More than 2,000 middle and high school students recently gathered at the Santa Barbara Bowl for Kids At The Bowl.
This year's concert featured the East L.A. band Las Cafeteras, sharing the traditions of Día de los Muertos, also known as the Day of the Dead.
"It was really pretty. I was not expecting this," said eighth grader Destiny Vasquez. "I was honestly expecting something like a Fiesta (traditional music) kind of vibe. The voices were beautiful. I've never been to something like this."
Vasquez was among the students from 21 Santa Barbara County schools taking part in the event.
"We want the Bowl to be a community venue, and a place where everyone feels welcome," said Lyndsay Cooke, Outreach Program Manager for the Santa Barbara Bowl. "For a lot of kids, it's their first time here, seeing a live performance."
"The events always have an educational component, including a study guide that's given to teachers to help prepare the students for the performance," Cooke added. "This particular performance is focused on storytelling and inspired by the celebration of Day of the Dead."
The show by Las Cafeteras is interactive, and an effort to get students out of their seats with dancing, singing, and, most importantly, thinking.
Rick Boller, CEO of the Santa Barbara Bowl, stated that the event is part of the venue's foundation outreach program, in conjunction with the nonprofit organization Children’s Creative Project.
According to Boller, a portion of each ticket sold for a bowl concert is donated to the foundation, which co-sponsors the annual event.
"The Bowl Foundation itself allocates the equivalent of a dollar per paid ticket to the programs each and every year," said Boller. "In addition, we fundraise and go to individuals as well as foundations to support these programs."
The Día de los Muertos event is one of the year's biggest for the Children’s Creative Project. They bring arts and cultural programs to students at 90 schools in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.
"Most of our programs are in-school or after-school programming," explained Kai Tepper, the organization's executive director. "We have our artist-in-residency program, we contract professional teaching artists to go into the classroom. The other core program is our touring artist program (which) brings performances to schools."
The project also co-sponsors the Kids At The Bowl event. It's cultural education, but it's also packaged into fun.
"I feel like it was really about the importance of the celebration of different cultures," said eighth grader Morgan Craig.
"Walking up to the Bowl, I was with a group of about ten kids," he said. "For five of the ten, it was their first time at the Bowl, and I'm glad we were able to give them this experience," said Santa Barbara Junior High School Principal Dan Dupont.
Evany Contreras, a student at the school, said the show was more fun and educational than she expected.
"It was really entertaining, and really different. When we're in school, it's very calm. This was more interactive."
Was it more exciting than being in class?
"One hundred percent," she said with a laugh.
