YUCCA VALLEY, CA — The Hi-Desert Cultural Center’s new Yucca Valley Visual & Performing Arts Center (YVArts) will present a panel discussion on the ideas and artists of its second large and critically acclaimed exhibition, DESERT ICONS.  The event will take place on Sunday, September 30th at 4 pm with the doors opening for a reception and cocktail party at 3:30 pm.  The exhibition centers around how artists reflect upon their experience in the desert, their observation of its beauty and influence.  Ten renowned and esteemed artists in the exhibition will speak to the ideas surrounding the show. 

YVArts Executive Curator, Michael McCall, will moderate the panel.  In DESERT ICONS, McCall challenged artists in the greater Joshua Tree area to present images that reflected the desert and their experience of living and producing in the Hi-Desert.

The artists on the panel for the event will be painters Snake Jagger, David Bottoms, Maryrose Crook, and Barbara Spiller; photographers Timothy Hearsum, Bill Leigh Brewer, and Sant Khalsa; and multi-media artists John Henson, Cat Celebrezze, and Wendy Gadzuk.

Tickets to this special panel are free for members and only $15 for non-members.  The new center is located at 58325 CA-62 in Yucca Valley, CA 92284.  For more information on the new Yucca Valley Visual & Performing Arts Center, visit YVArts.org or send an email to info@yvarts.org to learn how to get involved or to become a founding member or donor.

The Yucca Valley Visual & Performing Arts Center is a program and annex of Hi-Desert Cultural Center.  Additional information on the Hi-Desert Cultural Center may be found on the Cultural Center’s main website, HiDesertCulturalCenter.org or by calling 760.366.3777.  The Hi-Desert Cultural Center is a GuideStar “Gold Status” non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that serves as the arts agency for the Joshua Tree National Park region.

ABOUT HI-DESERT CULTURAL CENTER

With its multi-venue performing and visual arts centers located in Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley, California, the Hi-Desert Cultural Center (HDCC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation (Federal Tax ID# 23-7425816) that has been serving as the regional performing and visual arts organization and agency for the gateway communities of Joshua Tree National Park for more than 50 years.  The Cultural Center owns and operates its own performance venues and facilities and produces award-winning community and professional live theater, concerts, art exhibits and galleries, festivals, the Joshua Tree Philharmonic symphony orchestra, a master chorus, an artist residency for veterans, an extensive educational arts and technology academy program for youth and adults, and more.  The Cultural Center is the largest and oldest non-profit arts organization in the region with several million dollars in assets, employing over 30 full-time and part-time employees, and with an annual budget exceeding half-a-million dollars.  Having achieved GuideStar Gold status and recognized as an organization of artistic excellence by the National Endowment for the Arts, it instructs over 700 adults and youth weekly and operates a significant financial aid and scholarship program so that no children are turned away from programs due to their socioeconomic situation.  Learn more at: www.hidesertculturalcenter.org