The gift of public art, plus a look at the weekend arts calendar

S1: It's time for Midday Edition on Kpbs. Today , we're talking about the art scene in San Diego and how it reflects our values. I'm Jade Hindman. Here's to conversations that keep you informed , inspired and make you think. We'll introduce you to the director of the Stewart Collection who will share its long legacy of providing public art.

S2: Galleries and museums can still be quite daunting to a lot of people and to a lot of communities. And public art can tend to be more accessible.

S1: Plus , one painter is using his work to help people understand our complex water issues. And Julia Dixon Evans shares what's on her arts calendar this weekend. That's ahead on Midday Edition. Since 1981 , the Stuart Collection has been commissioning public art for the UC San Diego campus. Mary Beebe was the first director of the collection and recently retired Kpbs arts reporter Beth Accomando spoke with Jessica Berlinger. Taylor , who took over the directorship last year about the long and ongoing legacy of the Stuart Collection.

S3: So , Jessica , I went to UC San Diego back in 78 to 82 , and my favorite piece of public art here from the Stuart collection was something Pacific. And one of the things I loved about that is I was a communication visual arts major , and this piece was a little Buddha sitting in front of like a very old looking TV , and it was in front of our media art center. So I passed it by going to class , going into edit and things like that.

S2: So Namjoon Pike was an artist from Korea and he's considered the grandfather of video art , so he moved to New York and that's really where his career took off. And Mary Beebe invited him to do his first permanent outdoor artwork. So we have his his first permanent outdoor sculpture. And it's divided into two pieces , I would say the outdoor part , which are a series of Buddhas and old TV sets. TV sets were really his medium. He would use all sorts of TV sets for different installations that he he did over his the span of his career. So Mary invited him to campus and he decided to do this piece with some of the Buddhas he did himself. Others were replicas of other Buddhas that he'd seen. There's a tiny replica of the sculpture of Rodin , the thinker that's on top of the tiniest TV that had been done to date. I think it's called the Sony Watchman. And it's kind of a graveyard of Buddhas and TVs and Namjoon Pike was a Buddhist himself. And then the second part of the piece is inside the Media center. And that's a set of different TV screens that can be manipulated by students and they can use and manipulate the footage that Namjoon Pike put into these these TV sets. And it's the materials are updated every so often by UCSD engineers. Namjoon Pike was a great believer and not a believer. He knew technology evolved and it evolved fast. So he was okay with with updating technology in his pieces , which is something interesting. Some artists just say no and they want they want it to remain that way , even if the technology may become obsolete. So it's it's a fascinating piece in how he's dealing with what he thought was or he considered was part of mainstream American life , which was the TV.

S3: And give us a little background on the Stewart collection.

S2: And he had been traveling through Europe and was really struck by public art in Europe and how public art really enhances public life. And so he thought , I want to do something like this. And what better place than a campus where you have students , staff , faculty ? The weather in San Diego is fantastic. It's not always easy to do public art. For example , in New York , where the weather conditions , the cold can really affect what you do outdoors. So he decided to invite Nike recent Fall to be the first commissioned artist because he was interested in commissioning , not in buying work that was already made , but to really bring artists to the campus and have them connect with the context and the history and the. That's why each piece is site specific and they are pieces that are contextualized and artists connect with the context. So Nike design files. Sun God was the first piece , and Mary Beeby , the previous director of the Stewart collection , arrived just when the Sun God was being installed. And so after that she she took over. The curatorial aspect of the collection and its mission is really to enhance the the academic and public life of UCSD , to provide students with a bit of respite from their studies and to sort of surprise people to have art appear in places where you wouldn't usually expect it , like Fallen Star , which is at the top of the school of Engineering and it looks like it's falling off the School of Engineering building. Or snake path , which leads you up to Geisel Library. So these pieces are really part of daily life here at UCSD. And because the artists that have been commissioned are so well known and such prolific artworks that they have created , the Stuart Collection really seeks to match the excellence that's here at UCSD , basically through the through Stem , which is what UCSD is known for. So that's what we're doing , really connecting with life here and reflecting it back through the artworks.

S3: And some of the artwork seems to get embraced more than others in the sense of you've got the giant stone teddy bear , which I understand now gets different costumes. Exactly.

S2: Exactly. Yes , there are definitely pieces that speak to people more. And it's so interesting to hear how different people connect different artworks. So the bear is very , very popular , especially around Valentine's and graduation. And then Fallen Star is definitely the piece that really strikes people's imagination because of how it was engineered to to live at the top of the School of Engineering building. Sun God has become an icon. It's kind of the mascot of the campus. There's a Sun God festival , for example , that began soon after the piece was installed and is still going , and it's organized by students. Another great piece that people connect with is Jenny Hauser's green table. Sometimes people won't realize when they're having lunch there , for example , and then they're there. I will suddenly catch that. There's tons of phrases inscribed onto this huge granite green table that have to do with politics and history and feminism and oppression and power. So that has ignited certain debates and conversations with between students and faculty , for example. So , yes , depending a lot on who you are , where you come from , your experiences of life , you'll connect to each piece and each piece is story in a different way. And that's what makes , I think , public art fascinating , that it's it's it can be very open to interpretation.

S3: And you also have some that you may not even know you're experiencing like the Soundgarden.

S2: Exactly some pieces and are more subtle. So a lot of the ideas that we have about public art , especially in the United States and in Europe , are that it's big and it's kind of right there , and it should be produced in such a way that you can't miss it. It's fabricated in concrete or steel or bronze or these very sort of permanent materials. And for the past , I guess maybe 20 , 25 years. And the Stewart collection has been a leader in this more experimental kind of way of doing public art and looking to expand our notions about it. So Soundgarden is a great example. That's John Luther Adams piece. He's a composer , and there's technology involved. There's 32 channels of sound in that piece. So that piece has a lot to do with how you perceive a place. It really awakens your senses in terms of connecting with yourself and with the site. So depending on how maybe your listening is developed , if you walk by , you may catch some of the sounds that that are going on , which depend on light and on the wind. And that's how the the piece works. It's responding to the weather conditions. So it'll change every single time. It will never be the same.

S3: And what's interesting about the Stewart collection , too , is that it does seem to work closely with the campus. I mean , the two seem to be very integrated. Yes.

S2: Yes. It's always been a collaboration with the campus and especially with the sites where the works will be situated. So , for example , for Fallen Star , that was a huge collaboration with with the engineers. They actually got involved in the fabrication and the positioning of the work and and the whole planning for Canopy to tell a story. This was all actually managed by the project manager of the whole capital improvement projects. And we will continue to to work very closely because one of the I think key aspects of public art is collaboration. And UCSD is such a rich place to be able to collaborate with. You have all this knowledge that's being continuously built upon and innovation in knowledge , especially in science and technology. So we hope to work even more closely with with what's happening here at UCSD.

S3:

S2: It can create communities and different ones depending on how the project is conceived and then produced fabricated ET cetera and communicated. There's groups of people that come together throughout the process of public art and create very strong connections. So a lot of friendships are built around these very intense long term projects , right ? Because these projects take sometimes years to actually manifest. Another aspect I think , of of public art , and this is something that I learned from a fantastic art historian , Rosalind Deutsch , who specialized in public art , is public art is really about public life and how we build our notions of citizenship , democracy , community building. So that's what's key to public art , is to be able to sort of activate or detonate conversations around what it means to occupy public space and who has access to it , who doesn't , how it's connected to real estate developments , which has a whole issue around private property and public property. So there's all sorts of debates around that which just , I think , enriching our intellectual life for the campus. I've asked that's been one of my my interests has been to listen to to how public art here has has supported the life of students and staff and faculty and people who engage with the campus. And a lot of the comments have been around mental health , which is very interesting. A lot of students have said that having public art on campus has meant their mental and physical well-being. So I'm very interested in learning more about that. Of course , art can do that. It's one of the aspects I think art can harness the healing powers that we have within us. It's not. Never will replace medicine or the formal aspects of therapy , but it definitely supports those processes. So I'm in the middle of doing a bit more research around that , and these public artworks tell stories and I think it supports the storytelling aspects that others may be interested in telling their own stories. So that's another value that I see of public art. And if it's permanent , it will be able to tell people in the future a lot of what we went through and thought about as society , what we prioritise , what were our values ? Artists are , I think , visionaries. So someone like Norman Pike , for example , was definitely thinking about the future of technology. So artists are really a lot of them are ahead of their time and having access to those ideas and to that knowledge and public form is very valuable in terms of access. Galleries and museums can still be quite daunting to a lot of people and to a lot of communities. And if you and public art is can tend to be more accessible in that way , you don't have to go through a series of steps to get to the art. It's right there if you want it.

S3: All right. Well , thank you very much for talking about the Stewart Collection.

S2: Thank you so much.

S1: That was Beth Accomando speaking with Jessica Berlinger. Taylor , director of the Stewart Collection. You can find a map of the 22 pieces of public art at PBS.org. This story is part of an ongoing series about public art in the San Diego region. What do you think about when you see public art ? Does it change the way you view the world ? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Give us a call at (619) 452-0228. You can leave a message or you can email us at midday at pbs.org. Coming up , we'll talk with an artist who uses his work to break down our complex water issues. Plus , we introduce you to a band raising awareness about issues and identity in the Filipino community.

S4: And the bands that are representing a class on fest are also speaking to Filipino causes and issues because it's really rooted in our identity.

S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. Welcome back to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. You know , water issues in the arid West are complex. The laws that govern our region's rivers and reservoirs are tough to wrap your mind around , but art can provide an entry point and create an emotional connection that helps people understand what's at stake. From Aspen Public Radio , Kyle Williams reports on one painter fostering that connection along the Colorado River.

S5: Trust your hand. See if you can make some mark.

S6: His eyes squinted and out to the horizon. Artist Patrick Heckert is showing about a dozen people with sketchbooks. Make those little trees in the distance. Look just the right size on paper compared to the reservoir before us. We're surrounded by forest greens and rusty rocky reds in a high mountain valley near Aspen. And Kiko , who spends a lot of time deep in river canyons , is savoring the moment under his straw hat.

S5: I kind of come alive with more space. It kind of allows me to catch my breath and breathe and I saw a little bit.

S6: Heckert has been painting and drawing the landscapes of the West for decades. He traveled the region with his family as a kid , had a creative aha moment in college and found inspiration in Thomas Moran , a 19th century artist whose paintings of Yellowstone motivated people to create America's first national park.

S5: Art definitely has an important role in engaging a wider public. I always have that in the back of my mind.

S6: Then , a few years ago , he joined a team of researchers and other artists on a trip down the Green and Colorado Rivers.

S5: It's like , Oh , this is the original highway , the original highways , the river. So that was a hook for me.

S6: It followed the same route that John Wesley Powell took in 1869. But this group's trip , 150 years later , was shaped by major infrastructure like dams and reservoirs , and by increasingly fraught conversations about the difference between water supply and demand in the basin.

S5: I've been documenting this drought that's over 20 years for well , for since it started. It's important for me to show the realities of the West.

S6: Heckert documented the trip in drawings from the field , which he turned into larger scale paintings later on. But 2019 was a good water year. He returned last year as reservoirs reached record lows , and some of his pieces are now on display at a library in the Roaring Fork Valley , near a major tributary to the Colorado River. His paintings are high up on the walls , so you have to crane your neck to see them , almost like you're in the bottom of a canyon yourself. Dams , reservoirs and rivers come in shades of warm , brown and pale blue. You can almost feel how dry it was just by looking. Christina Medved runs community outreach for the Roaring Fork Conservancy , a nonprofit that organized the workshop and worked with the Basalt Regional Library on this show.

S7: We still need to be capturing these places , both for historical reasons , but also because of what they can do with drawing out the emotions and the beauty.

S6: Medved hopes it'll help people connect with water issues that can sometimes be hard to understand , and so does Key Cut. He says making art about the river helped him develop a sense of place and grasp what that place means in a larger context.

S5: The persistence of water , I think , is is an amazing thing that allows me to think of this planet on a deeper and kind of broader scale than I have before.

S6: So now , after an extra snowy winter and rainy spring brought lots of water to the Colorado River Basin , Kika is again thinking about how it's changing and using his pencil and brush to depict the high water marks , too. I'm Kaia Williams.

S1: This story is part of an ongoing coverage of the Colorado River produced by Aspen Public Radio , distributed by KUNC and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. For our weekend preview. We'll take a closer look at a festival of Filipino punk music , as well as some new visual art books , theater and dance happenings in town this weekend. Joining me with all the details is Kpbs arts producer and editor Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , welcome.

S8: Hi , Jade. Thanks for having me.

S1: Always glad to have you. So tell me about this festival of Filipino punk music.

S8: Yeah , it's called the Classen Fest. It's at the Che Cafe on Saturday , and it's this continuation of a festival. It was started eight years ago in San Francisco , the only Filipino American punk and hardcore festival in the country. This is all ages and it actually starts pretty early in the afternoon. Tickets are just $12 presale or 15 at the door and you'll get nine bands for that , plus also a pop up artist and vendor fair and some some vegan Filipino food as well.

S1: You interviewed the organizers of this festival.

S8: They're the co organizers , Carmela. She is a longtime arts organizer and she co runs Tara's Gallery , which has hosted a bunch of underground concerts and projects in the past. And she also works with the San Diego Asian Film Festival. And Weber is a musician , and his band Obsolete Son , is actually performing in the festival.

S1: All right , great. Let's listen to that interview.

S8: So , Alison , as a festival has been around for eight years now in the Bay Area , but this is the first year it's come to San Diego.

S9: They were musicians who had bands going back into the 90s in the Bay Area , and in the mid 20 tens they decided that they wanted to highlight punk and hardcore bands from both from the Philippines and also bands from the states who have Filipino members. And they started distributing and releasing CDs and tapes and making connections. And once they felt like they had sufficient connections , they decided to throw a showcase of those bands and they called it a classic fest. And since 2014 , it's been happening pretty much every year and has been growing with more bands and more attendees each year.

S8: Can you tell us about the name ? A Clayson is a Tagalog word.

S4: So I think that for me , the Filipino identity is always going to be rooted in revolution in anti-imperialism. So I feel like it's a very Filipino thing to be able to uprise and to stand against oppressors and colonizers and really uprising as a movement too , especially in the United States. The Fil-am community continues to grow in its presence and influence and culture. So that fest is really about bringing the art , music and activism together.

S8: So Kamala punk and hardcore music that's traditionally been dominated by cis white men , at least in the mainstream.

S4: People that gravitate towards punk usually are folks that are anti-establishment or from marginalized communities , and although it has been seen as dominated by cis white communities , I think me and JJ know this where growing up in like Inland Empire , we were some of the few Filipino folks going to these shows. And so getting to connect with other Filipinos and seeing where our overlaps are and interests and also in experience I think really creates that connection to the music. And the bands that are representing a class on Fest are also speaking to Filipino causes and issues because it's really , like I said , rooted in our identity and working towards subverting against a system.

S8: So I want to ask you both a little more about punk music.

S4: It's a hard question to define punk.

S8: Julia I would like to know what a punk band or a hardcore band or a particular song is that kind of defines your own relationship with music , with the genre. And Carmelo , we can start with you. And then. JJ also.

S4: You know , I think my entry into punk music is actually first in politics. So I think I was like in fifth grade or something. But , you know , the the Bush versus Gore election really was like a huge like awakening for me. And so when I got to start looking into like , what's going on in the world at such a young age , what's going on in the country. And like this is right before 911 , I started discovering bands. And so one of the bands that really is influential to me that I might not listen to now is No effects. So they really spoke a lot about politics in that album that came out that year , which I think is pretty cool and.

S10: American I never thought about. Made me feel small. Never thought about the problems of this planet.

UU: Imperialistic runs in animal.

S4: And I was able to discover a huge world through that album. You know , they were name dropping bands like Black Flag or Dead Kennedys , and it was like my entry into this whole world. But with those bands , a lot of them are male dominated white folks. And so getting to explore that genre through the politics opened my eyes to other bands , to even like bands like X Ray Specs and The Slits , where I'm looking more for like a feminist feminist take on it. It's only till now that I've really gotten to listen to bands with like people that looked like me. And a lot of these bands I've discovered through a gloss on records and.

S8:

S9: Not really this long. It's just about feeling how feeling different than other people around you , feeling different than people at your school and not feeling like you relate so much to the majority of people around you. And I think that in the punk scene , a lot of us feel that way and we can bond over that and bond over being into , you know , like more aggressive music and not agreeing with a lot of what's in the mainstream.

S8:

S4: Um , you know , when I was a organizer with Tara's gallery , we actually played a lot of or like were a venue space for a lot of punk bands in San Diego , a lot of queer bands , a lot of like POC led bands , and especially through Fear of Noise , which is another punk fest in San Diego , we're seeing a lot more of that representation happen , but also because there's hopefully more space for it. So places like the Che Cafe or even Tower Bar like those are the venues that are helping to create opportunities for these bands to play. And you know , space is always an issue in San Diego , so we kind of have to fight for it. And it's great to see that unity happen , especially with folks of privilege being able to help support like our voices being heard.

S8: So there are nine acts performing this Saturday. So can we talk about a couple of them ? My favorite from the list is a band called Posey. JJ can we start with you ? Can you tell us a little bit about this band ? Sure.

S9: Posey is a relatively new band. Most of the members are based out of Olympia , Washington. Some of them are also based in New York City. Their sound is a bit similar to bands like Nirvana or the Melvins. I would call it Sludge Punk and the lyrics that the front person Benji writes are really interestingly structured. I believe they use a sort of literary cut up technique , and a lot of the themes are the psyche of Filipinos and Filipino history.

UU: The insurgent. My.

S9: Our at times are very fast and other times they're slow and trotting and they have a lot of energy to them.

S8: There's one more band I want to ask you about that's obsolete , son. It kind of transcends description , but it feels more subtle. And this is your band.

S9: It's my solo project. I started the project back in 2013 and it formed out of the ashes of my old band called Mother Boy , which was also , I would say , like a sludge punk band. And I wanted to be able to do performances on my own. So I use a drum machine and then I play guitar and do vocals. At times it's it's heavy verging on metal. But then there are also songs where I will change the sound and it'll be more dark ambient sounding and also employ elemental styles of industrial music and experimental noise music.

S8:

S9: So for one of the noise songs , it's called Incomprehensible Alien Abomination. And for that song , I recorded it in a warehouse and I recorded samples of me banging different tools together For one of the samples. I was hitting a ladder with a golf club , and then on the sample I added reverb and echo to that. And I also use things like nails and tire irons and then put all those together and created a rhythm using those sounds. And then on top of that I added a layer of synthesizer noise and then added my vocals on top of that.

S8: That's amazing. Thank you so , Kamala , this festival is at the Che Cafe , which is this all ages space and it's on Saturday afternoon. There'll be a Filipino food. Pop-Up And also artists and creators. Can you tell us a little bit about what we can expect for for the festival ? Yeah.

S4: Besides these nine awesome bands playing , we're going to be bringing together some local Filipino American organizations like Bayan San Diego and Malaya Movement. And then also two , we're bringing in a few local San Diego artists and folks from LA to come share their art , share their work. I think this was a really big deal for me to share San Diego with a larger community. We know that the Bay Area has a large Filipino community , but San Diego has a huge one too , in Southern California , has such a rich culture of Filipino Americanness. So I wanted to bring together a lot of different political organizations and artists to be discovered by young folks and really inspire them to get involved in the movement or make their own bands or make their own art or start curating even. So that was kind of the intention of putting together these artists was just an exploration of Filipino American identity for folks.

S8: Carmela , JJ , thank you both so much.

S4: Thank you. Yeah , thank you for having us.

S1: That was Carmela Prudential and JJ Weber of Aklan Fest , which kicks off Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at the Che Cafe. Coming up , more arts events happening this weekend. And another twist to Shakespeare.

S8: Everything you would expect from a Shakespeare comedy. But instead of being set in the 1500s or the 1600s has more of a recent kind of retro to it , a little bit more like Wandavision or I Love Lucy.

S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. You're listening to Midday Edition on Kpbs. I'm Jade Hindman and I'm talking with Kpbs arts editor and producer Julia Dixon Evans about arts and culture events happening this weekend. Julia Barrio Art Crawl is this weekend. Tell us about that event. Right.

S8: Right. So bread and salt , an art gallery space that's open late with a lot going on there , open from 5 to 8 on Saturday. And they have a bunch of opening receptions for new exhibits. Alejandro Zacarias has new work in the main gallery. He's a Tijuana artist and uses lots of sculpture and kind of scavenged materials. And also artist Anna O'Kane. She has a new exhibition. It's opening at the Athenaeum Art Center , also inside Bread and Salt. This is kind of a survey show of her work , tons of her work. And she has this huge range in what inspires her and the kind of things she creates. This is called there's Never Just One that's also opening on Saturday , and there's some other art that's already been on view for a while , but definitely don't miss it if you haven't seen it yet. In the ice gallery space , Max Lafond has this incredible site specific installation which uses all the rooms walls. Cathy Peng's exhibition objects in Mirror. That's closing this weekend at best practice. And for a little treat , there's a work by the dilatory brothers in the tiny Quint One room. This is called Midday Devil. It's a reference to the idea that there's a demon active during the hottest part of the day. Their works are always so intricate and kind of absurdist , so plan to lean in for a closer look at that one. This is all inside bread and salt Saturday from 5 to 8 and the Barrio art Crawl kicks off earlier in the afternoon along Logan Avenue , just a few blocks away. So you can check it all out.

S1: All right. Let's talk about books. Author Peter Heller has a new book out , and it's he's coming to the book Catapult in South Park. Tell me about that. Yeah.

S8: Yeah. So I have to tell you a little story here. You know how bookstores have staff recommendation tags , buy some books , a little note saying why the booksellers recommend it or what they like about it. So at the book , Catapult , the tag for this this book from 2012 by Peter Heller. It's called The Dog Stars. The owner of the book Catapult , just wrote that he envies whoever picks it up because , quote , you're about to read one of the best books of your life. Wow.

S1: So it sounds it right.

S8: And it actually has become the book , Catapults All-Time Bestseller , that book. And Peter Heller has written other bestselling books since and has a new one out called The Last Ranger. It's about a park ranger at Yellowstone National Park dealing with all the mundane tasks of being a park ranger until he stumbles upon quite a mystery. So Heller will be at the book Catapult this Saturday at 7:00. And it's free.

S1: Well , the Old Globe opened their second summer Shakespeare production. It's the Merry Wives of Windsor , and I hear it has a bit of an unusual spin. So what might that be ? Right.

S8: So this takes Shakespeare and it sets it in a 1950s suburb. There's a big city hustler. There's ladies who lunch and mistaken identities and kind of sneaky tricks , everything you would expect from a Shakespeare comedy. But instead of being set in the 1500s or the 1600s has more of a recent kind of retro to it , a little bit more like Wandavision or I Love Lucy , and this is on their outdoor festival stage , their performances every Tuesday through Sunday night at 8:00 until September 3rd.

S1: In the summer. Shakespeare productions are a bit of a tradition here in San Diego , right ? Right.

S8: I mean , the Old Globe was built for Shakespeare. It was to put on many productions of his plays during the big 1935 California Pacific Exposition that was in Balboa Park. But they've been putting on at least two Shakespeare plays for their summer festival on the outdoor stage for decades. This year marks 42 years.

S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman , and I'm talking with Kpbs arts editor and producer Julia Dixon Evans about arts and culture events happening this weekend. Project Blank has an event going on this weekend.

S8: It's at the North Park Mini Park and it's a free pre-season concert from Project Blank. They're a chamber music experimental music concert series group. And this is this is featuring a composition from local Zane Alexander performed with the help of the park's percussion instruments , like those little chimes and xylophones around the play structures. And also there's a new community choir called the San Diego New Verbal Workshop. They'll be doing some. Improvisational accompaniment of the work. This starts at dusk. So around 7 p.m. at the North Park Mini Park , you can bring your own lawn chairs or a blanket and enjoy the sunset and some unusual sounds.

S1: And the month long La Jolla Music Society Summer Fest continues.

S8: It includes performer and composer Paul Bianco. He's the new cellist for Kronos Quartet , But yeah , also a composer. And he wrote this piece called Closed Universe. It's for solo cello , piano quartet and glockenspiel. It was written in 2016 amidst what what the composer called a news addiction. He just he says he that he felt trapped reading headline after headline. And this this composition was kind of a way to create some kind of peace and solace out of that. It'll be performed by Wilco himself , along with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and more. This piece is really complex and layered. It feels more like the cinematic orchestral piece than just a quartet. But there's something about cello music that's that's always really intimate to me. Anyway. This is from the very beginning of Closed Universe by Paul Anka. And later in the concert is a Schubert piano trio again with Alisa Weilerstein and Ethan Barnard on piano. It's Sunday at 3 p.m. and if you arrive there before the concert at 2:00 , there'll be a pre-show lecture. This is at the Conrad in La Jolla and tickets are on sale online. Great.

S11: Great.

S1: There is also a free ballet performance at the Epstein Family Amphitheater at UC San Diego.

S8: So these are advanced students , but they're also going to have some performances from the principal dancers of City Ballet. They're going to do some traditional ballet , like Vivaldi's Four Seasons , but also contemporary pieces and some some jazz as well. This is Friday evening at 8 p.m. and it's free. But you do need to reserve a spot in advance. It's at the new Outdoor Amphitheater San Diego , which is right by the trolley station on campus. So it should be really easy to get there.

S1: All right. Lots of options this weekend. You can find details on these and more arts events at PBS.org. Slash Arts there. You can also sign up for Julia's weekly Kpbs arts newsletter. I've been speaking with Kpbs arts producer and editor Julia Dixon Evans.

S8: Julia , thanks. Thank you , Jade.

S1: We'd love to hear your thoughts on how art changes your perspective. Give us a call at (619) 452-0228. You can leave a message or email us at midday at pbs.org. We'd really love to share your ideas here on the show. Don't forget to watch Evening Edition tonight at five for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues. And the roundtable is tomorrow at noon. You know , before we'd go , I'd like to really thank the midday edition team. Our producers are Giuliana Domingo and Andrew Bracken with the help of Ariana Clay. Plus , a big shout out to Brooke Ruth for her work on the show. Our technical directors are Adrian Villalobos and Rebecca Chacon , Beth Accomando and Julia Dixon Evans are our arts contributors. If you ever miss a show , you can find the Midday Edition podcast wherever you listen. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Have a great weekend. Thanks for tuning in.