By DANIELLE SMITH
Special to The Pinnacle
The San Benito County Arts Council is gearing up for its
first-ever major fund-raising event, an evening of food and music
that will support new arts programs and advocacy in the
community.
By DANIELLE SMITH
Special to The Pinnacle
The San Benito County Arts Council is gearing up for its first-ever major fund-raising event, an evening of food and music that will support new arts programs and advocacy in the community.
“An Evening of Jazz: a Prologue for the Arts” is the Arts Council’s first official event since its inception a year and a half ago. The Council hopes the dinner and concert at San Juan Oaks Golf Club will raise roughly $15,000 for arts awareness and arts education programming throughout the community.
The event features the Kyle Eastwood Band, a jazz group led by none other than the son of Monterey Bay icon Clint Eastwood. The band has played well-received gigs across the United States and is extremely popular in Europe and Asia.
“You see bigger crowds, and younger crowds in some of these other countries,” Eastwood said. “I think they have a special appreciation for jazz.”
Event organizers are confident that local patrons will appreciate Eastwood’s music as well, and expect that up to 300 people will attend the kick -off fundraiser.
“This is really kind of a first for this community,” said Sharlene Van Rooy, executive director of the arts council. “And his [Eastwood’s] music is absolutely superb. It’s a very exciting event.”
Eastwood, who grew up on the Central Coast, said he was first exposed to music at a very young age through his parents’ involvement in the arts.
“My dad has always really loved music, and it was always around the house,” he said. “And I was lucky enough to go to the Monterey Jazz Festival many times when I was a kid and see some wonderful performances.”
Originally, Eastwood entered his freshman year of college at the University of Southern California pursuing a film major, but felt compelled toward a music career.
“I just wanted to take a year to perform and see what would happen,” he said. “But it became a lot longer than a year.”
To date, Eastwood has released three albums: “From There To Here,” “Paris Blue” and most recently “Now.” He has also worked with his father and contributed music to the films “Mystic River,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima.”
“I always have a good time working with my dad,” he said. “He usually trusts me and gives me a lot of freedom. Other times he knows exactly how he wants things. But we work really well together.”
Currently Eastwood lives in France when he’s not touring, but says he has learned to adapt to the frenzied life of a full-time musician.
“I still enjoy traveling, I don’t think you could really do this if you didn’t like to travel,” he said.
Eastwood’s San Juan Oaks performance on June 15 is to be the first of many new projects for the Arts Council.
“One of the first things we want to do is put together a calendar of events for all of the arts activities going on in the community,” Van Rooy said. “So you can see what’s happening with local music, painting, all of that, all in one place.”
The council is also partnering with the Hollister Downtown Association to create two new murals for the heart of the community, and to produce three other concerts during the summer.
“The arts are an important part of a well-rounded life,” Van Rooy said. “Whether it’s painting, pottery, quilting or all of that rolled into one, we want everyone in our community to be able to enjoy that.”
“An Evening of Jazz: A Prologue for the Arts” will be held Friday, June 15 at 7 p.m. at San Juan Oaks Golf Club. General Admission tickets are $45 each and available at available online at www.sanjuanoaks.com or by calling 636-6118.
