Chinatown Art Festival to Spotlight New Paintings of This Historic Area By Top California Artists

    LOS ANGELES, June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A collection of new paintings of Los
 Angeles Chinatown will be on display for the first time to the public when the
 Chinatown Art Festival begins on Saturday, June 23.  This special exhibition
 of artwork, created by some of California's foremost "plein air" artists, will
 be on view at 951 North Broadway through July 22.
     All of the artists represented in this exhibition are juried members of
 the prestigious California Art Club, one of the nation's oldest and largest
 fine arts organizations.  The California Art Club is co-sponsoring this event
 with the Los Angeles Chinatown Business Council (LACBC), which recently formed
 a Business Improvement District to revitalize this multicultural region of Los
 Angeles.
     "With this event, we are inviting Southern California residents back to
 Chinatown in an effort to show them that there is much more to see and do in
 Chinatown than just eat great Chinese food," said George Yu, interim executive
 director of the LACBC.  "We hope our fun-filled summer event schedule will
 entice Angelenos to think about Chinatown as they make plans for the weekend
 or a night on the town."
     The exhibition for the Chinatown Art Festival will be open from 11 a.m. to
 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.  During the weekends of the Art Festival, a
 variety of Chinese cultural activities and entertainment are planned,
 including performances by acrobats and musicians, crafts for children,
 lectures on such topics as Feng Shui and Chinese herbal medicine, and walking
 tours of Chinatown's historic sites.
     On the opening day of the Art Festival, a volunteer troupe of Chinese
 musicians and artists -- including vocalist Yu Ka -- will perform a free
 concert, "Light Up the World with Love."  This concert, which will be held in
 the plaza adjacent to the exhibition gallery, is being staged in 10 different
 Southern California venues from June 15 to 25 in celebration of both Father's
 Day and the annual Chinese Dragon Boat Festival.
     The featured event for each Saturday evening during the Art Festival will
 be an outdoor Chinese Film Festival -- "A Tribute to Ang Lee" -- at which Ang
 Lee's classic films will be shown.  His most recent cinematic masterpiece,
 "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," will be screened on Saturday, July 21, the
 final night of the Film Festival.  The free screenings will begin at
 approximately 8 p.m. at various locations throughout Chinatown.  For specific
 film titles and screening locations, call (213) 680-0243 or visit
 www.chinatownla.com.
     The Chinatown Art Festival will conclude with a "Fashion Finale" featuring
 the Asian-inspired designs of Peter Lai.  The event will be held at the
 exhibition gallery from 5 to 8 p.m.
     For more information on the Chinatown Art Festival and all events
 happening in Chinatown, call (213) 680-0243 or visit www.chinatownla.com.
 
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SOURCE  Los Angeles Chinatown Business Council