Announcing Artist-in-Residence Carmina Escobar’s Feast of Beams, Keepers of Light
Posted on 6/27/2019

SANTA CRUZ, CA—Feast of Beams, Keepers of Light is a day of performances and processions guided by vocalist and composer Carmina Escobar, Indexical’s Summer/Fall 2019 Artist-in-Residence. The event will take place Saturday, August 10, from 2:00 - 8:30pm, in a series of processionals traveling down West Cliff Drive to converge at Lighthouse Point (Santa Cruz Surf Museum). Musicians, dancers, artists, surfers, and bicyclists will perform and lead workshops throughout the day.

Escobar’s vision is to perform together with artists and community members that represent a microcosm of Santa Cruz, bringing individuals together in a convergence of land, air, and sea. Indexical and Escobar have partnered with local organizations including the Bike Church, Bike Santa Cruz County, and volunteers from Brown Girl Surf to realize this vision. At sunset, everyone will gather at the Lighthouse to perform a new work composed by Escobar that includes all of the day’s participants.

The title Feast of Beams, Keepers of Light refers to Escobar’s fascination with the lighthouse and all it symbolizes. Escobar states: “At the heart of the headland a pole irradiates invisible beacons that treads the path to each other to experience the thresholds of our complex human relationships.” The lighthouse is a metaphor of the light within each person and symbolizes the relationship of people with the land.

Curators Laura Steenberge and Madison Heying explain how Escobar creates “large-scale, kaleidoscopic works that bring together diverse and seemingly autonomous performers, artists, and local organizations in delightful and unexpected ways, activating public space and creating a dynamic vision of community.”

Feast of Beams, Keepers of Light will feature the work of local and visiting artists including Brenda Hutchinson (SF), Josh Gerowitz (LA), Jessica Hemingway (LA), Madison Heying (SCZ), Laura Steenberge (SCZ), Gabriel Saloman (SCZ), and KCM Walker (SCZ).

Audiences are invited as listeners throughout the day, and as participants for drop-in sound and fabric workshops. A full schedule of events and locations will be announced in July.

Indexical is seeking interested surfers, bicyclists, vocalists and dancers of all levels to get involved as performers. To participate, please visit bit.ly/feastofbeams and sign up.

Feast of Beams, Keepers of Light is made possible with support from the City of Santa Cruz Arts Commission and an anonymous donor.