Children’s Creative Project, The Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, and ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! are pleased to present Las Cafeteras in two free performances for Santa Barbara area public schools at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Wednesday, April 22. More than 4,800 elementary students will experience Las Cafeteras’ performances of son jarocho, music of the Veracruz region of Mexico, featuring dancers from Ballet Folklórico de Los Angeles, with guest Ventura County based jaranero Jorge Mijangos.
Las Cafeteras create a vibrant musical fusion with a unique East L.A. sound and a community-focused message promoting equality and respect. In a remix of traditional sounds Las Cafeteras’ music is brought to life by an eclectic instrumentation including jaranas (a ukulele-like instrument), requinto, quijada de burro (a donkey jawbone), a bass instrument called marimbol cajón, and a wooden platform called the tarima used to dance zapateado. Las Cafeteras school shows will feature songs in Spanish and English such as La Iguana and La Bamba, as well as their own creations celebrating the lives of everyday people and the cause of social justice.
Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles is a professional Mexican-American folk dance company founded in 2011 by artistic director Kareli Montoya, with the mission to teach artists to respect and love the art of dance, not only for the personal satisfaction it provides, but more importantly for the positive and lasting effect it has on society. Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles has appeared with Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano at the Ford Amphitheatre and Lila Downs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. These special performances at the Bowl are a product of a unique collaboration of organizations dedicated to providing diverse art and cultural opportunities for children and families. The free performances for students at the Bowl are funded by the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, Children’s Creative Project, and The Towbes Foundation.
“I applaud the collaborative efforts and passionate commitment of the Bowl Foundation, Children’s Creative Project, and Viva el Arte! to increase access to art and culture and make this extraordinary opportunity available to so many of our youth,” states Ginny Brush, Executive Director of the County Arts Commission.
Since 1981-82, the Children’s Creative Project has presented free annual performances by world-renowned artists at the Santa Barbara Bowl and Arlington Theatre. A program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office, Children’s Creative Project presents visual arts and performing arts instruction by resident artists and touring artist performances in 92 schools serving more than 50,000 students in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties each year.
Children’s Creative Project presents the annual I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival to support, in part, their arts education programs. This year’s festival at the Santa Barbara Mission will be May 23–25 featuring 150 large-scale, colorful street paintings created using chalk on pavement by professional artists and young people. The Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation Education Outreach is dedicated to provide support and funding for performing arts education in the Santa Barbara community, and dedicates one dollar of every ticket sold at the Bowl to this end. Education Outreach, part of the Bowl’s core mission, reaches some 20,000 touch-points with students each year. Education Outreach provides funding to artists, schools, and nonprofit arts programs to advance performing arts education in our area
¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! enriches the lives of Santa Barbara County residents with high quality, no-cost, and accessible performing arts experiences that represent the unique cultural heritage of our community. ¡Viva presents Las Cafeteras in a community jarocho workshop on Thursday, April 23, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Franklin Neighborhood Center, as well as free family performances on Friday, April 24, 7:00 p.m. at Isla Vista School; at Guadalupe City Hall on Saturday, April 25, 7:30 p.m.; and at The Marjorie Luke Theater at Santa Barbara Junior High on Sunday, April 26, 7:00 p.m. Las Cafeteras were named the Best Latin Alternative Band in 2013 by LA Weekly, and described by the Los Angeles Times as “Uniquely Angeleno mishmash of punk, hip-hop, beat music, cumbia, and rock … Live, they’re magnetic.”
The two morning performances are not open to the public. The performance times listed below are for your information only. Your writers and photographers are welcome, but no flash photography or bright lighting for recording is allowed during the two performances on: Wednesday, April 22, at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
To make arrangements to attend this event, please contact Kai Tepper at Santa Barbara Bowl Education Outreach at 962-7422, ext. 7, or kai@sbbowl.com
