Arts

An organization better start moving if its staff expects to raise $75,000 by the end of the month. But that's what Interim CEO Elissa Glickman of the Glendale Arts and the Alex is determined to do. Without redevelopment funds, the future of the ownership of the Alex Theatre is in question. Glendale Arts supporters want the Alex to be transferred to the city of Glendale. Glendale Arts' “I Heart Glendale Arts” fundraising campaign began with a soft launch in mid-March. That means it has a mere six weeks to meet its lofty goal.

Federal grant money first awarded to Mark Keppel Elementary School in 2010 came to life Friday in the form of “Bugz,” a musical theater performance staged by kindergarten and first-grade students. The show saw the budding actors sporting insect costumes and acting out scenes from international folk tales about bugs. Keppel has maintained a strong tradition in the visual performing arts. It was bolstered two years ago when it received a share of a three-year, $7.5-million federal grant awarded to Glendale Unified, and was designated a visual and performing arts magnet.

Within the confines of Alberto Crane's Gracie Barra Burbank studio sits a brand new cage, as the Glendale resident and Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt touts the growing presence of mixed martial arts inside his gym and beyond. When he's not teaching classes or competing himself, Crane is also cornering a rising stable of fighters and lending his name to Alberto Crane's National Fighting Alliance Mixed Martial Arts, which will put forth its second Valley Invasion card tonight in Woodland Hills at the Warner Center Marriott.

As a sixth-grade Marshall Elementary School student, Isabella Lores set out to write an essay comparing the female prowess of the protagonist of the young-adult novel “Julie of the Wolves” with that of marathon great Joan Benoit. A decade later, the sentences themselves seem unremarkable to their author. But the rigorous editing and revision process left an impression, as did the teacher who assigned it. Gerald Sharp was nitpicky in all the right ways, Lores said, questioning her word choice and transitions, among other details.

The curtain rose on a new partnership Tuesday as the operators of the Alex Theatre announced they were teaming up with Glendale Community College in an effort to better market campus performances and generate additional revenue for the theater organization. Glendale Arts, the nonprofit that operates the Alex, has opened a ticket outlet on the college campus and will now market the school's performances on its website, which gets about 60,000 hits a month, said interim Chief Executive Elissa Glickman.

Three high school students representing each of the cities that oversee Bob Hope Airport will have their art displayed in a big way at the airfield later this year after besting 145 other entries. The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority announced the winners on Monday from each of the member city's respective school districts. They are: Iris Kim from Crescenta Valley High School in Glendale; Nalani Hernandez of Burbank High School ; and Ali Jakubczyk of Pasadena High School - all of them 12th-graders.

The Brand Art Gallery has put its own twist on “Pacific Standard Time,” the Getty Initiative that calls upon art purveyors to concentrate on artists who were active in the L.A. art scene from 1950-1980. Now at the Brand is “Purchasing Power: Jurors Make Their Mark,” an exhibition of 35 artworks from the Associates of Brand Library Purchase Award Collection, accrued between 1971-1980. The 1971 maiden event was judged by modern and contemporary art superstars like Hans Burkhardt and Guy Maccoy.

The Forest Lawn Museum retrospective exhibition of Syd Mead's half-century career as designer, illustrator and artist is composed of more than just renderings of his curious futuristic inventions. Mead shapes a utopian future made believable. His visions of aerodynamic transportation, orbital architecture, sporting robots and interplanetary society are persuasive, delivered with ingenious perspective and fastidious detail. In his book, “Sentury II,” Mead calls auto design his first love.

Over 300 pieces of students' art covered the walls from floor to ceiling at Incarnation Parish School auditorium for the opening night reception of the annual student art exhibition. On Jan. 28, 200 people including parents, students and others from the community came to see the artwork, according to Gloria Villegas in a statement. The students presented drawings, prints, and paintings which explore various mediums and techniques including engraving and collage. Portraits, life drawings, sculptures, still life and abstract compositions comprised the genres represented in the exhibition.

Yeva Musharbash, a senior at Pasadena High School, learned English by watching television. The 16-year-old moved with her family from Jordan to the United States when she was 3 years old and spoke only Armenian and Jordanian-Arabic. It's hard to say if daily immersion into the small screen had anything to do with it, but Musharbash now writes songs, performs in music videos and is seeking a second agent. “I feel like since I do love this, pursuing this as a career would not only be unreal, but it wouldn't be work,” she said on a break from performing improv sketches during a morning drama class.