18th Street Arts Center

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By ngordillo, June 8, 2011 3:10 pm

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VENUE ADDRESS: 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404
CONTACT: Nicole Gordillo
PHONE: 310-453-3711 ext. 106
CONTACT EMAIL: ngordillo@18thstreet.org
WEBSITE: WWW.18THSTREET.ORG
CHARGE: $35
HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE: Yes
CALENDAR / ART

Beer Art & Music Festival hits Santa Monica for a Good Cause!

Santa Monica, CA- On Sunday, October 9, 2011 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., 18th Street Arts Center, is bringing its renowned BAM Fest (Beer, Art and Music Festival) to the Westside of L.A. Held in the heart of Santa Monica, BAM Fest is a celebration of locally produced art, music and the finest craft beers around. With 20-plus breweries, 4 bands, 3 galleries, open artist studios, an artist marketplace, gourmet organic food provided by the Green Truck, bold and flavorful authentic Mexican dishes by the Border Grill Truck and sublime banh mi and Vietnamese tacos from the Nom Nom Truck, BAM Fest 2011 is poised to draw a fun crowd in its second year as Santa Monica’s ‘hoppiest’ annual event.

As the only Craft Beer Festival in Santa Monica, this year’s attendance is anticipated at close to 1,300. And the event is a steal, with tickets priced at just $35. A ticket provides you 5 hours of live music, exploration of artist studios and galleries, a live artist market with art for purchase, and unlimited tastings of some of the greatest beers around. And since all proceeds from the event directly support 18th Street Arts Center’s programs and artists, attendees can feel good about contributing to a great cause. Following 2010’s BAM Fest, Santa Monica Daily Press’ Editor in Chief, Kevin Herrera declared, “18th Street Arts Center’s first annual BAM Festival was a blast. The beer selection was excellent, with many quality SoCal microbrewers represented, and the art was appealing and the music entertaining. There’s nothing like getting tipsy for charity!”

This year 18th Street is teaming up with LA craft beer industry veterans Thomas Kelly (Library Alehouse) and Martin Svab (Naja’s Place) to help facilitate the beer side of the festival. Participating craft breweries range from big to small, including the popular and larger New Belgium and Stone Brewing to the smaller but equally great Ladyface, Bootlegger’s and Strand Brewing. From cool-fermented lagers to warm-fermented ales, the craft beer offerings at 18th Street’s Beer, Art and Music Festival offer a range of styles for tasting enjoyment. For the beer connoisseur, this year BAM Fest is showcasing unique Belgian-style beers on tap, including Duvel-Moortgat, Brasserie d’Achouffe and Ommegang. Duvel Marketing Manager, Stuart Knight says, “Last year’s event was one of the very best beer festivals I attended, with an impressive list of great breweries and beers. I am really looking forward to this year’s event.” Just as any artist painstakingly toils over each detail of a masterpiece, today’s craft brewer goes to great lengths to produce unique, award-winning works of art. With the marriage of beer, art and music, BAM Fest has brewed a one-of-a-kind fundraising event.

The music lined up for BAM Fest is just as diverse as the beer samples. From the blazing Blues infused sound of JT Ross and his rock-and-roll band Speedway, to the hard-driving funk and soulful ballads of The Orlando Napier Band, the featured music at 18th Street’s festival is sure to make attendees groove. The Santa Monica-based group Upstart is rooted in soul and R&B traditions, but maintains a restless sense of discovery playing catchy, well-crafted songs while The Dustbowl Revival mix a spicy roots cocktail with their dance-inducing live sets that merge old school bluegrass, swamp-gospel, jug-band, jump blues and the hot swing of the 1930’s.

BAM Fest attendees also get the special opportunity to explore 18th Street’s contribution to the Getty’s initiative, Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945 – 1980, which brings more than 60 cultural institutions together for the first time to celebrate the birth of L.A.’s art scene. 18th Street’s exhibition entitled Collaboration Labs: Southern California Artists and the Artist Space Movement investigates five artists and artists groups that have been central to the alternative artist’s space movement in Southern California since the early 1970s. These makers and collectives – Rachel Rosenthal, Barbara T. Smith, Suzanne Lacy/Leslie Labowitz-Starus, Kit Galloway/Sherrie Rabinowitz, and EZTV – have all been involved in collaboration within their own work, as well as with the founding of key artist-run spaces in the Los Angeles region. Video, photography, documentation, performance and installations demonstrate how diverse art practices were in dialogue with and influential to many of the social and political movements of the last few decades. In addition, artworks are available for purchase at an artist marketplace organized by past 18th Street Artist Fellow, Anna Guajardo and the resident artists who live, work and create daily at 18th Street open their studios for attendees to experience works in progress.

Tickets are on sale at: http://18thstreet.org/even​ts/bam-fest-2011 and in person at the Library Alehouse, 2911 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA. 90405. For more information about BAM Fest 2011 and 18th Street Arts Center visit http://www.18thstreet.org.                                               #END#

18th Street Arts Center is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art making. 18th Street is a community which values art making as an essential component of a vibrant, just and healthy society.