community Garden, Amigos de los Rios, Foothill Family Services, Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation, Lineage Performing Arts Center, Mount Loewe Chamber Players, My Tribe Rise, Side Street Project, Soul Force Project, and Sukyo Mahikari. Altadena Arts is a fiscally sponsored project of Fulcrum Arts.

*The Charles White Archives are not affiliated with Altadena Arts and does not represent the estate and/or artwork created by Charles White.