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What Activity! The Cultural Activities Team Report

By Bob Niemack
Posted: 08/03/2026

The CAT Team began this year under the new leadership of Jim Hendrick and Bob Niemack, thanks to Jim convincing Bob that it would be easy to do and would require little work and certainly no reports to be written.  

Many on the team stepped up to lead Villagers on wonderful cultural adventures.  

Jane Hufnagel

“Monuments” exhibit at Geffen Contemporary    

Metrorail Trip to new LACMA Galleries   

Trips to Sante Fe Dam for bird watching with the Audubon Society

Boston Court to see “Night of the Iguana”

Karen Bagnard

Art Reception for Art from The Ashes 

Escape from The Holocaust - Arline Golden

 9/10 Centering Sounds Concert: African & Latin American Rhythms by Earthseed

Schmoozendoodle goes Organic!

Village Holiday Bazaar

Wickedly Wonderful Witches’ Brew 

Lost Trees of Altadena Return Home w/ Jeff Perry

Staff Connections: Nathan’s Work in Zambia

Author Talk with Dr. Sky Lea Ross 

Art Reception - Celebrating the Future w/ Jane Brackman    

A Holocaust Story: Father & Grandmother’s Escape from Nazi Vienna feat. Helen Kraus 

Staff Connections – Rick Valladares   

Irish Shenanigans Breakfast       

Art Reception: Karla Field     

Staff Connections – Kieran Highsmith

Acts of Art for Vintage Celebration

Art Reception: Maureen Kellen-Taylor       

John Merriam

Riverside Art Museum & Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art    

Lucinda Haagenson & John Merriam

Getty Center Excursion 

     

LuCinda Haagenson

Book Talk with Dale LaCasselle  

Outing to Ballona Wetlands   

Jim Hendrick

Lunch & Where Were You When: 9/11    

Lunch & Where Were You When: Television Has Arrived

Centering Sounds Concert: A Solo Stroll Through the Blues w/ Preston Smith

Author Talk with Ben Loory

Poetry/Author Talk with Carla Rachel Sameth

Art Heists with Helane Rheingold  

How Did You Get Here? Lunch 

Bob Niemack

Part I: Behind the Scenes of Signs of Life  

Part II: Excursion to Signs of Life

TV: Behind the Scenes – The Singing Cowboys  

TV: Behind the Scenes - “Beyond Death”   

TV: Behind-the-Scenes - Garbage  

TV: Behind-the-Scenes - “Return to Iwo Jima” 

TV: Behind the Scenes – “Bad Dads”  

Pasadena Heritage Walking Tour – Playhouse District

Broadway Gamble Ramble  

The Huntingtons – From England to San Marino with Daren Higa  

Intergenerational trip to Griffith Observatory to see “Signs of Life”

TV: Behind-the-Scenes - “Shoot/Don’t Shoot”  

TV: Behind-The-Scenes - Scared Straight!”   

Gertrude Stein and the Birth of Modernism #1 presented by Nick Stein

An Evening of Karaoke

Patti LaMarr

9/3 Centering Sounds Concert: 20’s, 30’s & 40’s with Art Deco Entertainment

Introduction to Arcadia Travelers 

Outing to Pasadena Playhouse – Brigadoon 

Norma Shammas

A Noise Within: One Man, Two Guvnors  

A Noise Within: Richard III        

Jeff Gutstadt

Outing to The LA Opera - West Side Story   

LA Philharmonic Concert – Brahms & Beethoven

Opera - Magic Flute 

 

Frits Claase

Excursion to Queer Lens at The Getty 

      

Kim Santell 

Hilbert Museum in Orange

Mary Gandsey  

Gamble House Tour             

Prakash Shrivastava

Community Canvas Project – Diwali Celebration    

      

Bridget Brewster

Kintsugi Workshops 

Patrick Matthews

Jack Rutberg Fine Arts Gallery 

Opera screening – The Marriage of Figaro

     

Toni Johnson 

LA Opera: Akhnaten   

     

Donna Sider 

Artist Talk with Kate Muehlemann-Cataldo    

Rubel Castle in Glendora

Dick Myers

9/24 Centering Sounds Concert: Great American Songbook & Classic Rock

Village Staff

Community Canvas Project   

Artist Talk with Kate Muehlemann-Cataldo    

LGBTQ+ Movie screening: Celluloid Closet 

9/9 Conversations with Art: Hispanic & Latino Artists 

Out of the Ashes: A Journey of Resilience through Jazz    

Village Connections: Art Journaling at Washington Park Community House  

Pacific Opera Project: Zorro         

Centering Sounds Final Concert at Lineage