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President's Message
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Join us in celebrating our 10th anniversary and Hispanic Heritage Month! In the early 1990s Vibiana, the artistic director of the Flamenco Arts Festival, saw a string of flamenco performances during her month-long stay in Sevilla. She was so impressed with the performances and afterwards wondered why a world-class flamenco company couldn’t appear on the stages of Santa Barbara. What Vibiana thought was an impossible dream in the 1990s, has been a dream realized year after year since the day we presented our initial production in 2000, the Nuevo Ballet Español. It was a new company at the time, organized by two young men. Today NBE is a successful and respected company in Spain, enjoying venues throughout the world. That was the beginning of a great adventure that has lasted for nine years and is now about to embark on its tenth anniversary celebrations. Many of the giants of flamenco have performed to sell-out crowds, during the annual Festival, such as Eva la Yerbabuena, Cristina Hoyos, Israel Galván and Pastora Galván, Javier Barón, Antonio Najarro, and Rafael Amargo. Some of the artists, who appeared at the Lobero with these giants, are now artists in their own right, such as Arcángel, Manuel Lombo, Edu Lozano, Sonia Miranda, and Carlos Carbonell. Along the way, we have formed permanent relationships with many Spanish flamenco companies and individuals, not the least, the Spanish Consul General of Spain in Los Angeles. We are consistently contacted by Spanish flamenco companies wishing to come to Santa Barbara and the Festival website is visited by people from around the world. None of this would have been possible without the support of local individuals, businesses, public agencies, foundations, and the unfailing support of our audiences which, for nine years, have given the Festival a warm and enthusiastic reception. We have partnered with local community organizations and schools to help make the Festival accessible to children and families who might not otherwise attend a live theater performance. The visiting artists conduct flamenco workshops, giving local flamenco artists and the general public the opportunity to work and interact with Spanish masters. Classic flamenco movies have been shown as well as live interviews with the visiting performers. It has been a roller coaster ride through the world of flamenco and, of course, there can be no better venue for the Flamenco Arts Festival than the City of Santa Barbara. Vibiana and I, and the Board of Directors, welcome you to our tenth anniversary celebrations and have full confidence that you will enjoy the stage chemistry created by the flamenco purity of Maria Juncal and will consider her production of Tercera Llamada – A Moment of Enchantment - as a more than fitting addition to the list of flamenco productions that we have presented at the Lobero Theatre. It will truly be an espectáculo!
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