The College of the Canyons Fine and Performing Arts Division is inviting community members to their 2010 ARTstART Festival.

The festival will be held at the college’s Valencia campus on May 7-8.

Including students, faculty and staff, the two-day-long festival will offer the community a glimpse inside the daily activities of the Fine and Performing Arts Division, while highlighting students’ work and providing a behind-the-scenes look at the division’s facilities.

“The division has a wealth of talent to display, from its staff to its faculty and most certainly from its students,” said Michael McCaffrey, art department faculty member at the college. “This will be the second year that the college has showcased the Fine and Performing Arts Division for the community.”

Attendees will have the opportunity to roam freely from building to building across campus, view and experience samplings from the college’s music, dance, theatre, animation, media and entertainment arts, graphic design and studio arts departments.

Part of the college’s ongoing 40th Anniversary celebration, the ARTstART festival will coincide with the college’s annual POPS! concert, featuring members of the college’s Jazz Ensemble and Lab Jazz Combo bands, the COC choir and dance departments, as well as the New Works Festival in the Black Box Theater.

The schedule of activities will also include live music, student theatre performances, modern dance presentations, gallery exhibits, interactive lectures, in-class demonstrations, movie screenings from the International Film Festival series and an open house and tour of the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons.

As a unique addition to the festival, a selection of Saugus Union School District students from Charles Helmers, North Park and Plum Canyon Elementary Schools will have their work featured in the SUSD Student Art Show running both days of the festival.

The ARTstART Festival will begin at 11 a.m. Friday May 7, and run throughout the day until approximately 9:30 p.m., before continuing from 9 a.m. to approximately 10 p.m., Saturday, May 8.

Highlights of Friday’s events will include:

Visiting artist lecture from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

Solo Theatre Show from 1 to 4 p.m.

PAC Tour from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Faculty Artist Concert from 3 to 5 p.m.

Art Contemporary Los Angeles Presentation from 3 to 4 p.m.

Highlights from Saturday’s lineup of events will include:

A photo workshop from 9 to 11 a.m.

COC student orchestra performance from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

COC painting workshop from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Graphic and Media Design department Open House from 2 to 4 p.m.

Brad Howe sculpture demo from 3 to 4 p.m.

Animation department Open House from 3 to 5 p.m.

Media and Entertainment Arts department Open House from 3 to 5 p.m.

‘Elektronica’ music concert from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

“Attending ARTstART 2010 offers a great opportunity to see a wonderful array of student and professional faculty talent while meeting with the artists and performers up-close and personal,” said Dr. Floyd Moos, dean of fine and performing arts at the college. “Whether your taste is for dance, theatre, music, visual arts, traditional art or the contemporary, the breadth and depth of the activities here at the college may well surprise.”

For more information about the 2010 ARTstART Festival or to view a full schedule of activities and event descriptions visit www.canyons.edu/artstart.