Last held in 2015, Artfest will return bigger than ever while supporting a good cause and replacing BGCKC’s Farm to Table(aux) annual celebration. “We are going back to our roots of celebrating children’s art,” says Zane Smith, BGCKC’s Executive Director. “The whole point of Artfest is to celebrate our children in the visual and performing arts; and refocusing on that central stage to showcase their talents and reinvest in their own programs.”

A lifelong artist himself, Smith knows how art can unlock creativity and a unique sense of self.  He is passionate about helping his Club members spark their own confidence. Club members have been working hard to create their own masterpieces where party goers can bid on their artwork in the “Young Artists’ Masterpiece Gallery.” In addition to this gallery, BGCKC’s performing group, Music Fusion, will delight the audience with a 1920’s Gatsby-inspired performance.

“This is the best of philanthropy,” says Smith.  “This is where kids, most from modest means, use their hearts and talent to reinvest not only for their selves but for others.”

While celebrating the works of Tamara de Lempicka, her bold Art Deco style is a fitting backdrop for the introduction of an all-new generation of artists. She is known for polished portraits of aristocrats, celebrities, and the wealthy. The night’s festivities will center around her famous Art Deco style.

Guests will enjoy appetizers, drinks, and refreshments during the “Stroll & Savor,” a sit-down dinner by Mossman’s Catering, silent and live auction bidding, plus a grand prize raffle. Professional artists have created larger-than-life displays, “Masterpieces on a Grand Scale.”

These installations provide the perfect backdrop where guests can take photo mementos to commemorate the night. Smith says these masterpieces are truly grand representations of de Lempicka’s distinctive Art Deco manner and can range up to 16 feet tall.

Showcasing the 1920’s glam theme, Smith wants guests to feel like they are a 1920’s Gatsby-type party.  With prisms and pearls, chandeliers, and all things draped, he says the Vista Del Lago Estate provides the most luxurious backdrop to enhance the vibes. There will be two live replicas of peacocks, one dressed completely in snow white. Guests can also enjoy champagne personally delivered by a woman dressed in a chandelier skirt with champagne flutes held by candelabras.

Smith says the night’s culmination is a labor of love with more than 200 volunteers from artists to construction workers to valet parking attendants to entertainers. This night will help fund so many amazing programs and experiences for Club members. Smith says these experiences can help shape the rest of their lives.

According to BGCKC’s promotional material, their vision is to “provide a worldclass Club Experience that assures success is within reach of every young person who walks through our doors, with all members on track to graduate from high school with a plan for their future, demonstrating good character and citizenship, and living a healthy lifestyle.”

BGCKC’s trained, caring Youth Development Professional staff and volunteers serve the communities in Arvin, Bakersfield, Frazier Park, Gorman, Lamont, Kernville, McFarland, Lake Isabella, Lebec, and Tehachapi with three traditional and 67 school-based Club sites. Their nutrition program provides over 2,500 meals daily to children in need.

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ARTFEST

When: Friday, October 11  from 6 -10 p.m.

Where: Vista Del Lago Estate,  15329 South H Street, Bakersfield More info: www.bgckc.org/artfest.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County (BGCKC) is excited to reintroduce its signature fundraising event, Artfest, brimming with the glitz and glamour of the roaring twenties. Under the theme “A Masterpiece in the Making,” this Gatsby-inspired celebration will feature artwork created by the Club’s children and honor the Art-Deco style of Polish, artist Tamara de Lempicka.