Studio ACE is proud to present the first annual Valley Arts Festival (VAF), supported by a grant from The Conrad Prebys Foundation, with promotional sponsorship by Visit Oceanside. VAF will take place in partnership with Oceanside Public Library, Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation, Muramid Art & Cultural Center (and California HQ for the UNESCO Center for Peace), and Friends of the Oceanside Public Library, and in cooperation with Mel Vernon, Captain, San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians.
Valley Arts Festival originally debuted in 2019 as “Mission District Arts Festival”, which was envisioned to be an annual celebration of the vibrant arts & culture in the Oceanside valley. Like so many others, the festival was put on hold in 2020, allowing time for reflection and reinvention. We are pleased to announce the festival is making its official re-emergence in 2021 as “Valley Arts Festival”, which will remain an annual celebration of arts and culture, now featuring different themes each year.
To mark its official debut, Valley Arts Festival is pleased to present a celebration of Oceanside and its first peoples: the Payómkawichum (People of the West). Today the seven tribes are known as the Luiseño nation. The festival aims to help support and celebrate the indigenous population that lived on the land, now known as Oceanside. VAF will help educate the community on the beauty and strength of this amazing culture. A portion of proceeds from the festival will be donated to the San Luis Rey Mission Indian Foundation for enrichment
programs.
This free family-friendly festival will feature Native American flute music with Spiritual Storm, Native American blues music with Tracy Lee Nelson, Indian Fry Bread for purchase, educational tables filled with historic cultural items, and a variety of participatory family friendly activities. These activities will include an interactive community mural sponsored by Muramid, with concept design by Linda Kallas and final execution by renowned Muramid artists, interactive basket weaving with Diania Caudell, a Luiseño member of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians and Board Member of the California Indian Basket Weavers Association (CIBA), Native American story time and crafts with Oceanside Public Library, featuring storytelling by Cathleen Chilcote Wallace, native animal sand & rock painting with Studio ACE (with an opportunity for rocks that have been painted and gifted back to the festival to reside in the Peace Garden at Muramid in the future), and more to come!
For more information please go to studioace.org/valley-arts-festival or call 760-730-5203
