The LiveSV Blog

04-11-13

Text and Photos
by LiveSV Team

It was not an ordinary day in San Jose, recently.  The grounds outside The Tech Museum were swarmed by Imperial Stormtroopers under the watchful eye of none other than Darth Vader.

Fortunately, a band of resourceful rebels was there to fend them off so that a major announcement could be made....

Among the notable speakers at this special event were San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams. They announced that Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, The Exhibition will be coming to The Tech Museum in October of 2013.

After the speeches, participants graciously stayed around and...  READ MORE>>>

04-04-13

By Ben Daniels
Communications Manager, Arts Council Silicon Valley

    It is a common occurrence to celebrate artists who have passed away, never to know how their communities and fans truly felt about them. As arts programs in schools dry up and grant money is increasingly more difficult to secure, it makes sense to celebrate those at the center of artistic expression while they are still around.

    Those who take our collective joy and fear, ecstasy and pain and reflect it back to us, in the form of art, rely not only on monetary compensation but on inspirational compensation as well. While social media plays a key role in channeling an artist’s fans and their admiration, many artists have neither the expertise nor the time to utilize such tools effectively. It is still up to the community, in which they live, work and create, to honor them and to tell them that they are appreciated, loved and admired.

    Six such Silicon Valley artists, that are very much alive, were celebrated last week. Named Artist Laureates by Arts Council Silicon Valley, Daniel Hughes (On Stage), David Denny (Off Stage), Sam Hernandez (Off the Wall), Don Fritz (On the Wall), Robert Ragazza (Emerging Artist) and George Rivera (Legacy Laureate) were recognized for their artistic excellence and their roles in contributing to a vibrant and creative community. Each artist was also awarded monetary support to encourage continuing development of their work. The reception was attended by each artist’s family and close friends as well as a number of community representatives from numerous companies and organizations.

    Further illustrating the impact of "The Artist” on the community, Legacy Laureate George Rivera was also given a proclamation from the City of Santa Clara, presented by Councilmembers Pat Mahan, Debi Davis and Teresa O’Neill. Each artist remarked, with a great deal of humility, how honored they were and that their success was possible only with the support of their communities. While these artists have been recognized, there are countless others who may never know just how their works impact their communities. The hope is that artists everywhere can look upon the Artist Laureates and find inspiration to keep creating and to inspire generations of artists to come.

For more information on the Artist Laureates visit http://www.artscouncil.org.

COMMENTS>>>

03-29-13

Note: Click the title for event information; click the link for the full review!

Hedda Gabler (City Lights Theater Company)
Metro: "...the strong performances and fine direction by Virginia Drake make this a riveting production, recommended especially for those who are new to the play...."
San Jose Mercury News: "...While not all of the cast is up to the rigors of the text, this is still a well-plotted and lucid version of "Hedda" that eschews stuffiness for clarity...."

John and Jen (Hillbarn Theatre)
A Good Reed Review: "...The story covers almost 40 years from 1952 to 1990, and as the plot unfolds, we see humor, pathos, and drama, all in slightly less than 2 hours...."
Palo Alto Daily News: "...Veteran director Jay Manley prods, coaches and squeezes strong emotional performances out of the sublimely voiced Alicia Teeter as Jen, and earnest, appealing William Giammona in his two roles of John, Jen's brother, and, later, John, her son...."
Artsalot: "...Perhaps the most fascinating thing about how this show is written and performed, is how an audience member with very little (if any) point of reference and ability to empathize with these characters, can be pulled in a made to feel like she can...."

There are more reviews to be found. If you'd like to share them, please add links to them in the Comments section!

COMMENTS>>>

03-27-13

By Ben Daniels
Communications Manager, Arts Council Silicon Valley

    I love Silicon Valley. More specifically, I love San Jose. It is a city where someone with an idea has the "room" to test it out. District 3 Councilmember Sam Liccardo tested a new idea called Start Up San José, a specialty pop-up installation last Thursday and Friday. Working with NextSpace and San Jose Made, a vacant bottom floor space in downtown San Jose was programmed for two days with local entrepreneurs.

    During the day NextSpace transformed the space into a shared workspace for the community. Those working had access to specialty drinks by Barefoot Coffee and lunch by Moveable Feast's arsenal of food trucks. In the evening the space was transformed into a marketplace by San Jose Made where local artists and vendors sold their works. 

    Through creative partnerships, the goal of Start Up San Jose was to build a model for encouraging innovative start-ups, studios and retailers and show what a difference a few active, bustling storefronts can make in the community - and I believe the experiment was a success.

    People were productive, information was shared, and there was a sense of community that I have experienced only a handful of times in downtown San Jose. It was wonderful to see a number of active community members representing numerous communtiy organizations socializing and it seemed to be the place to be on Friday night. It is my my sincere hope that more events like Start up San Jose pop up in the future. It can only be a good thing! 

COMMENTS>>>

03-22-13

By Joshua Russell
Director of External Affairs, Arts Council Silicon Valley

As an arts council, our goal is to try and raise visibility for the arts, leading to more engagement. A big part of that is... how can we help make the arts as relevant as possible for many people?

One way we are tackling that is to use March Madness as a platform to highlight 68 regional arts, culture and entertainment organizations and use the March Madness excitement to do just that. So we created Arts Madness -- a bracket of 68 arts groups, with each one connected to a team in the NCAA tournament.

We conducted "Selection Monday" and set the bracket. Through Arts Council Silicon Valley's Facebook and Twitter feeds, we are tracking how each team/arts group is doing through each game of the tournament.

The winning team/group will win amazing LiveSV prizes. Keep checking out our pages and see how your favorite arts group is faring. Let the madness continue! #ArtsMadness

COMMENTS>>>

03-20-13

By LiveSV Staff

Want to hear the story behind the story? In this video, five actors from San Jose Repertory Theatre's production of Disconnect share their insights on the themes in the play and how they approach their characters.

Disconnect is scheduled to run from March 21st through April 14th. For more information on the production, click here. If you'd like to watch more videos from San Jose Rep, you can click here for its YouTube page.

COMMENTS>>>

03-15-13

By LiveSV Team

    A theme of ours here at LiveSV is "Discover the Unexpected." After all, there's so much awesome arts and culture in the greater Silicon Valley, it's fun to discover what's out there. For instance, did you know that Montalvo Arts Center was recently invaded by spies? Okay, it was actually a group of adventurous kids at a special "spy cam" who found themselves sleuthing, problem-solving and role-playing in fun assignments that engaged their creativity.

    What's unexpected about an orchestra? How about one made up of laptop computers? While a similar group (SLOrk) has existed at Stanford for a few years, composer and educator Bruno Ruviaro is now starting one at Santa Clara University. As Ruviaro recently explained "You really start from zero and invent a new way of playing."

    You can expect to encounter poetry in a number of places, but... on a light rail train? On a city bus? Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Sally Ashton's new book, Poetry on the Move, details how a contest resulted in poems being prominently displayed on public transit throughout Santa Clara County.

    A Santa Clara County resident's trip to San Mateo County made news recently. Why? Because that resident was a large bald eagle that took an unexpected flight to Menlo Park, only to be returned to its Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo handlers a couple of days later.

    Finally, while it's hardly unexpected that kids' artwork often gets displayed... on refrigerators, bulletin boards, and in classrooms. However, some kids who attended Triton Museum's recent Family Art Day had the thrill of seeing their artwork on full display in a public museum as part of the 43rd Annual SCUSD Student Art Exhibition. As The Santa Clara Weekly's Melissa McKenzie aptly wrote, "...big smiles crept across the students’ faces. Their art was in a public museum - up on the wall for everyone to see. Not everyone can say that."

COMMENTS>>>

03-13-13

Note: Click the title for event information; click the link for the full review!

The Mountaintop (TheatreWorks)
A Good Reed Review: "...This is a two-person play, each performer commanding the stage at various times, and [director Anthony J.] Haney had to strike the right balance. He needed two actors who could breathe life into these bigger than life characters, not only Dr. King, whose historic oration captivated audiences during his short lifetime, but also Camae, who has to stand up to him, mock him, imitate him, encourage him, and adore him. Haney struck gold with Adrian Roberts as Dr. King and Simone Missick as Camae...."
San Francisco Chronicle: "...Roberts turns in a compelling performance, switching to King the icon when needed but for the most part delivering a complex, engrossing portrait of a man well aware that he's not a saint and both uncomfortable with and basking in his adulation...."
San Jose Mercury News: "...The exchanges between these two lost souls crackle with chemistry and a shared anguish for the evils bedeviling the nation...."

Godspell (Pacifica Spindrift Players)
Pacifica Spindrift Players: "...Directed by Sarah Lodick with a magical youthful vibrancy that pulls her audience in from moment one — this... production stars a blue-ribbon cast that makes you believe in wonder...."

Harvey (Santa Clara Players)
Santa Clara Performing Arts Foundation: "...There's plenty to like about this show. Steve Corelis is a wonderful Dowd, bringing a bit of innocence and genuineness to the character. Steve Lewis is fantastic as Dr. William Chumley. He throws out some great facial expressions to really sell his role...."

There are more reviews to be found. If you'd like to share them, please add links to them in the Comments section!

COMMENTS>>>

03-08-13

By LiveSV Staff

Dive Deep: Eric Fischl and the Process of Painting is a featured exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Art. It examines the art of painting while bringing an inside look at Fischl's individual process.

In the following video, the artist discusses his training, shares his thoughts on Bay Area artists and more.

The exhibition is scheduled to run through May 12, 2013. For information about attending it, you can click here.

COMMENTS>>>

03-05-13

By LiveSV Team

You know how you can filter your search results on Google or Amazon to help you find what you're looking for? Well, LiveSV has filters to help you find events. Please see the image below for a sample date search we performed we did for events happening 3/15/13. The following numbers refer to the numbers on the picture.

1) The Events tab tells us there are currently 90 events listed for that date.
2) You can skip to another page using our Pages section or...
3) You can choose "One Page" in the upper right to see all 90 events displayed at once.
4) You'll find search result filters on the right side.
5) Want to find just Family events for that day? Just Workshops? Click a category to see only those results.
6) Notice the plus signs next to Stage and Music? We have subcategories for those two categories, and you can access them by clicking the plus signs (as we did in this example for Stage).
7) Want to find something close by? You can filter results by city.
8) Looking for a late-night event? Something early in the day? You can even narrow your search by start times.

Oh, and if you're curious about those little gray clocks, you can click here for a brief description of their functionality. We hope LiveSV's search filters help you find events for you to enjoy!

COMMENTS>>>