California Center for the Arts

Valentine’s Day activities for lovers at heart

Valentine’s Day is coming. Time to get your sweetheart plans together, all you lovers out there and you know who you are. Many Escondido restaurants, obviously, are putting together Valentine’s Day experiences. The fun begins from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 as the Escondido Chocolate Festival takes over Grand Avenue, downtown, Enter a world full of chocolate treats and other delectable goodies….


California Center of the Arts, Escondido ’tis always the season (for hair) (updated)

Opening this weekend at The Museum at California Center for the Arts, Escondido is “The History and the Hair Story: 400 Years Without A Comb” exhibition running from Jan. 16 to March 6, 2016. Curated by Starla Lewis (Professor of Black History at San Diego Mesa College), “The History and the Hair Story: 400 Years Without A Comb” follows hair trends from Africa, into the…


Hidden Valley Community Concert Association presents Vida Guitar Quartet

Hidden Valley Community Concert Association (HVCCA) emerges from the shadows in two weeks with a special performance by Vida Guitar Quartet at at the intimate 404-seat Center Theater California Center for the Arts, Escondido. While it may be cliche to say something or someone is a best kept secret, facts on the musical grounds suggest Hidden Valley’s hidden community concert group, while venerable, also is…


Clark’s back with another hotel scheme and other Escondido City Council tales

Two items on Wednesday’s closed session of the Escondido City Council caught my attention, both property negotiations. First was the City’s property at 2269 East Valley Pkwy., and the negotiating party the American Heritage Charter Schools. That property is now leased by one of the Escondido Community Child Development Centers (ECCDC). I was concerned that, once again, the city was evicting a needy tenant to…


TEN Tenors come home for the holidays at California Center for the Arts, Escondido

Seven, eight nine, but 10, count ’em, The Ten Tenors at the California Center for the Arts (CCAE) , 7:30 p.m., Dec. 3? Sure, why not. The more the merrier the holiday season. What’s a better way to celebrate the holiday season than with international singing sensation The TEN Tenors? “I’m excited about the TEN Tenors,” enthused CCAE executive director Jerry Van Leeuwen said when…


Melissa Etheridge provides fine time at California Center for the Arts, Escondido

For its 2014-15 season, the California Center for the Arts, Escondido featured 26 shows with 10 sellouts and a total of 285,000 visits to Escondido’s cultural hub. Revenue was up about $35,000 as a result. “We re-established our performing arts season,” — California Center for the Arts, Escondido executive director Jerry Van Leeuwen Melissa Etheridge came to town on Nov. 6, playing the only North County…


CSUSM-curated California Center for the Arts exhibit celebrates Dia de los Muertos

Re-membering our Ancestors: Discovering Ourselves, an exhibit curated by California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) Professor David Avalos, proclaims, with vivid colors and creative displays, the sense of loyalty people have to one another in life and in death. The exhibit is open now through Sunday, Nov. 22 at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. Re-membering is influenced by the Mexican holiday commonly referred to as…


Escondido schools get smART with collaborative approach to arts programs

With school arts funding slashed to the bare bone, Escondido artists and the Escondido Union School District have teamed together to bring innovative solutions to the arts education dilemma. Not only is the concept smart, but its called smART as in smART Fridays leading up to next spring’s grand smART Festival at the California Center for the Arts. “The smART collaborative, developed in the fall…


Rocking the House: Etheridge part of arts center’s plans to attract broader audience

‘The goal is to be the Balboa Park of North County.’  — Jerry Van Leeuween, Executive Director, California Center for the Arts   Melissa Etheridge comes to town on Nov. 6, playing the only North County venue large enough for such a major act, the California Center for the Arts in Escondido. The center has had a troubled financial past. However, nobody can deny it…