January 13, 2004
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu
San Jose Taiko—critically acclaimed as North America’s foremost Taiko musicians—to hold a weeklong, 26-event residency on the South Coast
Summary Facts:
- Extensive outreach residency by San Jose Taiko
- The acclaimed troupe noted for mesmerizing audiences with Japanese drums, dance and music
- 23 activities for area schoolchildren and UCSB students
- Three free public events
- A collaborative community arts project that will serve 5,000 people
- Monday, February 2—Sunday, February 8
- Various locations throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura County
- Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535
UCSB Arts & Lectures presents the dynamic San Jose Taiko, currently celebrating its 30th Anniversary season, in an extensive weeklong residency in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. This residency is a crucial part of UCSB Arts & Lectures’ mission to promote the arts as an integral component of education that elevates the human spirit and provokes the imagination, inspires personal discovery and intellectual inquiry, and sustains an inclusive and diverse community. Equally important, these events connect UCSB and the richly varied communities of the Central Coast.
San Jose Taiko has mesmerized audiences with the powerful, spellbinding and propulsive sound of their drums for three decades. A leader in the field of art education, San Jose Taiko will bring its lessons of dedication, endurance, harmony and collective spirit in an outreach program to Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, Ventura, Lompoc, Goleta and Guadalupe schools. This residency will feature 26 activities ranging from classroom demonstrations to sessions with students with limited hearing.
There will be three free public events in conjunction with this residency. San Jose Taiko will perform for a Guadalupe Family Night on Thursday, February 5 at 7:30 pm at the Theatre Royal. This event is free and open to area families through their local schools and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts & Education Center. For information phone: (805) 343-2939. San Jose Taiko will join UCSB Taiko for an Exhibition Workshop on Saturday, February 7 at 10 am at Embarcadero Hall in Isla Vista. This workshop is free and open to public observation. The residency will culminate in a free family performance by San Jose Taiko on Sunday, February 8 at 2 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. Private events held for schools and UCSB students are not open to the public. For a complete schedule of all the events, plus guidelines for press coverage, please contact Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.
“There is a generational crisis in arts education in California. Students today do not obtain cultural literacy without experiences like ones provided by this San Jose Taiko residency,” asserts Patrick Davis, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission. “The educational outreach to all of Santa Barbara County arranged by UCSB Arts & Lectures and its collaborators is extraordinary and valuable.”
This residency extends the work UCSB Arts & Lectures and its community partners began with a similarly wide-ranging week of outreach conducted by the New York-based dance troupe Ballet Hispanico in February 2003.
San Jose Taiko is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. Support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and a generous gift from Lillian and Jon Lovelace, along with the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation SAGE program, the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, the Marjorie Luke Theatre, City of Lompoc, City of Guadalupe, Guadalupe Cultural Arts & Education Center, Gaucho Deli & Café and Margie and Joe’s Café.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.