About the VisionLA Fest
As ground zero of the automotive economy, Los Angeles has a unique contribution to make in devising better ways to live, and VisionLA Fest invites the L.A. arts community to get involved in this vitally important project. By engaging the international dialogue on climate change, imagining creative responses and building momentum for change, artists and storytellers have a crucial role to play in shaping a better future.
Our L.A.-based Festival has been timed to coincide with the U.N.’s 21st “Conference of the Parties” on Climate Change (COP 21) in Paris, and the concurrent Art COP21, a Paris-wide arts festival expressing support for a strong international climate treaty and positive, sustainable change.
VisionLA Fest will collect submitted work together under the Festival umbrella and publicize widely to the general public via our website/app, social media and traditional media. Events and projects submitted to the Festival must take place between Nov 30 – Dec 10, 2015. The work may range from installations and performances interacting with the public space to formal gallery shows; from theater and dance pieces to concerts, readings, films, street art, pop-up art– whatever the L.A. arts community dreams up. Projects may be created especially for the festival or may be aggregated into the festival from existing or planned shows that speak to the themes of climate action and social transformation. The Festival and key partner 350 SoCal Climate Action will prepare educational and outreach materials to be presented at participating shows to grow public awareness and enthusiasm for a strong and timely response to global warming.
It’s time for the L.A. arts community to join in the international cultural conversation on the climate. What do our local artists have to say about this problem? Together we can transform the slow-motion crisis of climate change into an inspiring call to action, and a remarkable opportunity for positive change.
Festival Team
Cheryl Slean (Co-Executive Producer) is a writer, filmmaker, producer and educator exploring the intersection of the arts, sustainability and contemplative practice. Her films have won numerous awards at festivals worldwide, been anthologized and distributed on television and online. Her theater production history in LA goes back 25 years and includes dozens of award-winning shows as writer, director, producer, as well as extensive experience in non-profit arts management. Recent theater work includes two site-specific commissions from Seattle University, and in L.A., site specific performance events in Koreatown and at the L.A. River. She recently co-founded L.A. EcoDharma, an invitation to engage L.A.’s contemplative communities in wise action on environmental issues, and serves as Arts Chair of SoCal 350 Climate Action.
Guy Zimmerman (Co-Executive Producer). An award-winning writer, director and producer, Zimmerman has served as artistic director of Padua Playwrights since 2001, where he has produced over forty productions of new work. He is currently completing a doctoral degree in Theater and Dramatic Arts in the joint UC Irvine/UC San Diego Phd program, and in 2011 received a graduate certificate in Urban Sustainability at Antioch University. His articles and essays about film, theater, art, science and politics have been published recently in the July 2015 edition of Shakespeare Bulletin, the critical anthology, Architecture in the Anthropocene, Theater Forum, LA Weekly, LA Theater Magazine, the LA Citizen, Cyrano’s Journal, and the arts and culture website Times Quotidian. Zimmerman has also edited an eight-volume anthology series for Padua Press, distributed nationally by TCG.
- Alex Amorelli
Marketing Director/Programming - Omar Holguin
Visual Art & Literary Curation - Cynthia Hubach
Programming/Venues - Terry Krueger
Volunteer Coordinator - Darrell Larson
Literary Curator - Lilli Muller
Co-Curator, “Art Makes Change” – VisionLA ’15 Signature Art Exhibit - Scott Saunders
Programming/Venues - Jane Sullivan
Curator & Producer, VisionLA ’15 Film Series - Dale Youngman
Co-Curator, “Art Makes Change” – VisionLA ’15 Art Exhibit - Justin Yoffe
Producer, “Envision” AEP/VisionLA Fest Closing Celebration
Board of Advisors
- Julie Adler
Artist Advisor - Jessica Aldridge, Exec. Dir.
Burbank Green Alliance - Melissa “Zippy” Downing
Public Art Advisor - Jack Eidt
Publisher, WilderUtopia.com
Co-Founder, SoCal 350 Climate Action - Omar Holguin, Founder & Director
La Mancha Gallery - Cynthia Hubach, Founder
Frogtown Community Garden - Tim Keating, President
LADAD Space - Hon. Paul Koretz, Council Member
Los Angeles City Council District 5 - Pamela Marcello
District Representative
Cong. Adam Schiff, 28th Dist. - Anna Marie Piersimoni
Digital Media Prod. & Marketing - Naomi Pitcairn
Photographer, activist - Rita Valencia
Writer, Designer - Geoffry White
Psychologist, activist, artist - Miranda Wright
Sustanablepractice.org
Executive Director
L.A. Performance Practice - Diana Wyenn
Director, Arts Advocate - Aura Vasquez
Environmental Advocate
VP Wilshire Ctr Neigborhood Council - Sabina Virgo
Founding member
MLK Coalition, SoCal 350 Climate Action - Justin Yoffe
Executive Director
Arts Earth Partnership