OZOMATLI TO HEADLINE OZ ARTS NASHVILLE’S 2016 FAMILY DAY, THE KICKOFF OF THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER’S 2016-17 SEASON, SEPTEMBER 10
Performance by Grammy-Winning Los Angeles Band Will Anchor Day of Indoor and Outdoor Arts Activities for Young People and Families
“Passionate, diverse, fiercely independent…Ozomatli have an ace in the hole: they’re one of the best dance bands in recent memory.”
—allmusic.com
NASHVILLE, TENN. – July 19, 2016 – OZ Arts Nashville is pleased to announce that Grammy-winning Los Angeles multicultural music collective, Ozomatli, will be the centerpiece of the contemporary arts center’s third annual Family Day, an extravaganza of indoor and outdoor arts activities for young people and families, Saturday, September 10. In addition to the live music concert, Family Day will feature dozens of local artists and community organizations offering art-making activities, games, a musical instrument lab and more. The event, which kicks off OZ Arts’ 2016-17 season, will enable kids to tap into their imagination while having fun with family members and friends.
OZ Arts Nashville’s Family Day will take place 11am – 4pm. Ozomatli will perform at 1pm. Tickets, $25 for people age 13 and up (free for those 12 and under), can be purchased online at www.ozartsnashville.org. OZ Arts is located at 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle in Nashville, Tenn.
OZ Arts created Family Day to spark creativity and expression, and to allow parents and kids to engage in art-making together. Dispersed throughout the grounds of the pioneering contemporary arts center will be dozens of local artists and community organizations who will set up activity stations ranging from painting, button-making, skateboard deck-design, creative writings and more, enabling kids to tap into their imagination while having fun with family members and friends.
The Grammy-winning, TED-Talking, fiercely political and devotedly multi-cultural Ozomatli brought their “effortless mashup of musical styles” (NPR Music) to families and children with their 2012 album OzoKids. The Los Angeles Times declared it “best kids album, ever,” iTunes named it Best Children’s Album of 2012, and Time Out Chicago described it as “the best kind of party,” adding, “On this debut album for families, the legendary L.A.-based musical landmark band pulls out all the stops. Featuring effortless bilingualism (yes, your kids will learn some Spanish) and the band’s usual eclectic mix of genres, this album typifies multicultural America at its finest.” The concert at OZ will feature music from the band’s signature mix of salsa, punk, reggae, funk and hip-hop.
Ozomatli has spent two decades working diligently to spread its message of peace, communication and understanding through music, with a longstanding tradition of performing for children all over the world, from the schools of North St. Louis to the orphanages of Southeast Asia. They burst onto the L.A. stage with their first, self-titled album in June 1998, having quickly become the talk of the live music scene with legendary shows at venues such as Dragonfly, Opium Den and The Viper Room. By 1999, they were touring with Carlos Santana and soon won the Grammy for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album for their 2001 album Embrace the Chaos. Ozomatli is committed to giving voice to Latino culture and opportunity to children, fighting for workers’ rights, and promoting global unity and peace amongst people, cultures and nations. Ozomatli were named Cultural Ambassadors for the U.S. State Department in 2006, have spoken at the TED Conference about music and identity in the global age, and performed for President and First Lady Obama at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 32nd Annual Award Gala. The band comes to OZ Arts amidst a national tour on which they are also debuting material from their forthcoming album NON-STOP LA>Mexico>Jamaica, a compilation of classic Mexican hits reimagined with a reggae feel. For more information, including tour dates, please visit ozomatli.com.
Among the Nashville artists who will lead participatory activities during OZ Arts’ Family Day are Hankabee Button Co. – offering visitors a chance to design and press their own buttons, Plaza Arts – returning for the 3rd consecutive year with mini canvases & a bevy of paints, Jairo Prado, Turnip Green Creative Reuse, Nashville Origami Club & Emily Holt will return with new imaginative “make and take” projects for families, and Louisa Glenn will join for the first time, creating the design for a community mural that visitors will get to complete on Family Day.
The food trucks stationed at OZ for Family Day will include Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Crankees Pizzaria, Blue Monkey Shaved Ice, That’s My Dawg and more.
OZ Arts Nashville will announce its 2016-17 season in August.
About OZ Arts Nashville
Since opening in 2014, OZ Arts Nashville, a 501(c)(3) contemporary arts center, has changed the cultural landscape of the city. Housed in the former C.A.O. cigar warehouse owned by Nashville’s Ozgener family, OZ Arts brings world-class performances and art installations to the city, and gives ambitious local artists opportunities to work on a grand scale. The flexible 10,000 square-foot, column-free venue, nestled amidst five acres of artfully landscaped grounds, is continually reconfigured to serve artists’ imaginations, and to challenge and inspire a diverse range of curious audiences.
OZ Arts, under the artistic leadership of Lauren Snelling, has presented luminaries such as Philip Glass and Tim Fain, Tim Robbins’ The Actors’ Gang, Kyle Abraham and Abraham.In.Motion, Peter Brook’s Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, the Trisha Brown Company, Vijay Iyer, Laurie Anderson, SITI Company, Bang On A Can All-Stars and Taylor Mac. OZ Arts serves as a catalyst for local creativity through its TNT (Thursday Night Things) program, which fosters collaborations between Nashville-based artists from varying creative disciplines; and its newest series the Artists’ Lounge, which gives artists opportunities to develop work before a live audience, including fellow artists, in the venue’s intimate lounge space.
For more information, please visit http://www.ozartsnashville.org/.
OZ Arts Nashville Media Contact
Amy A. Atkinson at Amy Atkinson Communications, cell: 615.305.8118 , Twitter: www.Twitter.com/AmyAComm or email: amy@amyacommunications.com.