The Miracle Mile Players are proud to present the Third Annual TarFest, a festival of film, music and art.  This two-day arts festival will be held on Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22, 2005 at the La Brea Tar Pits, the Craft & Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) and Subud House, all located on the Miracle Mile.

ART: TarFest Art 2005 opens at CAFAM on Friday, October 21 at 7pm with 'Crafting the Los Angeles Experience'' a juried art exhibition showcasing L.A.'s emerging artists and their interpretations of life in the City of Angels.  The works span all artistic mediums including collage, photography, installation, sculpture, digital art, ceramics and paintings.

A collaboration of different art pieces

Jurors include local art critic Peter Frank; Laurie Frank, owner of Laurie Frank Pictures; Leora Lutz, owner of Bamboo Lane/Revisited Gallery; Kathy Gallegos, owner of Avenue 50 Studios; Maryna Hrushetska, Executive Director of CAFAM; and Wesley Jessup, Executive Director of the Pasadena Museum of California Art.

A specatcular graffiti piece

MUSIC: Saturday, October 22 at 1pm, TarFest continues at the La Brea Tar Pits with a picnic in the park, featuring a live musical showcase starting at 1pm.  Local rock, R&B, reggae, chamber, hip-hop, pop and experimental musicians will grace the stage while unique neighborhood eateries serve delicious food as well as hard and soft drinks.

FILM: At nightfall, TarFest Film 2005 will screen 10-12 remarkable short films selected by the Miracle Mile Players from submissions from around the world.  A theater-sized outdoor screen and projector is erected at the La Brea Tar Pits for festival-goers to be entertained by documentary, comedy, drama and art/experimental shorts under the stars. 

A reception for TarFest Film will be held from 10pm til 1am at Subud House, where there will be an additional exhibition of art along with cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, a live DJ.

'We wanted to tap the remarkable talent that spans all genres in this culturally vibrant city of ours, and unite it in the spirit of collaboration' says TarFest Executive Director James Panozzo.  'While giving the community an opportunity to come together in this town of personal automobiles that can be so isolating. We are also giving the artists a chance to come together and inspire one another's creative works.'

Additonally, TarFest 2005 is proud to be a Community Partner of The Los Angeles Conservancy's 'Curating Wilshire Boulevard,' a month-long event celebrating Wilshire Boulevard's role as the main cultural artery of Los Angeles. 

Enthusiastic audience members cheer on the guitarist

Recognition and support from the California Community Foundation, the Mid City West Community Council, the Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce, Cultural Affairs Department of Los Angeles and local businesses have assured the steady growth of this important community festival bringing artists and citizens together in a unique outdoor setting.  

The crowd enjoying the beautiful outdoors

About the Miracle Mile Players
The Miracle Mile Players, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing emerging artists an opportunity to perform and exhibit their creations for the community of Los Angeles with the support of local businesses and citizens.  They annually produce TarFest, a multimedia arts festival in the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles.  www.tarfest.com.

About CAFAM
The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) is a Los Angeles nonprofit cultural arts organization dedicated to the public presentation and preservation of folk arts and contemporary craft.  Founded in 1965, originally as 'The Egg and The Eye' by the late Edith Wyle, who passionately promoted traditional artisans and the virtue of handmade art, the Museum opened in 1973. The Museum works to preserve and strengthen the folk culture of our community based on its belief that the quality of urban life is directly related to the vitality and diversity of viewpoints and traditions. 
www.cafam.org

About Subud House
Subud House is an international collection of spaces open to local communities to foster local arts and culture.

About La Brea Tar Pits
The Rancho La Brea Tar Pits are one of the world's most famous fossil localities, recognized for having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age plants and animals in the world. Visitors can learn about Los Angeles as it was between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, when animals such as saber-toothed cats and mammoths roamed the Los Angeles Basin. Through windows at the on-site Page Museum Laboratory, visitors can watch bones being cleaned and repaired. Outside the Museum, in Hancock Park, life-sized replicas of several extinct mammals are featured.  www.tarpits.org