By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
Hollywood is coming to the mountain and seeking “street artists.” The Rim of the World Road Concert will be coming to the mountain in July and its sponsors are seeking additional local artists who want to perform as a part of their street show.
These artists will be performing along Highway 18 with site-specific performances and surrounding locales on the weekend of July 25-27, 2025. During this weekend-long event, artists, writers and musicians will create original artworks on the spot and produce performances that will explore cultural, health and environmental impacts that Americans are experiencing, many of which may be a result of climate and environmental change.
This weekend of what should be extremely impactful art is the brainchild of Crestline resident David Allen Burns. He and Jennifer Kane, the executive director of the San Bernardino County Arts Council, began talks with Stephen Van Dyck in 2023 to launch a new version of the Road Concerts they have already created and promoted in the Los Angeles and Hollywood areas.
The Road Concerts will promote art and music and they hope to open a new dialogue within the mountain communities along the Rim of the World Highway. They will be using many areas and facilities, including turnouts along Highway 18 between the San Bernardino city limits and the Running Springs area for these performances. They are seeking actors, painters, dancers, street performers, musicians, singers and other talented persons who are motivated to be involved in this three-day-long event of performance art.
The Rim of the World Road Concert desires to bring together art school graduates, working artists, local residents and others in an open call to all who wish to be involved, to imagine how they can interact with the environment at the sites selected.
“The Rim of the World Road Concert invites its audiences to take a break from their everyday lives, work, leisure activities and all their other usual types of movement and let themselves be drawn into unexpected encounters along the highway and nearby terrain,” said Van Dyck. It is likely the artists who participate in this Rim of the World Road Concert will encounter a surprised audience of people who thought they were just driving by but become engaged in what is unusual along the roadway. Some may have never been to an art gallery or museum but are concerned with the changing local environment and are intrigued with the performances they see.
The Road Concerts are a series of events that writer and artist Stephen Van Dyck first created in Los Angeles in 2008. Since then, in seven locations, Van Dyck’s Road Concerts series has presented creative, live art and work from more than 300 artists, performers and musicians. These Road Concerts have been activated in unexpected public spaces, one long street at a time, for the past 17 years.
Sites previously used for these Road Concerts have included Sunset Boulevard’s 22 miles, from Chinatown to Pacific Palisades; Washington Boulevard’s 27 miles, from Whittier to Venice Beach; and 23 miles along San Fernando Road from Sylmar to Lincoln Heights. Previous road concert projects can be viewed on the Road Concerts Instagram and the Rim of the World Road Concert Kickstarter video.
This Rim of the World Road Concert is supported by the San Bernardino County Museum, Cal State San Bernardino University, University of Redlands SURF program, Twin Peaks Farmers Market, Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber Of Commerce, Lake Arrowhead Brewery, Mountain History Museum, Spade & Spatula, the Rim of the World Recreation and Park District and California State Parks.
Local artists who wish to become involved may apply at https://forms.gle/nVmjFEgruPtpuuis6. For more information on previous Road Concerts, visit www.laroadconcerts.com.
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