Arts & Culture

San Diego weekend arts events: Juneteenth, video game music and 'The Color Purple'

By Julia Dixon Evans / Arts Reporter/Podcast Host

Published June 13, 2024 at 10:36 AM PDT

Gill Sotu is shown performing in The Old Globe's AXIS Juneteenth event in a previous year.

Top picks

AXIS: Juneteenth Celebration

Theater, Poetry, Music, Family, Black Culture | The Old Globe brings back their popular Juneteenth Celebration, which is a free, family-friendly and community-oriented event. Each year they bring together musicians, actors, storytellers, poets and other artists to share an original play and other entertainment that celebrates San Diego's Black creative community.

For more arts events or to submit your own, visit the KPBS/Arts Calendar. If you want more time to plan, get the KPBS/Arts Newsletter in your inbox every Thursday to see event picks for the weeks ahead.

Once again, the event is hosted by poet, playwright and storyteller Gill Sotu, and will feature performances by Brittany Taylor, Truth Gospel Mime Group, Kendrick Dial and the Lyrical Groove and more. The Globe's CoLAB community playwriting project will present a debut of a new play.

Details: Event information. 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 15 at the Old Globe's outdoor Copley Plaza, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park. Free.

Become a KPBS sponsor

A New World: Intimate Music from 'Final Fantasy'

Composer Nobuo Uematsu, known for composing the score for the "Final Fantasy" video game series, is shown in an undated photo.

Music, Video games | Video game music is still a relatively under-appreciated art form, but there's no denying the significance of some of the greatest scores from the greatest games. "Final Fantasy" is one of those games. It was first developed in 1987 not for a gaming system but for family computers — but has since been released on all the systems and platforms. The music is incredible, contributing to the ambience and story with character themes, battle music and more.

La Jolla Music Society will host the New World Players chamber ensemble to perform some of the compositions and themes from "Final Fantasy," including work by composers Nobuo Uematsu, Masayoshi Soken and more.

Details: Event information. 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 15. La Jolla Music Society, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla. $58.

City Heights Street Food Fest

Food, Music, Family, Festivals | The fourth annual City Heights Street Food Fest returns to University Ave. between 37th and 38th streets in City Heights, with food, performances, live music, art and family-friendly activities. The event is a fundraiser for street food vendors, with proceeds from tickets going to support essential services for the vendors like job assistance, housing and food security.

Details: Event information. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 15. University Ave. between 37th St. and 38th. St. Parking available at Health Sciences High, 3910 University Ave., City Heights. $10-$15.

Become a KPBS sponsor

'The Color Purple'

Theater, Black Culture | New Village Arts' production of "The Color Purple" is directed by Kandace Crystal, with choreography by Alyssa "Ajay" Junious. The jazz, gospel and blues-inspired musical is an adaptation of Alice Walker's powerful, Pulitzer-winning novel that follows the heartbreaking and powerful story of Celie, a Black woman in rural Georgia in the early 1900s, over the span of four decades. The musical, which originally hit Broadway in 2005, received multiple Tony Awards for its revival in 2016.

The musical opens in previews this weekend, with performances 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Details: Event information. On stage June 14 through July 21. The Dea Hurston New Village Arts Center, 2787 State St., Carlsbad. $30+.

Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio in-residence at The Timken

Visual art | Muralist Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio is currently installing a new work, "In Blue Time," at The Timken Museum — which means you can pop in and watch her paint. This mural, which will take up an entire wall in the museum's Dutch-Flemish gallery, is inspired by the blues in the background of Pieter Brueghel the Elder's 1557 painting, "Parable of the Sower."

Pieter Brueghel the Elder's 1557 painting, "The Parable of the Sower" is part of the Timken Museum of Art's collection, and is the inspiration for Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio's mural-in-progress, "In Blue Time."

Ortiz-Rubio's work is atmospheric in many ways, often featuring cloud formations and informed by concepts of time and space and the passing, fleeting moments of clouds moving overhead. I love the idea of her work being in conversation with something so old. She will be at work on the mural Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3:30. The work will be completed by July 17 and then be on view through Sept. 29.

Details: In residence through June 28. Artist on-site: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The Timken Museum of Art, 1500 El Prado, Balboa Park. Free.

DISCO RIOT: Queer Mvmnt Fest 2024

Dancers from Disco Riot perform in an undated photo.

Dance, Contemporary dance | San Diego contemporary dance company DISCO RIOT brings back their annual Queer Mvmnt Fest in June, part of the World Design Capital 2024 festivities. Workshops, film screenings and plenty of performances fill six days across several venues, including the City Heights Performance Annex, the Mingei and Tijuana's Centro Estatal de las Artes (CEART). Can only pick one thing? Hit up the final night of performances in "OUTdoor Offerings" at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 15 at the City Heights Performance Annex.

Listen to our full interview with DISCO RIOT's Desiree Cuizon about this year's festival here.

Details: Event information. Runs through June 15. Various locations. Free.

Celeste Barber: 'Backup Dancer'

Comedy, Books | Australian comic, memoirist and actress Celeste Barber brings her wit to town this weekend. Though she got her foot in the door for fame in television in the '00s, Barber found Internet stardom close to a decade ago on Instagram by parodying celebrities and recreating their photos.

Details: Event information. 8 p.m. Sunday, June 16. Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., downtown. $26-$55+.

Irma Sofia Poeter and Visions Museum Pop-Up Market

Visual art | Tecate-based textile artist Irma Sofia Poeter continues her artist residency at Visions Museum in conjunction with her current exhibit, "A DRESS," which is in a multi-part exhibit "Latine Entretejida." Poeter will be on site from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday this month.

Saturday is also Visions Museum's Pop-Up Market, with booths from Claudia B. Rodriguez (Sew Loka), Faith Orcino, Aida Flores, Mely Barragán and Poeter. The market is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Details: Event information. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 15. Visions Museum of Textile Art, 2825 Dewey Road, Liberty Station. Free.

'La Obra' by Teatro Punto Y Coma

Ken Jewish Community presents a Spanish-language production of "La Obra," a play that follows a theater company working against the odds to put on a play themselves (I love a good "play-within-a-play"!). This show is part of JFest 2024 and is performed by Teatro Punto y Coma at the Old Globe.

Details: Event information. 9 p.m. June 13. The Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park. $36.