Lummis Day - 2008

• 2008-home page •

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Planning / News
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2008 Lummis Day re-cap meeting - Tues, June 24, 7:30pm - Ramona Hall

The 2008 Lummis Day re-cap meeting (and preliminary 2009 planning) will take place at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, June 24 at Ramona Hall.

(Thank you, everyone, for accommodating my travel schedule.)

I'm proposing that we use the following as a meeting agenda but I realize that I may be omitting key areas of discussion and many miscellaneous issues.If possible, please bring written notes on your area of responsibility so we may compile them into a planning document.

2008 re-caps:

Carmela and Keith: Volunteer issues.
Heinrich: Operations issues. Parking issues?
Rosamaria: Production issues.
Xavier: Sound issues.
Ann: Community, souvenir book issues?
Stella: Restaurant issues? Were they happy, did they bring enough food?
Suzanne L and Michelle: Poetry event issues?
Connie and Pam: Casa de Adobe issues? Next year plans?
Jennifer: RAP issues?
Suzanne J and Zenay: Council perspectives?
Misty or Amy: Final balance forward?
Maggie and Jeremiah: Church outreach?
Amy: 2009 design ideas.
Bill: website issues?
Elizabeth, Suzanne, Anna Lisa: Library program?
Eliot: Advertising and communications learnings for 2009.

Miscellaneous:
- Banners and sign inventory. What's left?
- Juanita's for next year.(their request).
- T-shirts: How many sold, any left over?

Random Thoughts For Next Year:
- Immediate pitches to ASNC, HHPNC, ERNC, GCPNC to secure funding.
- HP Parade. Should we do? Can we afford?
- Educational program. When to begin?
- Additional funding. ES to begin re-approaching existing presenting sponsors, aim to add two major sponsors for next year.
- Need additional advertisers in program
- T-Shirts: We need a special staff t-shirt.
Possible “t-shirt sponsor” who can do the run for the sale t-shirts and throw in staff shirts?
- More toilets: Need correct ratio of potties per thousand people.
- Were sinks sufficient?
- Work lights for back stage and elsewhere for tear down?
- Gaps between performances. Should they be eliminated?
- Incorporate an Armenian act (talk to Lori Bedekian?)
- MC's: Need more MC's for shorter shifts?

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--Eliot Sekuler
818-535-8178

LUMMIS DAY 2008 A HUGE SUCCESS !!!!
To borrow from Suzanne, "Speechless"

As a compulsive talker, I can barely recall a time when I've truly been at a loss for words, but the pride I felt in our collective efforts on Sunday defy adequate description.

The success of our third annual Lummis Day Festival exceeded all expectations. We have truly created Northeast L.A.'s signature cultural event -- our own holiday! -- and we've taken a significant step in enhancing our community's sense of unity. (Cava said it best: "We're all one Los Angeles; we're all one race now.")

Approximately 9,000 people attended events at Lummis Home, Casa de Adobe and Sycamore Grove Park on Sunday June 1 for the 3rd annual Lummis Day Festival. The peak crowd of over 6,000 that gathered as Jackson Browne took the Sycamore Grove stage set a record for an event at that venue.

Scores of community volunteers, including students from local high schools, local church groups and the members of the Native American group, Changing Spirits, kept the event running smoothly. Despite the large numbers of Festivalgoers, police reported no incidents.

The fourth annual Lummis Day Festival will be held on Sunday, June 7, it was announced by the Lummis Day Community Foundation.

The Lummis Day Festival was presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center. Sponsors included the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Arroyo Seco, Eagle Rock, Greater Cypress Park and Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Councils, KMEX Univision 34, Fox KTTV 11, public radio station KPFK 90.7, the Arroyo Seco Journal, Poets & Writers, Inc, SIPA, the North Figueroa Association, Ed Reyes and Council District 1, Jose Huizar and Los Angeles City Council District 14, Red Bull, Modern Image Business Design, the Highland Park Heritage Trust, the Mount Washington Association and the L.A. Poetry Festival.

All of you who gave so many hours, so much physical and creative work and endured our extraordinary year-round meetings should take a very deep bow.

I'm very very sorry that I wont be able to join our customary "post mortem meeting" tonight but as most of you know, I'll be traveling on business this week and then on vacation for next couple of weeks. I'd like to ask your indulgence in postponing the meeting until Tuesday, June 24 (I get back on Sunday, June 22). (Can someone book the room at Ramona Hall?)

Please make your own lists of what worked, what needs improvement and suggestions for next year's event. (And did we get a final estimate from the fire dept on the numbers of attendees? I heard the number 10,000 tossed about. Is that accurate? If so, can someone make that information public?)

And we'll be planning our Lummis barbecue for August (to accommodate others' vacation schedules), so please stay tuned.

I'm truly honored to be working with all of you on this amazing project. What a wonderful and memorable day!

With love and respect,

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--Eliot Sekuler
818-535-8178

PS: If you have taken photos of Lummis Day, and would like to share them, the organizers would love to post photos of the day on the website. Please send them to lummisday@yahoo.com

Lummis Day Festival Draws 9,000

Approximately 9,000 people attended events at Lummis Home, Casa de Adobe and Sycamore Grove Park on Sunday June 1 for the 3rd annual Lummis Day Festival. The peak crowd of over 6,000 that gathered as Jackson Browne took the Sycamore Grove stage set a record for an event at that venue.

Scores of community volunteers, including students from local high schools, local church groups and the members of the Native American group, Changing Spirits, kept the event running smoothly. Despite the large numbers of Festivalgoers, police reported no incidents.

The fourth annual Lummis Day Festival will be held on Sunday, June 7, it was announced by the Lummis Day Community Foundation.

The Lummis Day Festival was presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center. Sponsors included the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Arroyo Seco, Eagle Rock, Greater Cypress Park and Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Councils, KMEX Univision 34, Fox KTTV 11, public radio station KPFK 90.7, the Arroyo Seco Journal, Poets & Writers, Inc, SIPA, the North Figueroa Association, Ed Reyes and Council District 1, Jose Huizar and Los Angeles City Council District 14, Red Bull, Modern Image Business Design, the Highland Park Heritage Trust, the Mount Washington Association and the L.A. Poetry Festival.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178

PASADENA WEEEKLY
05/29/2008

Finding Home:
LUMMIS DAY MAPS A SENSE OF PLACE WITH MUSIC, POETRY AND FAMILY FUN

Sunday's third annual Lummis Day celebration in Highland Park could be described as a really big block party — one where the
neighbors come from many nations around the world and include an eclectic mix of artists, poets and musicians.

The idea came on a sunny day when Eliot Sekuler, then a member of the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council and Southwest Museum Board of Directors, and his wife were walking their dog near their Mount Washington home.

After passing by a neighboring family for something like the thousandth time over many years, the couple was struck by what they didn't know: “We waved to them, but we knew almost nothing about them. We thought, ‘Wouldn't it be interesting to have a big neighborhood dinner party?'” Sekuler recalled.

It would grow to become a celebration of everything Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Mount Washington, Lincoln Heights, Cypress Park — anywhere with some sort of connection to Figueroa Street north of downtown.

At last year's table were a blues band, ethnic dancers, martial artists, lighthearted alt-country locals The Evangenitals, Latin rockers Quetzal and about 3,500 of their closest friends.

With three stages, this year's event at Sycamore Grove Park (4700 N. Figueroa St.) and the Lummis Home (200 E. Ave. 43) promises even more.

On the bill for the free festival are several poets, ethnic dance troupes, children's performers and an eclectic array of local musical acts including the Mariachi Divas, area legend Carlos Guitarlos, roots rockers Ann Likes Red, quirky songsters Artichoke (featuring members of the Evangenitals), Latin/fusion/Afro-beat artist Cava (sister of Quetzal's Martha Flores — how family friendly is that!), harmonizing siblings the Chapin Sisters and homecoming king Jackson Browne, who grew up in Highland Park before finding international fame as a singer-songwriter.

Browne and the Chapins are also connected. Last year Browne, who frequently joins Pasadena - and LA- area political activists at public events, received the World Hunger Year Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award for promoting important causes through his music and celebrity.

Famed singer-songwriter Harry Chapin, who died in 1981, is the brother of Grammy-winning musician Tom Chapin. Tom's daughters Lily and Abigail Chapin and stepdaughter Jessica Craven (their mother's first marriage was to horror-film icon Wes Craven) are the Chapin Sisters.

Though they grew up on the East Coast singing mostly at family gatherings or on their father's records, it wasn't until each moved out to Los Angeles for different reasons that the band came together, said Lily Chapin, who found herself drawn to parts east of the Sunset Strip.

“It's a great place to be in a band. There's an amazing, incredible community of musicians,” she said. “People think of LA and they think of Hollywood and the entertainment business, so it's not what you would expect. There is this whole other side to LA.”

And for that, says Sekuler, we can thank Charles Lummis, the real star of Lummis Day.

Journalist, poet, ladies' man and adventurer, Lummis was perhaps the first to envision Northeast Los Angeles as the social and cultural crossroads it has become and the leading advocate of his time for the rights of native peoples in the Southwest.

In 1884, then-25-year-old Lummis was hired away from a southern Ohio news desk to take a job as the first city editor of the new Los Angeles Times. But he took his time getting there, walking from Cincinnati to LA and along the way gaining an appreciation for the rugged beauty of the Southwest, reversing his negative perceptions about the land and its people and sending all of this back east in a popular syndicated column.

Lummis would become an architect of the city's public library system, a founder of the Southwest Museum, organizer of efforts to save California's historic missions from collapse, a local pioneer of interracial marriage (his second wife was Latina) and, thanks to his college friendship with President Theodore Roosevelt, an activist who reversed many federal policies that separated Native Americans from their homes and families.

“He had this revelatory transformation in terms of thinking and attitudes (during his trek to LA) … and becomes this bohemian outsider but also very much a booster for LA, almost a prophet of a multicultural society that's going to be born here,” said Sekuler.

Boosters of the festival in his honor are many. Funding for Lummis Day came from the Autry National Center, the Annenberg Foundation, various other sponsors and five LA neighborhood councils: Historic Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Arroyo Seco, Greater Cypress Park and Lincoln Heights.

It has also become something of a year-round effort, with various fundraisers and poetry readings organized throughout the year with the help of Suzane Lummis, director of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, editor of speechlessthemagazine.org and — adding to the familial connections that thread throughout the festival — granddaughter of Charles Lummis.

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Suzanne Lummis and several other poets will perform spoken word at 11 a.m. at the Lummis home following a 10:30 a.m. acoustic performance by Carlos Guitarlos. Events at Sycamore Grove Park begin afterward at 12:30 p.m. and continue through 7:15 p.m., when Jackson Browne takes the stage. For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.lummisday.org.

Los Angeles Times
"The Guide" Thursday, May 29

A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Former Highland Park resident Jackson Browne returns to the 'hood' to headline the third annual Lummis Day Festival, a multilingual celebration of Northeast Los Angeles' cultural riches. Performers include folk trio the Chapin Sisters, nouveau mariachi band the Mariachi Divas and comedy ensemble Culture Clash, as well as folk dance, poetry and a retelling of Charles Lummis' 1884-85 walk from Cincinnati to L.A. -- with puppets! 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Sun. Sycamore Grove Park, 4702 N. Figueroa St., L.A. Free. www.lummisday.org

Free Breakfast, Free Poetry, Free Blues At Lummis Day Opening

A free light breakfast from Juanita's at Casa Blue, the classic acoustic blues of Carlos Guitarlos and some of Southern California's most exciting and renowned poetry are all part of the program for the opening event of Lummis Day at 10:30 am on Sunday, June 1 at the historic Lummis Home, 200 East Avenue 43.

Steve Kowit, author of the "The First Noble Truth" and the popular book on writing poetry, "In the Palm of Your Hand," will be the principal reader in the morning's program. A teacher at Southwestern College, he is a recipient of a National Endowment Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes and the Tampa Review Prize for poetry.

Other featured poets include liz gonzalez, author of "Beneath Bone" and a teacher at Long Beach City College, Cathie Sandstrom, whose work has been widely published ion such literary publications as "Ploughshares," "Runes, "Lyric" and Cider Press Review, and Mike Sonksen, aka Mike the Poet, author of "I Am Alive in Los Angeles" and a contributor to many Los Angeles and regional weekly newspapers.

Suzanne Lummis, director of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, editor of the online literary magazine, www.speechlessthema gazine and a much-acclaimed poet, will moderate the event.

Funding for the Lummis Day Festival opening event is provided by Poets & Writers Inc. through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.

The third annual Lummis Day Festival is presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center. Lummis Day sponsors include the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Arroyo Seco, Eagle Rock, Greater Cypress Park and Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Councils, KMEX Univision 34, Fox KTTV 11, public radio station KPFK 90.7, the Arroyo Seco Journal, Poets & Writers, Inc, SIPA: Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, the North Figueroa Association, Los Angeles City Council Districts 1 and 14, the Historical Society of Southern California, the Highland Park Heritage Trust, the Mount Washington Association, the L.A. Poetry Festival, and other community organizations.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178

Casa de Adobe Art Exhibit Added to Lummis Fest, June 1

In an expansion of the Lummis Day Festival's activities, an exhibition of work by Northeast L.A. artists will be mounted at Casa de Adobe and will be open to festival-goers from 1pm-6pm on Sunday, June 1

Casa de Adobe is located at 4605 N. Figueroa Street, just across the street from the main Lummis Day Festival site at Sycamore Grove Park.

Curator for the exhibition is fiber artist Connie Rohman, a longtime member of he Arroyo Arts Collective and Culture/Arts chairperson for the Mount Washington Association. Among the artists who will be represented at the exhibition are Ernesto Anguiano, Zoe Axelrod, Ann Dudrow, Kikki Eder, Margaret Garcia, Yolanda Gonzalez, Cidne Hart, Connie Rohman, Suzanne Siegel, Gilly Shaeffer, Roderick Smith, Kevin Spitze, Alexia Teran, Heather Watson and Rick Willson. In addition, Avenue 50 Studio will present sculptures by Tomas Owen, and an altar installation by Ofelia Esparza in the Chapel room. Pam Hannah, director of operations for the Southwest Museum and the Autry National Center's Casa de Adobe, has served as facilitator for this exhibition.

Construction of the the Casa de Adobe-an authentic recreation of a 19th Century Spanish California rancho--began in 1917 and was completed in 1927. Construction methods adhered to traditional adobe style, with adobe bricks mixed and formed from earth dug at the construction site. To ensure historical accuracy, trees,plants and shrubs appropriate to the early to mid 19th trees, a fig and a pomegranate, still remain at the Casa and are now over 80 years old,

Although earthquake damage caused the Casa de Adobe's regular exhibitions to close in the early 1990's, the building is being revitalized by the Autry National Center and is currently the scene of special celebrations and fiestas. Living history tours are provided to students by junior docents from the Arroyo Seco Museum Science Magnet School. Tours can be booked through the Southwest Museum.

The 3rd annual Lummis Day Festival celebrates the Diverse cultures, spirit and history of L.A.'s Northeast Arroyo neighborhoods with food, music, art, poetry and dance. Nationally and regionally renowned artists will perform in English, Spanish and Tagalog. The June 1 Festival will include events at Lummis Home, Casa de Adobe and Sycamore Grove Park from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm.

“Lummis Day” takes its name from Charles Fletcher Lummis, who became the L.A. Times' first city editor in 1885, founded the Southwest Museum, and championed the concept of multi-culturalism in Southern California.

The 3rd Annual Lummis Day Festival is presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National center, and is sponsored by the Neighborhood Councils of Arroyo Seco, Eagle Rock, Historic Highland Park and Greater Cypress Park as well as the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Arroyo Seco Journal, public radio station KPFK-FM 90.7, KMEX-TV Univision 34, SIPA, the North Figueroa Association, Los Angeles City Council Districts 1 and 14, Poets & Writers, Inc., the Highland Park Historic Trust an the Mount Washington Association.

For up-to-date info on Lummis Day, log on to www.lummisday.org.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178

Family Corner Stage Added To Lummis Day, June 1

The 3rd Annual Lummis Day Festival on Sunday, June 1, will add a "Family Corner Stage" to the mix of entertainment and cultural events taking place at Sycamore Grove Park (4702 N. Figueroa Street) beginning at 12:30 pm.

Entertainment on the Family Corner Stage will be a mix of puppetry and storytelling, music and sing-along. MC´s will include KMEX News Anchor Fabiola Kramsky, KMEX Entertainment Reporter Cecilia Bogran, KTTV News Reporter Hal Eisner and KPFK Radio personality Fidel Rodriguez, who will rove among the audience with wireless microphones and interact with the crowd.

The stage will feature performances by the "Puppets and Players Little Theater," Carol Colin and Ted Waltz´ Charles Lummis puppet saga, "Puppets Tramp Across the Continent," professional, bi-lingual storytelling from the "We Tell Stories" group of actors, music from Los Chilitos, A family sing-along with Lou Pugliese and a performance by the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Music Program.

The Family Corner Stage will be set at the northern end of the park to avoid sound conflicts with the main Sycamore Grove Park stages, where performances will feature nationally and regionally celebrated artists performing in Spanish, English and Tagalog.

A complete performance schedule is available at www.lummisday.org

The 3rd Annual Lummis Day Festival will include events at Lummis Home, Casa de Adobe and Sycamore Grove Park and will be presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center. Sponsors include the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Arroyo Seco, Eagle Rock, Greater Cypress Park and Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Councils, the Mount Washington Association, KMEX Univision 34, KTTV Fox 11, public radio station KPFK 90.7, the Arroyo Seco Journal, Poets & Writers, Inc, SIPA: Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, the North Figueroa Association, Ed Reyes and Los Angeles City Council District 1, Jose Huizar and City Council District 14, State Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, the Highland Park Heritage Trust and the Los Angeles Arts Commission.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178

Fox KTTV - a media sponsor for Lummis Day

Fox KTTV Channel 11 has become a media sponsor for the third annual Lummis Day: The Festival of Northeast L.A., taking place at three Northeast Locations on Sunday, June 1 from 10:30 am to 7:00pm.

Hal Eisner, a veteran reporter for KTTV and its sister station, My Network TV Channel 13, will return to the Festival this year as an MC. And as part of its sponsorship, KTTV's news department will produce stories on the Festival, the legacy and significance of Charles Lummis, and the many cultural resources of Northeast Los Angeles.

Other media sponsors for the Festival include KMEX-TV Univision 34, public radio station KPFK 90.7 and the Arroyo Seco Journal. The third annual Lummis Day Festival is presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178

Cava, Jackson Browne, others to Perform at Lummis Festival

Acclaimed Latin fusion band Cava will join the line-up of artists appearing at the 3rd Annual Lummis Day Festival, Sunday June 1, adding to a list that includes Jackson Browne, the Mariachi Divas, the Chapin Sisters and Kultura Philippine Folks Arts.

The Lummis Day Festival's musical performances will take place at Sycamore Grove Park, 4700 North Figueroa Street in Highland Park, beginning at 12:30pm. The Festival begins at 10:30am with a gala poetry reception at Lummis Home, 200 E. Ave. 43. Additional activities will take place at Casa e Adobe, 4603 N. Figueroa Street, from 1:00-6:00pm.

The 3rd Annual Lummis Day Festival is presented by Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center. Lummis Day sponsors include SIPA: Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Arroyo Seco, Eagle Rock, Greater Cypress Park and Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Councils, KMEX Univision 34, public radio station KPFK 90.7, the Arroyo Seco Journal, Poets & Writers, Inc, the North Figueroa Association, Los Angeles City Council Districts 1 and 14, the Historical Society of Southern California, Heritage Square Museum, the Highland Park Heritage Trust, the Mount Washington Association, the L.A. Poetry Festival, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and other community organizations.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178

Special Announcement - Jackson Brown WILL BE APPEARING at Lummis Day

Stay tuned for the official news and the schedule for ALL the terrific Lummis Day performers, coming soon! You won't want to miss it!

New "Family Stage" To Feature Kid-Friendly Entertainment At Lummis Day

A separate new "Family Stage" will be featured at the Lummis Day Festival this year to add top kid-friendly puppet theater, storytelling and music to the kaleidoscope of music, dance and art that will fill Sycamore Grove Park from 12:30-7:00pm on Sunday, June 1.

The Puppets and Players Little Theater and the We Tell Stories performing group will be featured on the new stage. Other performers will be announced soon. MC's for the Family Stage will include KPFK's Fidel Rodriguez and personalities from KMEX, Univision 34.

We Tell Stories is a multi-ethnic community of artists who educate and nurture young audiences by reconnecting them with the ancient powers and wisdom of storytelling and theater. Performances by the We Tell Stories group blend storytelling and audience-participat ory theater to bring world folklore, fairy tales, literature, legends, and mythology to life.

Puppets and Players Little Theatre creatively re-invents the ancient art of marionette theater with masterful marionettes, colorful stage sets, exquisite lighting and state of the art sound that all combine to leave a lasting impression of puppetry at its best. Their performances, which combine classical marionettes, hand puppets and live performers, are presented on a beautifully crafted European-style marionette theater-on-wheels.

The third annual Lummis Day: The Festival of Northeast Los Angeles, will be presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center and will celebrate the diverse cultures and history of the L.A.'s Arroyo neighborhoods with June 1 events--free and open to the public--at Lummis Home and Sycamore Grove Park. Performers-- all with roots in Northeast Los Angeles--will include nationally and regionally celebrated artists performing in Spanish, English and Tagalog.

Information on the Festival and its programs is available at www.LummisDay.org

Lummis Day takes its name from Charles Fletcher Lummis, who joined the L.A. Times as the newspaper's first city editor in 1876. A prolific writer and photographer, Lummis was also one of the city's first librarians, founded the Southwest Museum and helped introduce the concept of multi-culturalism to Southern California.

Lummis Day: The Festival of Northeast Los Angeles is presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center. Festival sponsors include the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Arroyo Seco, Eagle Rock, Greater Cypress Park and Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Councils, KMEX Univision 34, public radio station KPFK 90.7, the Arroyo Seco Journal, Poets & Writers, Inc, the North Figueroa Association, Los Angeles City Council Districts 1 and 14, the Highland Park Heritage Trust, the Mount Washington Association, the L.A. Poetry Festival, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and other community organizations.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178

KMEX-TV Channel 34 Joins Lummis Day as a Media Sponsor

KMEX-TV, the leading Spanish-language television station in the country, has become a media sponsor for Lummis Day: The Festival of Northeast L.A.

KMEX-TV, Channel 34 is the flagship station of the Univision Television Group, Inc., the country's leading Spanish-language television station group. The company operates 21 full-power and seven low-power television stations and two television translator stations.

KMEX becomes the first Spanish-language media sponsor for the event. Other media sponsors include public radio station KPFK 90.7 and the Arroyo Seco Journal.

The Mariachi Divas to Perform at Lummis Day Festival

The Mariachi Divas, whose multi-cultural approach to traditional and contemporary mariachi music has earned international renown, will be the first musical performers to appear on the Sycamore Grove Park stage at the 3rd annual Lummis Day Festival, Sunday June 1.

This concert is sponsored by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

The Mariachi Divas have toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Mexico, have made numerous TV appearances and have accompanied such major international stars as Joan Sebastian, Jenny Rivera, Marco Antonio Solis, Pablo Montero, Graciela Beltran and Paulina Rubio.

While remaining true to its mariachi roots, the uniquely multi-cultural group, has served as an instrumental and vocal showcase for women of Mexican, Cuban Samoan, Argentina, Panamanian, Puerto Rican, Japanese, Honduran, Peruvian and Anglo descent.

The Mariachi Divas have performed for Mexico's president Felipe Calderon, at the inaugurations of Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa and California Governor Schwarzenegger, and have been featured performers at the annual downtown L.A. Cinco de Mayo celebrations, playing for crowds of almost a half-million people.

The Mariachi Divas were founded by trumpet player Cindy Shea in 1999; their fourth album, “Canciones de Amor” is currently in release.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178

KPFK Spotlights Lummis Day Poetry and Library Series, Wed. 4/9

Noted Southern California poet Lory Bedikian will read poetry and discuss her participation in the Lummis Day Library Program on three broadcasts of "Poets Cafe," a regularly scheduled half-hour program airing every second Wednesday at noon on public radio station KPFK 90.7 FM.

The program, the second to be aired in KPFK's Lummis Day series, will be broadcast at noon on Wednesday, April 9 and will be heard streaming soon thereafter at www.kpfk.org A third program in the series, featuriing Lory Bedikian and William Archila, will air April 23. All programs in the series are moderated by Kate Gaidos of the Los Angeles Public Library and produced and engineered for KPFK by Marlene Bond.

The library poetry program, which begins April 26 at the El Sereno Public Library and continues on consecutive Saturdays through May, will lead into the gala poetry reading that serves as the opening event of the Lummis Day Festival on June 1 at Lummis Home. William Archila, Lory Bedikian and others will read their work at afternoon library gatherings in April and May. On alternating weeks, Archila and Bedikian will also be conducting free writing workshops -- giving poetry lovers and library-goers a chance to find their own artistic voices. Finally, at a wrap-up party at the Braun Library of the Southwest Museum, emerging writers will share their work in company with more established poets and other artists.

William Archila received his MFA from the University of Oregon. His poems have appeared in the Georgia Review, AGN1, Crab Orchard Review, Poetry International, the Los Angeles Review, Notre Dame and Portland Review, among others. His work will also appear in Puerto Del Sol. His first book, The Art of Exile, is forthcoming from Bilingual Press.

Lory Bedikian earned her MFA from the University of Oregon where she received the Dan Kimble First Year Teaching Award in Poetry. Her collection of poetry has been selected as a finalist in both the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition and the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award Competition. She has been published in various journals including the Connecticut Review, Heliotrope, and Poetry International. She currently writes a column, "Poetry Matters," for the Armenian Reporter.

The Lummis Day library program was designed and organized by Lummis Day Community Foundation members Kate Gaidos, a librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library Arroyo Seco Branch; Elizabeth Garcia, field representative for Anthony Portantino, Assemblymember, 44th State Assembly District; Suzanne Lummis, founder, Los Angeles Poetry Festival; and Anna Liza Posas, reference librarian, Braun Research Library of the Autry National Center.

Support for the Lummis Day Library program and the Festival's June 1 gala poetry reading at Lummis Home is provided by Poets & Writers Inc. through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.

Lummis Day is presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center. Festival sponsors include the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Arroyo Seco, Eagle Rock, Greater Cypress Park and Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Councils, public radio station KPFK 90.7, the Arroyo Seco Journal, Poets & Writers, Inc., the North Figueroa Association, Los Angeles City Council Districts 1 and 14, the Historical Society of Southern California, Heritage Square Museum, the Highland Park Heritage Trust, the Mount Washington Association, the Los Angeles Poetry Festival and other community organizations. The concert is sponsored by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Visit www.LummisDay.org for updates on all Lummis Day events.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178

3rd Annual “Lummis Day: The Festival Of Northeast Los Angeles”

Scheduled For Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 11am to 7pm

Los Angeles — The 3rd annual Lummis Day: The Festival of Northeast Los Angeles event, a free, public celebration of the diverse culture and history of the L.A.'s Arroyo neighborhoods will take place on Sunday, June 1, featuring musical, visual, culinary and literary artists representing an array of the region's cultural traditions.

This year's Lummis Day event will be presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center, with over a dozen community organizations, neighborhood councils, City Council Districts 1 and 14, the Department of Recreation and Parks and public radio station KPFK acting as sponsors.

Principal activities for the event will be staged as Sycamore Grove Park at 4900 N. Figueroa Street, where music, art, multi-cultural performances and food service begins at 12:30 pm, and at Lummis Home, 200 E. Avenue 43, where the program will begin with an 11:00 am poetry reading followed by a “trek” led along the route of Arroyo Seco riverbed to the Sycamore Grove Festival site.

Last year's event drew over 3,500 people to events at Sycamore Grove Park and Lummis Home. Over 25 community groups, a dozen galleries and half dozen restaurants participated.

Lummis Day takes its name from Charles Fletcher Lummis, who served as the L.A. Times' first city editor in 1876. Lummis was also one of the city's first librarians, founded the Southwest Museum and helped introduce the concept of multi-culturalism to Southern California. The Lummis Day Community Foundation--composed of a broad cross-section of community activists-—hopes the third annual event will again serve to celebrate the diverse culture and history of the Arroyo neighborhoods, strengthen linkages among cultural, commercial and community resources and create a framework for future civic, creative and commercial growth in Northeast Los Angeles.

The Lummis Day program includes a "sense of place" community-oriented educational curriculum offered to teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School system which has already provided training and background to over 40 area teachers in the history, geography, demographics and cultural life of Northeast Los Angeles.

A program of readings and presentations in Los Angeles libraries, begun on a modest scale in 2007, is expanding this year to include events on four consecutive Saturdays beginning April 26 at the El Sereno Branch Library and continuing with events at the Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library (May 3), the Eagle Rock Branch Library (May 10), the Cypress Park Brnach Library (May 17. The Lummis Days Library Program series will culminate in a Saturday May 24 party at the Southwest Museum's Braun Library with music, poetry, an open mic, refreshments and a book sale. All events are free and open to the public. The Lummis Day Library program and the Festival's June 1 gala poetry reading at Lummis Home are sponsored by Poets & Writers Inc. through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.

“Lummis Day” is presented by the Annenberg Foundation and the Autry National Center and sponsored by the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council, the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council, the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, the Greater Cypress Park Neighborhood Council, the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Arroyo Seco Journal, public radio station KPFK 90.7, KMEX-TV, SIPA (Search to Involve Pilipino Americans) and the North Figueroa Association with the support of Los Angeles City Council Districts 1 and 14, the Mount Washington Association, the Heritage Square Museum, the Highland Park Heritage Trust, the Eagle Rock Arts Center, the L.A. Poetry Festival and other community organizations.

Established in 1989 by Walter H. Annenberg, the Annenberg Foundation provides funding and support to nonprofit organizations in the United States and globally through its headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania and offices in Los Angeles, California. Its major program areas are education and youth development; arts, culture and humanities; civic and community life; health and human services; and animal services and the environment. In addition, the Foundation operates a number of initiatives which expand and complement these program areas. The Annenberg Foundation exists to advance the public well-being through improved communication. As the principal means of achieving this goal, the Foundation encourages the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge.

The Autry National Center was established in March 2003 following the merger of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Women of the West Museum, and the Autry Museum of Western Heritage. Leveraging the resources and talents of these three institutions, the Center's mission is to explore the experiences and perceptions of the diverse people of the American West, connecting the past with the present to inform our shared future.

Lummis Day information and updates are available at www.lummisday.org. Lummis Day: The Festival of Northeast L.A. is organized by the Lummis Day Community Foundation, Inc.

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Contact: Eliot Sekuler
818-535-9178