Pedaling art in Santa Monica

There’s art, there’s entertainment, there’s exercise, there’s environmentalism. And sometimes they all come together in one magical day that just happens to involve bicycle bells, flamenco dancing and, yes, food trucks.

That day is Sunday. The place is Santa Monica. And the ride of choice is (you guessed it) the bicycle.

The Santa Monica Museum of Art rolls out “Cause for Creativity: Tour da Arts, Vol. 3,” uniting cycling and art communities for an afternoon of fun that won’t leave a big carbon footprint. Visual art, spoken word, live music and dance are all in the offing during a scenic bicycle tour of the city.

Bikers will meet at the museum at high noon for check-in and a Cycling Mini-fest, where event partners will provide services, education and entertainment. Attendees can tune up their bikes with Bikerowave, get current on bike advocacy with groups like the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and check out the hottest in bike riding fashion (it’s not all spandex). It’s also a good time to check out the Museum’s exhibitions, or add a little “bling” to your bike at the Spoke Card Art Workshop ($5 for nonmembers.)

Every cyclist will be given a free bicycle bell for the ride, and free bike bags will be handed out to the first 150 people who show up.

The tour itself embarks at 2:30 p.m., and heads to The Broad Stage for music and a world dance performance from Global Motion and Synapse Contemporary Dance Ensemble of Santa Monica College. The ensemble is an all-student dance group, choreographed by faculty, which has performed in venues across the city, country and world. It will present five contemporary global dance works, including flamenco dancing and a Polynesian dance to the world music hit “Tutuki.”

Next stop is Santa Monica City Hall, where cyclists join a free public performance of “Jazz on the Lawn” with the Electones, sponsored by L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky as part of the county Arts Commission’s free concert series. And since riders are already there on pollution-free pedal power, they can show their depth of commitment to the environment by grabbing a free reusable shopping bag, courtesy of the Santa Monica Office of Sustainability and the Environment’s “Bring Your Bag” initiative.

At 6 p.m. the caravan returns to the museum for a sonorous and collaborative finale with the “Bicycle Bell Ensemble.” Riders join professional musicians, chiming in time to create a bike bell orchestra (practice sessions are earlier at the Mini-fest).

The total distance of the ride is about 7 miles. Healthy snacks and drinks donated by a variety of vendors will be provided at each stop. For something more substantial, mobile food vendors Mandolin Grille, L.A. Snowie, and Dosa Truck will be stationed at the museum to sell their gourmet concoctions.

The event, the third of its kind, is the latest collaboration between Santa Monica Museum of Art and Cyclists Inciting Change thru Live Exchange (CICLE), which manages ride logistics to ensure the safety of the group. Last year’s “Tour da Arts” attracted about 400 riders. Elizabeth Pezza, the museum’s assistant director of communications, says that she expects even more this time around.

“It’s one of the largest organized rides on the Westside, and it’s the only one I know of that has organized events at each stop,” Pezza said.

Asuka Hisa, the event organizer and the museum’s director of education, first conceived of bringing people together in this way four years ago, when she was “feeling the cycling vibe in the city of L.A.”  The event became part of the museum’s “Cause for Creativity” program, which aims to raise social awareness through engagement with the arts. Hisa relied on previous work experience in planning the event.

“I drew on my experience being an arts commissioner with the City of Santa Monica,” she said. “This was a great way to broaden the audience and engage the residents in the rich cultural resources of the city. It’s been so beneficial for everybody.”

The museum also got the public involved in creating signature graphics for the event, requesting submissions from kids for a “Bike Critter Art Contest” in July. Word of the contest spread quickly on Facebook and Twitter, and hundreds of submissions came from as far away as China and South America. A jury of artists made the final call, choosing a mouse-like creature by 8-year-old Coco Moon Chilcote of Philo, CA.

And the creativity isn’t limited to the artists. Some of the participating cyclists are expected to arrive in costume atop wacky custom rides.

The tour takes place this Sunday, August 21. Online registration is highly recommended if you want to join in. Directions to the museum and further details about the event (there are some basic safety requirements) can be found on its website. And if you want to see what last year’s ride was like, check out this video.

Posted 8/18/11