S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition. On today's show the art and culture shaping San Diego. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. Friendship can conquer fear. That is the message behind a traveling exhibit will tell you where you can find it. Then hear about another exhibit that asks you to pay attention to sound plus your weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday Edition. Old sections of the Friendship Park border fence are being transformed into tables as part of a new art exhibit. It's called The Traveling Tables of Amistad. Some of the tables will be on display at the Museum of Us in Balboa Park from September 6th to through the September 19th. I'm joined now by the artist behind the exhibit , Michael Leaf. Hi , Michael. Hi. Also with us is Rosa Maria Hernandez. She's the executive director of the nonprofit Friends of International Friendship Park. Rosa , welcome to you , too. Hello. So Rosa Friendship Park has been , you know , a historic meeting point for families and friends separated by the border. But for a long time , people haven't been able to gather like they used to. For those who aren't familiar with Friendship Park , can you explain its significance?
S2: Most definitely. So. The history of International Friendship Park is goes beyond just families and friends. It goes back 55 years actually , this year alone. And it was the vision and the inauguration of our past first lady , Pat Nixon , who envisioned a park and , um , and wanted to have a better relationship between two nations filled with friendship and opportunity to hold space not just for the border community , but for the region as well. And our countries. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. And Friendship Park has also become a site for art. What's the history behind the murals painted on the sections of the fence?
S2: Well , the militarization of the border wall in the 90s is what led to a lot of the opportunities and the passion for artists to demonstrate their frustration with the militarization , the division that came about in the 90s. And it gave an opportunity for a lot of artists and the communities to not only express themselves , but express the pain that they were experiencing. Um , the lack of touch , the lack of seeing each other , the lack of hearing each other before our technology. This this movement has been continuing to grow for over 25 years.
S1: And this exhibit is born out of torn sections , torn down sections rather of the old Tijuana San Diego border fence. Remind us now , why did those parts of the fence get demolished?
S2: Well , it was due to the current administration and how they implemented the higher wall. So if you remember , there used to be about 18 foot walls , and those were then torn down , along with the tearing down of the garden that was already there. So if I ask our listeners to imagine a beach , a park , that yes , it did have a border wall , but it was still a an area of unification that was a collaboration between the park. The stewards of the park , the Mexican community as well. The federal government was a part of that collaboration and conversations as well.
S1: And Michael , you actually visited Friendship Park is the sections were being taken down. How did you come up with the idea to turn them into tables? Yeah.
S3: Yeah. Um , when I , I was kind of brought into this project through the Museum of Us and they said , we are in the middle of what is the destruction of this piece of history. And it was shown to me on a phone what was happening with these cranes ripping these panels out of the ground. And I'm like , this is this is crazy. Like the magnitude of it alone. Um , each section is roughly , as Rosemary mentioned , um , 18ft. It's about 20ft , depending on where it was , but there are about £6,000 , so magic 25 of those sections in a line getting ripped out of the ground. And I had said , you know , we need to go to Mexico. And I can kind of let me work with the demolition crew to see if I can help guide them how to cut this down without destroying it , because it's imagine a bunch of Pixy Stix just getting hit with a sledgehammer. That was kind of their approach. Then I said , no , don't hit them. Let's keep it intact and cut it in a beautiful straight line and lay it down. Let's preserve this artistic history. When I saw it come down , I immediately saw this concept of a table. And I thought , what? What a beautiful transition. Something that divided us can now unite us. Is that possible? Can we make this into a giant table? Can we have conference? Can we have a meeting , a collection of minds to surround that? And , you know , over. Over some tremendous efforts on how to extract some weight to the tune of £5,200 reduction. I was able to figure it out and kind of develop what is now going into the park on the sixth , which I call version 2.0 , with some other really neat engineering feats on their own of how to have articulating components to roll through doors and be viewed from from different aspects. I hope I answered that you did. I emotionally black out and just start talking , but I hope I answered that.
S1: No you did , you did. And earlier you alluded to some of the challenges of turning a metal fence into a table. Yeah. How did you go about doing that? What was the process like?
S3: Um , well , once we once we were able to collect these sections , which were brought back down to my space in South Bay , Chula Vista , I kind of looked at it from an I , I put on the engineering. How is this possible? How can we turn a £6,000 chunk of the border wall into a table? Can I break it into sections to roll through a door so it can get through buildings? How do we distribute the weight? How's this possible? Um , so with each , with each hurdle , I kind of created a checklist. Can I get it through a door? How so? I would figure that out and check off the box when we got it to the point. Um , in version 1.0 , we had some in-house counsel come down who was who was an engineer on some pretty big stuff and kind of verify my designs. And he suggested , um , he approved what I had come up with. Like , your designs will work. Fantastic. My concern is that the floor of the museum will not hold the weight. It will blow through the ground. So he did a weight calculation on the floor at the museum and said almost immediately. I do not advise this project. It will. It will destroy the ground. Um. And I had the idea. Is there a way to remove the concrete? Can it. Can I have one beam out of 124 that I can destroy? That has no real artistic significance , only educational significance? That was its. That was its fate , I believe. And I was able to devise a concept , and it allowed me to kind of figure out how to get the concrete out and preserve the artwork. So it was I only lost one fingernail to the process.
S1: A whole fingernail , just one. Ouch. That's good.
S3: Uh , and some other some other unique things to my health , but fantastic nonetheless. And I believe version 2.0 is the absolute , um , pinnacle of design for what these things can be and how people can experience them and sit around them and interact with it.
S1: That's great. Yeah. And for the record , one fingernail is enough.
S3: I , you know , thank goodness I have nine more. Rosa.
S1: Rosa. You've seen these tables yourself. What kind of atmosphere does it create being around them?
S2: Before I answer your question , I just want to give an empowerment and a shout out because Michael's being extremely humble , uh , his vision , his collaboration and his intuition before even really sitting down and envisioning what needed to happen. And mind you , this I've only known Michael for three weeks. I've been in my role for three weeks , so I inherited this immense project and I'm very honored. But I'm even more honored to work with someone like Michael who who was willing to experience. And to answer your question , to feel what possibly could have been what families felt and then transformed that as an artist into a table. And that's what our hopes are because it was not an easy task. It was a year long community conversation , which I want to give some background as well , that the Museum of Us led , which led to our collaboration and community decision overall for this to happen. So it's it hasn't been just like , oh , we found this. Well , no , it was a year long , intense conversation with community leaders. Partners identified artists like Michael and everyone's input , whether they were affected by the wall , whether it had been at two International Friendship Park. So what I invite people to do is to feel invited , to not feel shame , to feel invited to see the pain and not stir away from it , but to embrace the experience so that once we are able to be aware of our history , we don't erase it. We remember it so that we don't experience it again and let that push us towards a future of what we now can see a vision of what International Friendship Park can be because it exists already across the Canada borders already. So why can't our fellow community , Brown , black , Asian , indigenous communities feel the same or experience the same?
S1: Well , you know the exhibit , it comes during a time of ramped up immigration enforcement as more and more families are getting separated by Ice. I mean , what does it mean to put out an exhibit like this during this political moment?
S3: I mean , you take that one , you take I.
S2: It's a personal decision , taking on the helm of what so many community leaders have accomplished in the last 25 years of International Friendship Park. It's very personal. My dad crossed that border. I'm a first generation Latina Who happens to be a US citizen now. Because I was born here. But if it wouldn't have been for the opportunities that my parents were granted. Um , the fear still lives if you're. It's the underlining tension that you feel that your community is being attacked without making it polarized. I chose as a new executive director to invite people to the conversation , even if it made us uncomfortable , even if we don't see eye to eye. And that's one of the reasons why I'm so excited to work with the Museum of Us , with Michael , because we are challenging the narrative that was placed on us. And I invite people and I invite our communities to take that power and the decision to write our own narrative , how we want to be remembered , the future that we want our children to have. Let's make it better. It's attainable. We know it's attainable. So for us it's it's personal because like Michael was raised here too. I was raised on both sides of the border. So it's it's an opportunity for families , for children who have suffered already , for families who've suffered this long to imagine. I just had this conversation with Michael. Imagine being in a green space where both of both families or families from any part of the world can walk in like they go to Balboa Park. Imagine them walking into International Friendship Park , where they go into the secure green space area where you have educational programming , access to native plants , access to educational programming , and art. Imagine why can't we have that? So that's the question that I walk away from , and it empowers me to invite people to help me answer it.
S1: Given that this the militarization of Friendship Park has taken so much away. What does the table symbolize in all of that? And and how does it work to change narratives that have been placed on on this community?
S3: It's so we don't have enough time right now. And a part of me , I'm excited so much to share my side of this and so many of these questions. I feel Rosa Maria is cued to give such a beautiful answer. Um , I will say this and I want to hand it off to her , is I made this comment to my wife , I think either yesterday or the day before I came out. It was a night. And I'm like , how incredible would it be if a solution to this is made at a conference sitting at these tables , like the the meetings that are going that will straight Kevin Costner this thing. If we build it , they will happen. They will come. What happens when we get the right people in the right space , and we sit around the table and discuss this vision and having this tool now , this tangible thing in front of us to sit and feel the power. I , I get so overwhelmed emotionally in creating this. I had to learn how to put on almost a a suit of mechanical thinking to execute because I'm I'm so sensitive to that. Um , and you feel the power when you see the little kid handprints on the. It's too much like I cannot imagine seeing the full scope of all the tables. Um , again , I don't want to take all the time on that answer , and I know it didn't quite address what you're saying. I'm just hoping to get answers for your question in future conversations sitting at these tables.
S1: It's a continuing conversation. Yes.
S2: Yes.
S3: And the first step is that I. The conversations between the two of us , I assure you , have been so it it feels. I guess this is the first step , but if I were to say it's one step and what is now a 100 mile race , we feel we just started and the steps we're taking and where we want to go. Um , to sum , I don't think they would quite believe us even if we shared it , but the two of us believe in it wholeheartedly. And I know without a doubt , it's going to happen because of the vibration that's putting out for what I feel is the true betterment of mankind and humanity and unification.
S1: Do you have a favorite section or piece of the tables you know you'd like to describe for us? Michael?
S3: Oh man , that's a wild one. Out of the 140 124 vertical beams , there's one beam with three children handprints. That's my favorite. I don't know what it's attached to. That's the one that broke me. I , I had to walk away for about a week after that. I had to regain control of my emotions. I couldn't walk in the space. I had to , I had to , I. I'm surprised I'm not crying now , but that one hit me the hardest. Along with the everyone has its own power. Don't get me wrong. You stand in front of these and you see what they mean.
S1: I know there's a story behind each one. It's a lived experience.
S3: Can't see my goosebumps. And I'm holding back the tears. But they're heavy in so many ways. And I am so honored to be in this space. Time now to be the person to figure out their display and to work with someone like Rosa Maria and the Museum of Us to share that with the world in a whole different lens , and the museum's 12 miles away from Friendship Park. And nobody would have ever gone there. No. Can they not go there anymore because of what's happened? So I think we I think we have a good chance in changing this with some of our lofty ideas.
S1: Well , Rosa , Maria , how about you? I mean , what excites you about this exhibit in the last minute or so that we have here?
S2: What excites me the most is that this is the beginning. That it's okay for it to be the beginning. Even though it's been a 55 year journey , it's okay. And that , um , each one of us have been in the space for a specific reason. Uh , I just came back from maternity leave , and I was able to be , uh , have the opportunity to serve our communities in this , in this role. But also , I think this is an opportunity for our community to understand because this is a temporary funded project , very temporary funded project. And it's been it's thanks to the Museum of Us , the private foundation and the Mellon Foundation who have invested into us being able to create this first round out of the 21. And I just asked our communities to imagine , imagine a piece of these walls being in higher institutions and , and civic centers , and they are no longer being seen as pain.
S1: What a powerful exhibit. I've been speaking with Michael Leaf , the artist behind the exhibit , The traveling tables of Amistad , and Rosa Maria Hernandez , the executive director of the nonprofit Friends of International Friendship Park. The traveling tables of Amistad will be on display at the Museum of Us in Balboa Park from September 6th through September 19th. We'll link to more details at KPBS. Michael and Rosa Maria. Thank you so very much. You all.
S4: Thank you. Thanks.
S1: Coming up , we'll take you to a new gallery exhibit where you can see a sonic sculpture and experience sound in a new way. Midday edition is back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS midday edition , I'm Jade Hindman. Over the weekend , the Athenaeum Art center opened a new exhibit called S Whitely Listening Materials. It's an exhibit that asks you to pay attention to sound. KPBS Arts reporter Beth Accomando spoke to the artist as they were setting up the unique sound installation in Logan Heights , and then walked through the exhibit to hear it.
S5: I am here with S Whiteley at the Athenaeum Art center , and you are about to open an exhibit now. I think most people have a preconception of exhibits being something like visual art , but you are working with sound , so what can people expect from listening materials?
S6: So at the Athenaeum Art center , this piece , Listening Materials , is an immersive sound installation where audience members , viewers , listeners can walk around the space and experience sound , experience a 20 minute long sound piece that's being played on loop. And depending on where you stand in the space , you get a different listening experience , and also you get a different view of what's happening. So there's both a visual element as well as a sonic element as well as a spatial element. So the space , the materials that are creating the sounds And the sounds themselves are all kind of part of this immersive installation.
S5: So artists will sculpt or will paint and work with a particular physical medium. So how do you work with sound? How would you describe kind of the process of using sound to create the art that you have?
S6: I mean , in a visual art context or in an art gallery context , I think of this piece very much as a as a work of sound art , where the sound is almost like a vibrational sculpture or a sonic sculpture , where the sounds are something that you can in this piece in particular , something that you can actually see because the materials that are placed inside the speaker cones are creating these patterns based on how the frequencies are vibrating the materials. So I've been trying to work with sound for this particular piece as being something that feels material and something that has a kind of visible quality to it , yet at the same time is invisible and it is ephemeral. And it is this kind of mysterious thing that is intangible. And so I'm trying to leave room for that aspect of sonic experience as well , where you're not seeing it , you're not able to touch it , you're not able to really feel the physicality of it , but it sort of gestures towards maybe there being some sort of physical , material quality. And this is kind of a question that's baked into the installation is sort of the physicality of sound , the materiality of sound , also the vibrancy of materials.
S5: And you said there's going to be this kind of sound sculpture playing. Does it change for each person? Is there something within the exhibit that alters what that sound is?
S6: So the piece is for six speakers that are placed around the room and for hanging fans that are playing harmonicas. So the piece is self sounding right. There's it's all computer controlled. There's no human being who's playing the sounds , so it's sort of like the room is playing itself or these the devices , the the speakers , the materials are playing themselves. And each time the the piece is playing on loop , the sounds are going to be a little bit different each time because of the nature of how the materials inside of the speaker cones are kind of vibrating and self-organizing , and they're going to look different each time because they're creating these different. Yeah , these different patterns based on the frequencies that are shaking , the rattling the materials. And then there's the aspect of as you're walking around the space , depending on your location in the room , it's going to sound different. So if you're walking in a circle , continuously walking in a circle , the sonic experience is going to be really different than if you're standing in one place the entire time. So it's designed to be kind of the listener is co-creating the piece with the materials that are being played on loop. And there's also this aspect of it where certain frequencies , certain tones are tuned specifically to the acoustics of the room , where a set of sine tones , these basic frequencies that we call sign tones , are creating this chord , this group of frequencies that create this very strange sort of mirage effect , where as you walk around , the chord sounds like it's changing the frequency , sound like they're changing based on how they're resonating in the space , but actually they're not really. So it creates this really kind of auditory illusion , like an optical illusion , but with with sound. Right. Where it sounds like the tones are doing these very strange things , but actually they're staying the same. It's just you that's changing position as you're as you're moving.
S5: What is it about sound that attracted you as an artist?
S6: Oh , that's a really good question. I mean , sound is so sound just has this really powerful ability to create worlds that aren't representational. I've found I feel like the piece in this particular context. It doesn't feel like it's representing something. It doesn't feel like it's a metaphor. It's a stand in for something. But it's actually to me , it feels like it's creating another world that can be inhabited , and it's creating a kind of universe that can be inhabited and that can be felt in the body. And there's just something very mysterious and affective about sound that I've just always been drawn to , and just the ways in which it can , it can build worlds. It can create a world for you.
S5: Well , I've always found it interesting. I'm , you know , mostly a film person , but it always feels like sound is the least explored aspect of cinema. And I'm just wondering if you also feel like sound is an element or an aspect of art that is mostly ignored or feels that way?
S6: Yeah , I think so. I mean , sound art as a sort of like artistic practice has not been around for really that long and Historically. But yeah , and sound art in general is quite rare out in the world. In visual art galleries , you tend to not see that many sound art exhibitions and galleries specifically that specialize in sound are quite rare , but I just think there's so much to explore with utilizing sound in a visual art context and in a gallery context , just to sort of look at the ways in which we take for granted , or sort of are so used to sonic experience , and taking it out of context and calling that into question and sort of thinking about the ways in which we're normally used to listening , and we're normally used to expecting what sound should do and what music should do and what role it should serve. I think in , in a visual art context , it can create this capacity for us to question our normal ways of encountering auditory experience , which is why I decided to to do this for this installation , having the speaker cones on the pedestals and hanging from the ceiling. There's something about taking a speaker out of its normal context and seeing it just hanging from the ceiling , or seeing it on a pedestal in a gallery and vibrating. These materials I found very exciting because you're not used to seeing a speaker do that. You're not used to seeing a speaker create these kind of weird sounds and vibrate these different things. And yeah , it explores these. Like you said , it explores these unexplored capacities that sound has.
S5: And do you remember , like as a young child , was sound something that intrigued you , or was this something that kind of developed later?
S6: Oh , yeah. I mean , when I was young , I was just always obsessed with with sound and music , and I had a pretty sort of traditional musical background where I studied the piano and I and and the guitar and I and I , my entry point into music was actually just like playing songs and playing the trumpet and playing. Playing different instruments. So , um. First experience I had with music as a child. Young child. I was just like. Immediately , like obsessed. It was just this , like , thing that I felt like I had I had to do with my life. I had to , like , be invested in. Yeah.
S5: And you have a PhD. And I did take a look at your dissertation , and I was really intrigued by the ideas in your title. And it's called Sonic World , link , Post-Human Listening and Cyborg and Entanglements. This sounds amazingly interesting , and I also don't know exactly what any of it means.
S6: Yeah , yeah. So I mean , the dissertation project was definitely this piece. Listening materials kind of follows in line with this theme that I've been exploring , where I'm kind of similar to what I was saying earlier about the mysterious things that sound can do and what I feel like sound does in my practice. And sort of the themes I've been interested in , is how sound can sort of create these new ways of or experimental sonic practices in particular , can create these new ways of listening and extending perceptions of what the human is versus what a non-living being is. So sort of thinking about new ways of being in the world relating to material objects , relating to technology. Sound can do this really interesting thing I find , where it can disrupt these hard lines between what is a person and what is a computer , and what is technology or what is a , you know , a material object and what is a human being. And sound can really complicate these things. And I think really interesting ways that the sonic experience can complicate these things in really interesting ways. And in short , that's sort of what the what that writing was sort of exploring. Yeah.
S5: And people coming to this exhibit. What do you hope they take away from this? Do you hope that they start thinking about sound in different ways , or is there something else.
S6: I hope that people have? I guess just an experience with listening and experience with sound that is hopefully inspiring. I don't think I necessarily want anything in particular. I want a particular message to be sent or a particular thing I want them to walk away with , but I think I just wanted there to be a new way of listening that was proposed in a new way of experiencing sound and materiality. These themes I was talking about in in new and hopefully generative , hopefully inspiring ways.
S5: After I finished the interview , I asked S if he would walk us through the installation so we could hear it.
S6: So we are in the Athenaeum Art center , in the gallery space where listening materials is installed. So there's different speaker cones placed in kind of a information. Each speaker is a slightly different size and each one has different materials placed inside. So this one that we're closest to has a bunch of ping pong balls that are being vibrated by these low pitched sine tones that are kind of just shaking the ping pong balls. And then if we move over to this smaller speaker cone , there's a higher pitched sine tone that's vibrating these rocks , creating these sort of beating patterns. So now there's a kind of a different way in which the pattern is , is kind of animating the rocks. Now they're moving in a spiral at kind of a quicker pace.
S5: Well , and the rocks almost had like an insect tone to them.
S6: Oh , yeah. Interesting. Like a buzzing. Yeah. So each material has a really distinct sound , right? A unique sort of sound. The depending on where you're standing , there will be kind of different listening Experiences. It's very much interactive in that way where you can kind of weave in and out , get close to certain speakers , walk in a circle or stay in one place.
S5: So on a certain level , two , it's almost like visualizing the sound.
S6: Oh yeah. Exactly. Yeah. There is this aspect of the of working with the speaker cones and the rocks that I was really drawn to , where you're sort of seeing what the sounds are doing , because if I were to take out all of these materials , we actually wouldn't really be hearing very much. So it creates this very interesting , almost sonic visualization where we're not only hearing rocks rattling or ping pong balls rattling , but we're also seeing what the sound is doing.
S5: And also , if I'm understanding this correctly , its sound is kind of creating the sound because it's the vibration of the speaker that's making the sound of the items moving.
S6: Yes , exactly. There's kind of two sounds happening. There's the sounds of the sine tones. These basic frequencies that the speakers are are sounding. And then there's the contact. The rocks or the ping pong balls have with the speaker membrane. That is creating a second sound that I found really , really interesting , where there's this kind of when the rocks are meeting the speaker membrane , it creates this new sort of sound. And for this one that we're closest to now , we have hazelnuts that create also really it almost sounds like dice. Also , another thing I found when I was working with these was that each material kind of needed a distinct frequency to , to really sing and to really dance. But there were certain pitches that I had to set the frequencies to in order to find the sweet spot of. This is where the material really dances and sings in the in the right kind of way , which was a really kind of fun , challenging project.
S5: We have these kind of like final objects you have in here , but did you experiment with other objects before deciding on these?
S6: Oh yeah. There was a long process of trying all kinds of different things that didn't work , and certain things that were way too heavy , and so they weren't moving or making enough sound. Certain rocks that didn't produce powder and dust everywhere where there would be just like dust all over the gallery , I had to. So. So there was a huge process of buying so many different kinds of things and deciding on not only what sounded good , but what looked good , what kind of created a nice pattern. Um , it was quite a long process. Yeah.
S7: All right. So what do we have here?
S6: So now we're listening to self sounding harmonicas that are hung from the ceiling , being sounded by computer controlled fans that are taped to the harmonicas , and they're producing these cluster chords and depending on where you're standing , you can kind of get a different sonic perspective of of the chord.
S5: And what made you want to add like an actual instrument to this.
S6: So it is playing on a loop , but I was thinking about it in terms of also beginning , middle and end also , and I wanted it to end with a , a sort of surprise in a way , where we get these kind of materials , very kind of sounds that are very that feel to me like they're very rooted in the earth , these materials that are vibrating on the ground. And then we have this contrast where there are these harmonicas floating from the ceiling , creating sound through something that's very immaterial. Right. So I wanted there to be this contrast between the materiality of , of sound , something visible , the materials shaking and vibrating from the speaker cones , but then the materiality of sound coming from wind instruments and coming from air and sort of that being this , this interesting contrast and kind of question about this is a certain kind of material as well. The materiality of of sound coming from reeds , sounds coming from harmonicas. So I kind of was thinking about it as just an interesting contrast and an interesting way to sort of create self sounding materials. I'd been experimenting with fans , playing slide whistles in the past and using fans to play different instruments , and I was kind of just thinking , wouldn't that be cool? Like a cool contrast to have that with the with the speaker cones and kind of having them hang from the ceiling and kind of create an interesting sonic experience where you're walking around and kind of hearing the harmonicas play themselves , it kind of feels like the harmonicas are playing themselves.
S5: All right , well , I want to thank you very much for talking about listening materials.
S6: Thank you. Beth. Yeah.
S1: That was KPBS Beth Accomando speaking with artist S Whiteley. S Whitley's exhibit Listening Materials is at the Anthony M Arts Center in Logan Heights and runs through October 17th.
S8: Still to come your weekend preview when KPBS Midday Edition returns.
S1: Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. This weekend in the arts , we have dance a Crafters Paradise and local music for a cause. Joining me with all the details is KPBS arts reporter and host of the Finest podcast. Julia. Dixon. Evans. Julia. Welcome.
S9: Hey , Jade. Thanks for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here. So first up , I want to hear more about crafting. Yeah.
S9: Yeah. So this is at the North Park Community Fair , which is presented by Burbank and Books in North Park. And this month's theme is crafted by hand. Like it's a vendor fair. But instead of browsing , you get to do crafts or little art making activities at each booth. Every booth is run by a different artist or a different maker , and everything's hands on like there's no just browsing. It's self-guided. You only do the crafts you're interested in , and those are all pay as you go. So you pay directly to the maker and there will be some free things , like a community activity throughout the day. Those rotate and this part is cute. There's also going to be a craft supply swap throughout the day , so you can bring all those things you're not using. Like those are really ambitious projects or things you have spares of. and you can also pick up somebody else's discards , like rescue someone else's , uh , overly ambitious projects , too. So this is Saturday from 10 to 4. It's on North Parkway outdoors between 29th and Race Street. So just like the couple blocks around Verbatim books.
S1: We all have those kinds of projects.
S9: Most of.
S1: Mine are. Well , the the Asian American Dance Festival , uh , continues this weekend with an emerging arts performance. What do you know? Yeah.
S9: Yeah. So this is the second annual Asian American Dance Festival. It started last week with a film screening , but this weekend is their showcase for the collaborative residency program. Um , the showcase is a culmination of months of work that these emerging dancers and choreographers have done with mentors from the Asian American dance community in San Diego. And this is going to be all types of dance. There's ballet , contemporary and modern jazz , hip hop , breakdancing , hula , and other traditional dance forms as well. And I talked to one of the co-founders , Joyce Leon Kushner , and she told me that she was motivated to start this festival because she felt that there was something missing in the dance community.
S10: I am obviously an Asian American woman. My parents came from Taiwan. I grew up practicing very Western dance forms , contemporary jazz , tap , ballet , and in none of those dance forms was I ever asked to tell stories of my family lineage or my family's history or immigration story , or any of that. The few times that I was in those places , they our stories tend to be modified , tokenized. I really wanted to make sure we had a space where we could tell our full blended story of being both Asian plus American within our chosen dance form or art form.
S9: So this weekend showcase is Friday evening at seven at the Lightbox Theater in Liberty Station. Tickets start at $15 , and you can get a full festival pass for 70 bucks. And the festival continues through October 3rd.
S1: All right , well , let's switch gears to music. There's a toy piano festival on Saturday. Please explain.
S9: This is actually a beloved annual event. It is the 26th annual Toy Piano Festival hosted by the great Scott Paulsen , and the toy piano even has its own subject designation in the Library of Congress for scores of music. So there's going to be performances by local composers and enthusiasts. And just like an amazing display of toy pianos , a full collection. And what we're hearing right now is composer Sam Rice's Toy Piano Concerto number one in F minor ish , which is an amazing name. She's playing it on a toy piano , and this is at the festival a couple years ago.
S11: So the festival.
S9: Is Saturday at the Downtown Library's Neil Morgan Amphitheater. It's from noon to 1 p.m. and it's free.
S1: All right , well , there's also a showcase at the Casa Casbah. Uh , that is also a fundraiser. Who's performing? And what's the cause?
S9: So this is a huge showcase of a bunch of local singer songwriters folk , pop , rock and indie. There's , like 30 bands. Um , we have Allie Rowell , Frances Blum. Please ask for Paul Shelby Bennett , the wellsprings , Justin Rodriguez. I can't list them all. There's too many. And then Alex Burgin , um , who we're listening to right now , this is from his brand new EP. It's the song This Ain't Everything. I got a total Springsteen vibe from the song. Eventually.
S12: Eventually. You're listening. This ain't everything. Standing on the sidelines.
S9: And the concert is a fundraiser. A portion of all the proceeds go to guitars for schools. It's a program from the San Diego Music Foundation and Taylor Guitars , and they bring guitars , guitar education to San Diego , K through 12 students. So far , they've given access to guitars and schools to over 130,000 students in the county , and the concert starts at 8 p.m. on Friday at the Casbah.
S1: What a great cause there. Finally , in San Diego , we have a special concert at the Shell Saturday night celebrating the music of Dizzy Gillespie , Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. What do you know about that?
S9: So this is a performance of Gilbert Castellanos , jazz trumpeter , absolute local legend , and his 17 piece jazz ensemble. And they're doing a performance of the Afro-Cuban jazz fusion styles of those artists Miles Davis , Sonny Rollins , Dizzy Gillespie. Um , I think like Manteca , which is the track We're Listening to You Now. And Manteca was co-written by Dizzy Gillespie , Chano Pozo , Gil Fuller in 1947 , and it's considered to be one of the essential pioneering works in the entire genre of Afro-Cuban jazz. This is a performance of The Shell. You can still get tickets ranging from 37 bucks for the lawn and up , but I feel like a broken record because I always mention this. But you can just walk around the waterfront right there around the shell and you can see the stage here , the music pretty well. This is Saturday night at 7:30 p.m..
S1: That's great. The Afro-Cuban jazz is my Saturday morning music right there. You can find details on these and more arts events on our website at KPBS. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter and host of The Finest podcast. Julia. Dixon Evans. Julia. Thanks.
S9: Thank you. Jade.
S8: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
