The DVC Applied & Fine Arts division will be hosting the first annual “Arts Alive Festival” with the intent to showcase all that the department has to offer in just one day.

The inaugural event will welcome all those wishing to attend on May 10, as it aims to target the DVC community, as well as local middle and high schools to showcase options for future potential art students at DVC.

According to the DVC website, the Applied & Fine Arts Division includes the music, performing arts, art and photography departments and accordingly, will feature music concerts, drama performances and art exhibits, as promised by the promotional flyer for the festival. It is the aim of the division to come together and target a larger audience.

Back-to-back performances are planned from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., and will feature both students and faculty members. The event will culminate in a wine and cheese reception in the Performing Arts Center lobby, which will lead into either a music concert or the drama performance of “Six Degrees of Separation” in the arena theater at 8 p.m. The choice is left up to the attendee.

Owen Lee, director of the DVC Philharmonic Orchestra spoke of the music that will be present at the festival.

“In celebration of the arts at DVC, the DVC Philharmonic Orchestra with the combined choirs at DVC, the concert corral, and the chamber singers will be performing, in it’s entirety, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. the whole thing,” he said. “It’s going to be a wonderful event and “Full of Joy” is the last movement, it is based on Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,” a very, very famous and popular tune.”

The free event will include festivities that will last all day and food will be available. The festival will have outdoor entertainment, including contests with prizes, face painting for any children in attendance and costumes from the drama department on display. The main stage will be held on the Pleasant Hill campus by Parking Lot 8, near the Art Building.

Lisa Drummond, instructor and marketing director for the DVC Drama department said, “It won’t just be ‘come and see the performances.’ It’s going to be ‘come and wander and see what everything is all about it.'”

Construction is scheduled to be completed for that part of campus by the date of the festival, so the stairs will be open, and areas for people to sit and eat in shaded areas to get out of the sun will be provided, according to Drummond.

“We want to definitely reach out the community to show what we have to offer” she said. “We know we have a wonderful fine arts division here, we have lots of students that move on to great success from all the departments. We want to share that and celebrate that with the community and become more of a community voice.”

“It is our very first, our inaugural event, but our plan is that it becomes something we do every year and that we can continue to grow and prosper with it,” Drummond continued. “So that’s the goal, that’s the hope is that it becomes a yearly event here at DVC to celebrate what we have to offer and it culminates especially because we’re moving into the 65th year anniversary of DVC, so we’re trying to lead into that 65 year celebration that will start and continue on.”