The San Benito County Arts Council is gearing up for its
first-ever major fund-raising event, an evening of food and music
that will support new arts programs and advocacy in the
community.
Eastwood Coming to San Juan Oaks
Hollister – The San Benito County Arts Council is gearing up for its first-ever major fund-raising event, an evening of food and music that will support new arts programs and advocacy in the community.
“An Evening of Jazz: a Prologue for the Arts ” is the Arts Council’s first official event since its inception a year and a half ago. The Council hopes the dinner and concert at San Juan Oaks Golf Club will raise roughly $15,000 for arts awareness and arts education programming throughout the community.
The event features the Kyle Eastwood Band, a jazz group led by none other than the son of Monterey Bay icon Clint Eastwood. The band has played well-received gigs across the United States and is extremely popular in Europe and Asia.
Eastwood, who grew up on the Central Coast, said he was first exposed to music at a very young age through his parents’ involvement in the arts.
“My dad has always really loved music, and it was always around the house'” he said. “And I was lucky enough to go to the Monterey Jazz Festival many times when I was a kid and see some wonderful performances.”
Eastwood’s San Juan Oaks performance on June 15th is to be the first of many new projects for the Arts Council.
The council is also partnering with the Hollister Downtown Association to create two new murals for the heart of the community, and to produce three other concerts during the summer.
“An Evening of Jazz: A Prologue for the Arts” will be held at 7pm Friday, at the San Juan Oaks Golf Club. Tickets are $45.
Details: online at www.sanjuanoaks.com or by calling (831) 636-6118.
Gav Choir Presents Spring Concert
Gilroy – Gavilan College Concert Choir, under the direction of Phillip Robb, will present its Spring Concert Sunday. The concert will be held in the Gavilan College Theater at 7pm. Doors will open at 6:40pm. There is no admission charge.
The 50-voice Gavilan College Choir will be performing an eclectic program of music from Baroque to 20th century. The concert will begin with music by Johan Helmich Roman, the “Swedish Handel.” Roman is considered the father of Swedish music and the greatest Swedish composer of the Baroque period. The choir will also be singing music of Haydn and Pergolesi. Also included in the program is a variety of folk songs and melodies arranged for choirs. The choir will conclude the evening with “Jabberwocky,” taken from Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass.”
The evening also will include performances by Joey Fortino on the French horn and Ruth Winter on the piano. Fortino is a graduate of San Jose State School of Music and presently the band director at Gilroy High School. Winter, a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in piano performance, has performed throughout the Bay Area with various ensembles.
Health-care Forum At Gilroy High
Gilroy – Speakers will dissect the health-care debate at a public forum Wednesday night at Gilroy High School, presenting four leading California proposals on the hot-button issue. Presenters include Sumi Sousa, a Gilroy native who now works for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, Ana Matosantos, the governor’s deputy legislative secretary for health, David Panush, a health care consultant for State Sen. Don Perata, and Mia Orr, representing State Sen. Sheila Kuehl. The event will run from 7 to 9pm at the GHS theater, sponsored by Gilroy Teachers Association and the Gilroy and Morgan Hill chapters of the American Association of University Women.
“This issue affects everybody,” said Connie Rogers of the Gilroy AAUW. “Employers want to be able to provide health insurance, but the cost keeps going up. The rates for the school district are going up between 12 and 27 percent. That’s drastic, and employers just can’t deal with it.”
Cesar Chavez Mural to be Unveiled
Gilroy – The high school will host an unveiling ceremony for a new Cesar Chavez mural today at noon in its library, which is also named after the Hispanic civil rights leader. The mural was a collaboration between students in a Mexican-American history class at Gilroy High School and an art class at Gavilan College.
The two classes met bi-monthly during the fall semester to research Chavez, take field trips to see murals that celebrate Hispanic heritage and decide which ideas and symbols should be incorporated into the mural. The college students then executed the mural during the spring semester, reporting back to high school students on their progress.
“The unveiling is not just to honor Cesar Chavez but to recognize a portion of our population,” said Jose Hernandez, teacher of the high school class and a graduate of the high school.
The ceremony will start with a traditional Aztec dance group, Izacalli and a speech by Rita Chavez-Medina on her brother Cesar Chavez, and his work. The unveiling comes at the tail end of the high school’s diversity week, which will also include a panel of Hispanic college professors speaking to select high school classes.
Council Opposes Support of Bill
Morgan Hill – A vote taken by Morgan Hill City Council members Wednesday night may be moot, as the state senate bill the action opposed has been put on hold.
State Sen. Carole Midgen introduced the bill, Senate Bill 49, which would prohibit a local agency from providing financial assistance to a sports stadium project that involves the relocation of a professional sports franchise from one local agency to another within the same market area.
Midgen introduced the bill with the idea of preventing the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers from moving from San Francisco to Santa Clara in their search for a new stadium.
Midgen represents the Third Senate District, which includes Marin and portions of San Francisco and Sonoma counties. The bill was introduced in January.
“Local governments have to stand up and be counted when the state comes along and tries to take away some of their rights and responsibilities,” Mayor Steve Tate said during Wednesday night’s council meeting.
He and Councilwoman Marby Lee voted against the motion, while Sellers, Councilmember Larry Carr and Tate voted in favor of the motion to oppose SB49.
A second hearing on the bill set for May 9 was canceled by Midgen.
Send news items to City Editor Robert Airoldi. FAX to 842-2206, mail to Gilroy Dispatch, 6400 Monterey Road, Gilroy, CA 95020, or e-mail ed****@****ic.com.
