Pacific Chorale Wins Grammy Award!

First Grammy Won by Orange County Classical Music Organization

Pacific Chorale and Artistic Director Robert Istad (above right) made history when they won the 2022 Grammy Award for “Choral Performance” during the 64th Annual Grammy Awards presented in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 3, 2022. It is the first Grammy Award for Istad and the renowned choir, which is the resident chorus at Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is now the first Orange County-based classical music organization ever to win a Grammy in any category. Pacific Chorale – along with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, National Children’s Chorus and eight outstanding soloists all under the baton of conductor Gustavo Dudamel – won the Grammy for its performance on the recording of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major, “Symphony of a Thousand.” Jointly accepting the award at the ceremony were Istad, for Pacific Chorale; Los Angeles Master Chorale Music Director Grant Gershon; Los Angeles Children’s Chorus Artistic Director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz; and National Children’s Chorus Artistic Director Luke McEndarfer. Read more here. Photo © Lindsey Byrnes & Recording Academy

SPECIAL EVENTS

Día del Niño Comes to Fullerton This Saturday!

Free Admission Day of Performances and Hands-on Workshops for All Ages

Includes Grammy Award winners, community and student artists

Arts Orange County and Media Arts Santa Ana (MASA)'s popular OC Día del Niño Festival comes to Fullerton this Saturday. The free admission event features award-winning and community artists with more than a dozen hands-on arts workshops for all ages. Its first two days at OC Fair & Event Center's Imaginology event attracted an estimated 14,000 attendees (see photos below). This Saturday is a "bonus day" at Pacific Drive Elementary School. More information may be found here.

Special Series of Live Entertainment in Restaurants Aims to Help Local Dining Establishments & Musicians

A one-week, one-time-only series of live music in local dining establishments will take place May 10-15 at four different venues. "OC Live" was conceived by Supervisor Katrina Foley as a way to employ musicians and to help restaurants attract clientele (both have been severely impacted by the pandemic). It is funded by the District 2 Arts Relief Program which ArtsOC has managed under contract with the County of Orange. More information here.

PEOPLE IN THE ARTS IN OC

UCI Names New Dean of Claire Trevor School of the Arts

Tiffany López

Tiffany López, visionary artist and administrator and proven champion for diversity and inclusion, has been named dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine, following a nationwide search. She will assume the post on July 1 and will replace Dean Stephen Barker, who is retiring. López comes to UCI from Arizona State University, where she serves as vice provost for inclusive excellence and as a Foundation Professor in the Sidney Poitier New American Film School in ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. The granddaughter of migrant farmworkers and a first-generation college student, López has dedicated her career to increasing opportunities in higher education, furthering the role of the arts and forging routes to support success through leadership. Prior to ASU, López spent more than two decades at UC Riverside, where she was a professor and the Tomas Rivera Endowed Chair in the Department of Theatre, Film and Digital Production. López is a founding member of the Latino Theater Alliance of Los Angeles, and she has also worked as a dramaturge with numerous theaters, including the Mark Taper Forum, Cornerstone Theater Company and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. A community college transfer student, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English at California State University, Sacramento and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in English at UC Santa Barbara. Lopez was also the first Cesar Chavez Dissertation Fellow at Dartmouth College. Read more here.

Muckenthaler Cultural Center Appoints Two Key Staff

The Muckenthaler Cultural Center has announced the appointment of two key staff members to the center’s leadership team – Lisa M. Berman (left) as the Curator of Exhibitions of the Gallery & Sculpture Garden and Shereen Youssef as the Development Director. Youssef graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Finance from California State University, Long Beach and continued her education earning an Executive Master’s in Business with an emphasis in Strategic & Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University. She is the Founding Director for Create a Smile, a non-profit serving children battling cancer, and has extensive experience in banking, healthcare administration and business development. Lisa M. Berman comes to The Muck with international expertise in the fields of Design, Sculpture, Wearable Art, Jewelry, Fashion and Public art. She holds degrees in Plastics Technology from Cal. State University Long Beach, Product & Jewelry Design from Otis College of Art and Design and Merchandising / Marketing from FIDM. Since 1999, Berman is the “Visionary Proprietor” of Sculpture To Wear Gallery and Founder of Berman Arts Agency which has placed artwork in the permanent museum collections of LACMA, The Smithsonian, The Getty and National Comedy Center. She is the Former Director / Co-Founder of the 4 acre Oropeza Sculpture Garden in Irvine, Ca. and has served on the Board of Governors for OTIS College of Art and Design, Public Relations Chair for the Fashion Council at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Museum Collections Board at Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM). Read more here.

ARTISTS GRANTS & WORKSHOP

$1,000 relief grants will be awarded to approximately 2,000 artists statewide in a new program. The California Relief Fund for Artists and Cultural Practitioners will be accepting applications from noon on April 25 until 5:00pm on May 20, 2022. Applicants will be notified about their award status in June 2022 and funds will be disbursed no later than July 31, 2022.

Details here.

Oasis Center International, in partnership with the City of Santa Ana, is offering a free Creative Professional Capacity Building Workshop this Saturday, April 30 at 10 am in the Southwest Senior Center California Room, 2201 West McFadden Avenue, Santa Ana. The purpose is to provide local artists with the tools for financial success, and topics will include banking, budgeting, credit, accessing capital, insurance, investing, and home ownership. More details here.