Saturday, July 13, 2:00-10:00 p.m.
By Staff Writer
For the first time ever, The Venice Art Crawl and the Mar Vista Music and Art Walk have joined forces to produce one of the Westside’s most entertaining, visually impactful and sprawling one-day arts and cultural activations: THE GET AROUND. The Get Around is a one-day joint event with 6 art activation hubs along Venice Blvd. — from Venice beach to the 405 — that will feature live music, art, food and art installations.
To help the expected thousands of visitors “get around,” LADOT is providing free shuttle buses along the entire event route scheduled to pick up visitors at eighteen stops along the way, allowing guests to walk, bike, skate and access cool micro-mobility alternatives like dockless scooters, smart bikes and hoverboards. Park on the streets near the 405 exit at Venice Blvd. and catch the first shuttle stop to ride and explore art in the newly formed Venice Mar Vista Arts District.
Time and space permits only a brief survey of the numerous and entertaining activations taking place, but we’ve highlighted a few below. Unless specified, all activations are on Venice Blvd. Here we go!
Beyond Baroque. The Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center will (https://www.beyondbaroque.org) host music, readings and a book sale for the duration of the event from 2:00PM until 10:00PM. From 5:00PM until 8:00PM they will host a joint community meal and garden party with clients from a Safe Place for Youth (S.P.Y. www.safeplaceforyouth.com). S.P.Y. will also have a farm stand selling food and produce and a live music lineup with Japanese pop star Takakao Minewaka performing at 9:00PM.
The Mercado at SPARC is an outdoor marketplace with vendors, artists, and makers that will be open from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Visitors can also stop by The Durón Gallery at SPARC to see Tomboys, an exhibition featuring over 25 mixed-media artworks on gender and identity by Christina Schlesinger.
Edrok One’s Mar Vista Block Party. 100 artists and vendors, live hip hop and live mural painting on Venice from Inglewood to Grand View Blvd.
The Wasatch Live Music Stage. This official venue in Mar Vista will feature live performances all day, including Ring of Fire—a fire-spinning performances by local flow masters. The stage will also feature rock and blues from local favorites, including members from the real-life School of Rock https://locations.schoolofrock.com/venice).
King Eddy Saloon’s Beer Garden. Onsite in the parking lot at popular coffee roasters, Alana’s there will be curated brews, live music and more. There will also be the latest in bike tech curated by LABrakeless, celebrating its 10th year, and live art by popular muralist DJN3ff.
Micromobility Hub. Metro Bike Share will have games and volunteers on hand to demonstrate how to use the app and ride. LANow will demo the use of its shuttle app. Three-wheeled scooters, experimental bikes and skateboard demos by Boarding 4 Breast Cancer, (B4BC), a nonprofit devoted to early detection for teens and young adults.
Local wood burning artist Zachary Arason (https://www.instagram.com/zacharyaronson) will perform his “Pyro Painting”—amazing wall-size paintings created live.
Boogaloo Burning Man Art Car – The Dirty Beetles DJ collective and the Boogaloo art car are a popular late night destination at Coachella, Lightning in a Bottle, Lucidity and countless other West Coast festivals.
Food Truck Hub. At Venice High School — food trucks, DJs and art vendors.
Chicks in the Mix. All girl DJs, a beer garden, food and a 7 foot unicorn on Venice at Beethoven St.
Cafe y Cultura. Art and food with a Mexican twist at Buckwild Gallery.
At the site of the Venice Japanese-American Memorial Monument (VJAMM; https://venicejamm.org) a black granite obelisk at the corner of Venice and Lincoln Boulevards memorializing the gathering site of those Japanese citizens sent to WWII internment camps,
Cribabi (http://cribabi.com) a rock pop duo created by Andy Cox of Fine Young Cannibals, will perform. Headliner Yukari Fujiuncombines guitars with traditional Japanese koto, shakuhachi, and sanshin and Okinawan shamisen. Music event promoters Western Revival will cap off this venue with live performances by local favorite bands, including Karma Vulture and Mechanical Roots
The Art of Venice. Artist talk and book signing by renowned muralist Emily Winters at the site of her historic Venice mural. Besa Blue will be on hand with a photo booth for fans to have their picture taken with the artist.
Burning Man Art Cars. The Dirty Beetles DJ Collective and their Boogaloo Art Car are a popular late night destination and recognizable objet d’art at Coachella, Lightning in a Bottle, Lucidity and countless other West Coast festivals and the Venice Art Crawl has historically exhibited this and other Burning Man Art Cars. They’ll be posting up, performing and exhibiting in Lot 613 behind Pacific Resident Theatre.
The Bubble Lounge (21 and over only) A Burning Man bar and lounge featuring art installations, and local dance DJsas well as live music, all curated by Winston House (http://www.winstonhouse.com).
Inside Venice Skate Culture, hosted by Juice Magazine. From Stacy Peralta’s seminal DOGTOWN AND Z BOYS to 2015’s MADE IN VENICE, skate culture has been celebrated in Venice. Visit Juice Magazine (http://juicemagazine.com/home) and explore the history of Venice in their surfing-skateboarding video immersion tent.
The InfiniTree. This kid-friendly musical installation, photo opp, and meditation space features vibrating bass floors and tongue drum instruments, mosaics from upcycled CD’s and geometric art throughout the space.
Earthstar Music Stage Another of the official music stages of The Get Around, this stage’s family-friendly music lineup features bands including Jasmine Crowe — electropop artist, award-winning songwriter, and producer originally from the Big Island of Hawaii. With open space play area, kids’ activities, and vendors from local elementary schools.
The Veniceball Bash at First Lutheran Church– Veniceball, aka “Hoopers’ Paradise,” regularly hosts free basketball clinics and live painting battles on the Venice Boardwalk (https://veniceball.com). For The Get Around, the winner of the June art battle will unveil a new, mural-style design for the basketball court at First Lutheran Church. Veniceball’s mission is to bring holistic wellness and community support to at-risk youth through basketball clinics and arts and culture initiatives.
Paradise Project will show Paul Michael Glaser’s art. The show embraces 21st century modern art disciplines, which Glaser has spent much of his time in recent years devoted to, and through his exploration of digital formats and creative processes, the celebrated actor has developed a style uniquely his own. Abstracts, body-forms and portraits are all represented in his collections, as are the creatures and every-day objects that draw in the eye for their colors, unique digital ‘brush’ work and other worldliness.
Pacific Resident Theater. Celebrating thirty years in Venice, The Pacific Resident Theatre https://pacificresidenttheatre.com) will present scenes from a new play about a teenaged Andy Warhol, Sunny Bak’s images of Warhol and Lou D’Elia/Gino Perez pieces of Andy Warhol in exhibition.
Venice Beachland’s Art Playground: The Venice Beachland art/retail collective presents a full day of stimulation and creative Venice vibes. Venice Beachland will present music all day long, live artists, karaoke, fitness games, face painting, tarot readings, art making, plus amazing vegan food vendors. Experience our immersive retail ecosystem with two vintage bus boutiques, art cars and other hidden treasures. The closest thing to Burning Man in the heart of Venice.
The Venice Art Crawl’s Sunny Bak says, “The Get Around represents a tremendous partnership between two great civic organizations: the 5 year old Mar Vista Music and Art Walk and the 9 year-old Venice Art Crawl. Together we’ve been able to assemble a combination of art, entertainment and performance that far surpasses anything we could have achieved on our own. What a great way to inaugurate the Venice-Mar Vista Arts District.”
Lenore French of the Mar Vista Music and Art Walk concluded, “We’re so pleased to be launching the Venice-Mar Vista Arts District with our partners in the Venice Art Crawl. The combined history of creativity in Venice and Mar Vista multiplies the art power of each by a factor of ten. It represents the beginning of what promises to be a great long-term partnership to preserve and encourage past and future Westside art and culture.
