We need a performance hall in the valley !…read more It provides joy and excitement for the performing arts lovers Martha Graham said: Art is here to help us live Profound and oh so true

This theatre sits adjacent to the Great Hall of the Valley Performing Arts Center on the CSUN…read morecampus. Productions here are created by the Department of Theatre and they put on some very high quality shows! I've seen musicals, comedies, and dramas here - there are about four shows per year happening in this space (not including special events like a musical theatre workshop final performance). The theatre is a black box space and is reconfigurable. At the time of this review it was set up as a small proscenium-style theatre with audience seating on just one side but I've also seen it used as a thrust space - with audience seating on three sides. Once I saw a show there where the seating was modified to be "in the round." Since September of 2013 shows in the space have included Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Seagull, Servant of Two Masters, Electricidad, Bat Boy: The Musical, Learned Ladies, and two Harold Pinter one-acts. Seating is provided for roughly 130 guests and this is a new, state-of-the-art space that is exciting to visit. I'd highly recommend a night out at the theatre here - tickets are about $20 or less for all Department of Theatre shows. Students, staff, and faculty get discounts!

If you need to rent any type of equipment for recording music, this is the place to go! I help…read moreorganize live shows around the LA area and after speaking with several other places in the Valley and Hollywood, The Hook Studios was able to offer me the most affordable service. I rented two high-quality microphones for the price that others were offering for one microphone! The owner Mike, also threw in two mic stands at no charge. Mike is friendly and really knows his stuff! He has a wide variety of microphones and is very knowledgeable about recording and the music industry. He has worked with artists like the Foo Fighters, Gavin DeGraw (when you walk into his office, you'll see the album plaques on the walls!), and tons of indie artists too. The first time I rented equipment from him, I got to use mic stands that had just been used be Feist while she was recording her new album! He also makes really cool custom mic filters and does some CD manufacturing, I believe. Check out his website for more info.

I am so grateful I came across Mike's website in my research to rent a top notch quality microphone…read moreto record my new single. Mike is indeed very knowledgeable, professional and friendly. He set up about 7 mics for me to try out and figure out witch one would be the best fit for my project and voice. We spent 2 hours at his office, at no charge and he allowed me to record my voice with each microphone in order to find out which one I liked best!!! I don't think anyone can beat Mike's prices also. He rents his gear for half the price others will ever offer you. Another cool thing that I found very helpful was the custom pop filter that he rented alongside with the mic. I always hated those classic big mic-pop filters that you would have to stick your nose into the fabric to get the softer, sweeter sound. He's pop filters are just perfect. I wish I knew about this a long time ago!!! When I returned the mic and the pop filter, I told Mike how helpful his pop filter was and he offered it to me as a gift. He also offered me a free day rent for the mic. Who does that?? Bottom line, if you need a great quality gear to rent for a really good price, this is the place to go! I will be definitely doing business with HOOK STUDIOS in the future!

HARD PASS!!! The New Media Film Festival should be called the "Festival of Trailers."…read more Jess.R's review is 100% accurate! I want to start by saying I WON Best Pilot at this festival, and I'm leaving a 1-star review! I have removed their laurel from my website and any mentionings of this festival on my social media. You're going to be paying upwards of $86 to submit to a "festival" only to showcase your TRAILER! After I was accepted, I was told that the NMFF will only be showcasing trailers for the pilot category. Once I arrived at the festival, I quickly realized that 98% of the "nominees" were also forced to showcase their trailers, which makes no sense because all of our trailers are already available for public viewing on YouTube or Vimeo. My 1-minute trailer was "projected" from someone's laptop instead of the DCP of my 26-minute pilot. The whole point of film festival is to showcase your work in its entirety! There aren't $45,000 worth of prizes! The only prizes are other nominee's "artwork" that isn't even meant to be printed on foam core. One person literally won the "festival's" hideous schedule that was printed on foam core! The "press" you'll receive is only from completely unknown publications. The "photographer" on the "red carpet" clearly wasn't a professional photographer and didn't understand proper composition when taking photos. All in all, I was able to laugh at the absurdity of the poor quality of this "festival" with some lovely filmmakers. I will NEVER submit to this "festival" ever again. I would even dare to call this festival a SCAM!

I would also like to warn other filmmakers against submitting to this festival. I attended the 2024…read moreNMFF and found the entire experience unpleasant. First off, some transparency, for this year's festival, it was a 2 day festival. The first day was entirely digital (presenting accepted submissions online for ticket buyers to watch), and the second day was in person (movie theater viewing of another batch of submissions that lasted roughly an hour to an hour and a half of actual content to watch. If you take into account the 32 different categories they accept, and the very little time that the festival actually has to present those accepted submissions, you get a clear idea of what this festival is after. Here's a list of all the categories you can submit to (as of this post): ANIMATION any length, AR, AI, ER, 5D, XR, UHD, HDR, ART, Children, DIGITAL COMICS any length, DOCUMENTARY any length, DRONE, FAITH and FAMILY, FEATURE LENGTH - Media over 30 minutes, GAMES/ Gaming, METAVERSE, MIXED REALITY, MOBILE/TABLET any length, Music Only - NO VIDEOS, MUSIC VIDEO any length, NEW MEDIA any length, NFT, Photographs Only - NO VIDEOS, PILOT any length,  PITCHING, PODCAST, SCRIPTS, Script Feedback - add on to Scripts category only, SHORTS any length, SR - SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE any length, STEAM-Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math any length, STUDENT any length, TRAILER under 3 minutes, TELEVISION, VIRTUAL REALITY & 360, WEB SERIES any length.) It doesn't take a brain surgeon to piece together that a festival casting such a wide and unspecific net is more focused on taking your submission fee than by offering anything in return. The festival itself was incredibly disappointing. During the screening itself, which was at LOOK Cinemas in Glendale (a fine chain of theaters), the films shown were 90 percent trailers, which came as a shock to every festival attendee I spoke to. There was no direction or focus in the programming, or in the curation/order of the content, or in the event as a whole. After a "technical malfunction" halfway through the screening, we as the audience became witness to the Laptop Desktop screen that was playing the films. No DCP playlist (which I'm 100% sure the theater would've provided a technician for), and not even a mixed or mastered level of volume across the films (resulting in some film trailers being incredibly quite and some incredibly loud, which then resulted in shouts from the audience to turn the volume down). The films were being cued up, double clicked, and shown from a folder on a PC, which also meant that the larger trailer files (like mine and many others) BUFFERED the ENTIRE way through, resulting in skipping/lagging images and unsyncd audio! You have only to ask yourself, if the festival director cares this little about the quality of even presenting the work, then clearly she cares so little about the quality of the work itself or the quality of the festival. I was legitimately dumbfounded after my feeling of utter insult faded away. Oh also, someone messed up and clearly didn't QC any of this, because 1 of the film trailers was in an unsupported file format and so couldn't be played on the laptop. And another, which was programmed, wasn't even there at all to be played! A fact we as the audience and the festival director came to realize in real time as we watched her fumble through folders on her laptop to try and locate the file (resulting in shouts from the audience "try DRIVE E, no down, DOWN, TO THE LEFT, DRIVE E, LOCAL DRIVE E, TRY THAT OTHER FOLDER". The file was never located. I had not drank enough wine for any of this. Also the "Q&A" which she "moderated" was as tacky as everything else. Really hard hitting, thoughtless, insightful questions like "what was your inspiration when starting this project?", "what's a one word piece of advice you'd give to another person starting their project?". These questions were written down on a piece of paper, but clearly she didn't count how many questions she'd need because when she ran out of pieces of paper, she started from the top again and started the questions all over again! "what's a one word piece of advice you'd give to another person starting their project?". I could literally go on, but now I'm tired and should be working. The level of disrespect for the craft of filmmaking and creativity was personally insulting, and the unprofessional quality and rudeness (in basically all email exchanges, and frankly in some of the director's Q&A banter) as well as the shoddiness on display during festival, leads me to feel personally like I was taken advantage of as a submitter. There's clearly no other conclusion one can make than that the New Media Film Festival is a scam, meant tot take your money and run and give nothing back.

I'm going to start by saying, I wasn't expecting much, I only bought a ticket to The Nutcracker to…read moresee the special guest ballerina they brought in for one weekend who danced the Sugar Plum Fairy. Boy is as I surprised! What a great performance by everyone in the Festival Ballet Company! The costumes, the set, the lighting, and especially the dancers were all fantastic! One of the best Nutcrackers I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of them by some big name companies. I'm going back again next year and I'm talking my friends along with me. It's the perfect way to introduce kids to dance, ballet, The Nutcracker. Tickets are very reasonably priced. On certain weekend the company brings in world class dancers from other companies to dance the lead with their dancers.

This theatre is beautiful and has a great 2020 season. Dec 20 & 21 2 and 7pm is the Nutcracker…read moreballet. The theater is packed with excited kids in party dresses ! Angels, Nutcrackers, Clara, Snow Fairies and so many more! Next Ballets -shows The Secret Garden May 16, 2020. The Adventures of Peter Pan Friday August 7, 2020 Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks is a wonderful venue. Friendly volunteers/staff-and fun shows. Theater open for seating 1 hour before the performance. Parking is easy.

I paid a lot of money ($2,500 to be exact) to participate as a vendor at Warner Center Park for the…read moreValley Cultural Center's Concerts on the Green for the Summer 2012 season. The $2,500 buy in was a HUGE hit for me as a small business owner; I took a big leap of faith when I signed on. If you are a food vendor that has been approached and might be considering participating for future seasons, run--far and fast! Here's why: 1. I was promised by Bob Austin that I would be one of only 5 dessert vendors the whole season. The dessert vendors were all on 'dessert row,' separated from the savory food vendors. No one told me there would also be Italian Brain Freeze, Funnel Cakes and Kettle Corn in the section with the savory food. These products all compete for dessert dollars. I'm sure you can also see how completely unfair it is for those products to be placed in the same section as the savory food, so everyone sees only those vendors when they go to purchase their dinner. And then return to those vendors when they are ready for dessert. In fact on July 4th, a large group of people walked by my booth, all carrying funnel cakes, and commented on how they didn't know there were other desserts on site. Completely unfair to the rest of us in dessert row. 2. The vendors were told that the weeks leading up to July 4th were a bit sleepy, but if we hadn't already made back our initial investment by the 4th, that was the day it would happen. It was also strongly advised that we bring at least 3 times more product than we had been bringing prior to July 4th, because everyone sells out on July 4th. I had high hopes for July 4th, especially after hearing that there would be 24,000 + people in the park, all of the food vendors sell out, and this event is the one that helps all of the vendors re-coup their initial investment. I didn't sell out nor did I re-coup my initial investment. I grossed $750 that day; after expenses and paying an employee to work with me that day, I lost. 3. The savory food vendors--two barbecue vendors were booked for the summer. Classic! 4. The plain and simple truth is that there are just too many food vendors per the ratio of people that come for the concerts in the park seeking dining options. Yes, a lot of people flock to the park for the concerts, this much is true. However most of them don't buy dinner and desserts at the park. 5. The organization does a prerecorded introduction thanking its sponsors and food vendors that gets used the whole summer. My company name got botched--recorded incorrectly. No one bothered double checking their work before it was considered final, nor was I aware that this component was being developed. Had I known, I might have been proactive to ensure that my business/brand was represented correctly. 5. This group has been planning and executing this program for 38 years. They know what works and what doesn't work out there. It's a well-oiled machine, and they just want your money so that they can continue to bring in the bands. The sad thing is they will do and say anything to get you to sign on the dotted line. I can't emphasize enough--DON'T DO IT! Save your time, money and resources. When I think about the trust I placed in the Valley Cultural Center, and the leap of faith I took, it brings tears to my eyes. I did ask the Valley Cultural Center for some of my investment back, and this is the response that I got: Dear Tonya, Thank you for your email. We are sorry you did not have a good experience at Valley Cultural Center's Concerts on the Green. We can not guarantee what will sell well. We are upfront on that fact. None of us can predict that. Often vendors do well on July 4th. That too is no guarantee. Some sell out. Some do not. It sounds like you did all you could with Facebook, Twitter and Email campaigns. We apologize if you feel there was some inaccurate information given to you at the time of securing your place at Concerts on the Green. We will look into that. There was no intent of misleading you. We want all the vendors to do well. Some of the vendors have been with us for many years. Some only come for a year or two. Some join forces with another vendor they know and share a booth. It is a business decision each individual makes. We understand that you question your choice about participating with us since it did not go as well for you as you had hoped. It is not that we are untrustworthy. It's just the nature of the economy and the risk any business operator takes. Unfortunately it didn't work out to your level of expectation and desire. We would like to have seen you succeed too. We are a non profit 501 (c) 3. We operate on a fairly tight budget each year, and the recent economy has made that even tighter. We are not in a position to be able to reimburse anyone. Again, we are truly sorry you did not have a good experience with Concerts on the Green. Sincerely, -- Wendi Gladstone

Thank you Valley Cultural Foundation for years of free community events. I have been coming to your…read moreevents for 20 years and each year they get better. The Summer Concert Series and the Movies are the green is a great way for me to get the grandkids out of the house with a tight budget. The food vendors are great and reasonably priced, the concerts are some of the best cover bands. The emerging artist's program really brings great up and coming artists to our area.

Any and all events that we may do to help support our Veterans and current families in the Military…read moreis a blessing.Most of all the Fallen Veterans. This touches me closely because of my Son.Being part of one of the Best branches of our Military,The Marine's. To see all the Veterans,who served in World War I and World War 2 in cars as they drove past us,smiling and waving their hands.Words itself could not express the filling.Just the smile from them was enough.Freedom. Los Angeles Fire Department did a fly over to start the parade,along with the Los Angeles Police Department motor cycle Elite unit.The kids really enjoyed that. Also present was our Congress man Brad Sherman along with our city's council members. Most of all its the people in the community that get together to support the Veterans and business's in the area of Canoga Park.Great Job,Chamber. 2015 Yelp Challenge.073/100

Memorial day is when Canoga Park welcomes all of its residents, locals, and anyone that wants to…read morecome out and pay respects and honor our fallen veterans. The parade commences at 11:00 am at the corner of Sherman Way and Owensmouth Avenue in downtown Canoga Park. The parade finishes at Sherman Way and Mason in Winnetka. I love this small parade all local business and other businesses are welcomed to join in in the parade. For example Canoga's finest, Alberts auto transmission was in the parade and had a great Banda and charros playing for the crowds and entertaining everyone. So many local places such as our lady of the valley church, high schools, west valley eagles football squad, LAPD, banks, council members, firefighters, car clubs, boy scouts, all joined together to honor our fallen veterans. It was wonderful to see many veterans riding in the parade as well. Its a great local parade that is free and the city council runs it along with the Canoga Park and west hills chamber of commerce.

The Event: Margarita + Taco + Live music = Perfect Combination!!…read more Besides margarita, they are also selling beer, non-alcohol drinks. Love it when they brought in food trucks!! So many different varieties food to choose from! What a fun family outing event!! We brought our own chairs, enjoying the live band, food & drinks. There are also retailers (shopping time!!) and few games for the kids too!! The Parking: FREE!!! Many parking spots at the Simi Valley Town Center. The Mission: This event is benefiting the Welcome Home Soldier Foundation providing sleeping bags to homeless Veterans. What a great cause!! We are having fun & helping our veterans at the same time~ WIN-WIN situation!! If you miss this event, that is okay~ there is "Strawberry Tequila Festival" at the same location on 5/5!!

The other review on this event has me laughing so hard. I went to this event and it was so…read moreunorganized and a joke. I think all of the pictures were probably taken by a VIP person or a member of the press before the gates opened because I got there about 20 minutes after the set opening time and the line for margaritas were about 20 minutes long and tacos were 40 minutes. also, about an hour into the event they ran out of margaritas. The margaritas were all pre-mixed and looked nothing like those pictures. I went to 2018 and skipped 2019 but heard it was equally as bad. The bands were the best part but since this is in the mall parking lot there was no shade at all.

Glad to have had the chance to attend the season opening concert of the Pasadena Symphony and POPS…read moreseries at the beautiful Ambassador Auditorium. Today's orchestral performance was conducted by the talented Brett Mitchell, with Orion Weiss on piano performing the Ravel piece -- absolutely wonderful. I also really enjoyed Jim Self's composition, which added a nice touch to the program. The main piece of the evening was Symphonie Fantastique by the young French composer Berlioz. It was a long performance, but truly fantastic, living up to its name. This was our first time attending a concert here, and the experience was amazing from start to finish -- great acoustics, comfortable seating, and an inspiring atmosphere. Can't wait to come back for more!

Scouting locations for event…read more Staff we met with was very friendly and accommodating with all of our questions. Beautiful retro feeling in the lobby area. Bathrooms are accessible by staircases. There is a very small, two person elevator available for ADA access. Nice dressing rooms. Very large stage to accommodate performers and musicians. View of stage is great and there isn't a bad seat in the house. Exterior of venue is also very retro in the architecture and landscaping and water fountain designs. Great photo ops. Parking is challenging. There are a few ADA spots. There are stairs to enter venue via Lobby I can't remember if there was a wheelchair ramp. Overall very nice venue.