The Rotary Club of Ventura has selected Margi Wray as club president for the 2022/2023 year. She follows Rob van Nieuwburg, under whose leadership the club sponsored many charitable and community events, including resumption of the popular Independence Day Family Picnic and Fireworks show, Coats for Kids, a free weekly optometry clinic, supporting a monarch butterfly habitat at Camp Arnaz, supporting the Navajo Water Project, youth activities, and more.

“We have a strong organization thanks to the work of long-standing club members, coupled with new energy and focus of our newer members,” said Margi. Her goals are to serve our community’s needs through corroboration within our club and other service organizations in the community, increase transparency through good communication, and key into members’ talents, expertise and passions to serve our community.

Margi has worked as a sculptor, goldsmith, and wax carver. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Illinois. She is not new to leadership. She served 21 years on the Murrieta Valley Unified School District Board of Education, including four years as Board President. She says, “That experience will serve me well in goal setting, evaluation of performance and in community interaction.”

Having moved to the Ventura area only 3 years ago, she attributes her time in Rotary to rapidly making her feel at home in a new environment. “I have been instantly connected to so many people who have ‘Service above Self’ at the core of who they are,” she explains, “and it has made my transition to involvement and work in this community seamless. If you have ever wanted to be more involved in the community, we look forward to meeting you!”

The Rotary Club of Ventura celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2019. Its members include business leaders, nonprofit leaders and civic professionals who meet regularly and perform charity and community service in Ventura and throughout the world. It is part of Rotary International, which has more than 1.4 million members in 46,000 clubs in 168 countries. People join the club for fellowship, friendship and to give back to our local community and the beyond. The Rotary Club is actively seeking new members. To learn more, visit https://portal.clubrunner.ca/2868/.

Ventura City Councilmember, Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios is formally announcing her candidacy for the Ventura City Council, District 4 seat. Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios resides in the city of Ventura with her husband of more than 25 years and their 2 children. She holds degrees in Public Administration, Women’s Studies, and Political Science from the California State University – Northridge (CSUN), University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), and Santa Monica Community College (SMC).

by Richard Newsham, VMF consultant

The Ventura Music Festival’s “Onward!” 27^th season opens tonight with a Free Concert in the Park featuring the gospel, West African and American funk world-fusion mix of the all-female band Adaawe at downtown Ventura’s Mission Park on Wednesday, July 27, at 5:30 pm.

The festival venue then moves to the intimate 400-seat Ventura College Performing Arts Center, 4700 Loma Vista Road, for two weekends of concerts beginning with sensational Irish band We Banjo 3 and its Celtgrass vocal and string blend of “bluegrass and beyond” on Friday, July 29, at 7:30 pm. Direct from Paris the Django Festival Allstars quintet brings us “le jazz hot” style of legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt on Saturday, July 30, at 7:30 pm. And weekend one concludes with local piano virtuoso gone globally famous Sean Chen alluring us with romantic pearls by Mozart, Debussy, Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Mendelssohn on Sunday, July 31, at 3 pm.

Weekend two opens on Friday, August 5, at 7:30 pm, with a unique sextet of a soprano, alto, baritone, bass and two tenor saxophones called The Moanin’ Frogs—the moniker is an unlikely contraction of two 1910’s saxophone hit tunes, The Bullfrog Blues and That Moanin’ Saxophone Rag. But the ensemble name aptly fits a repertoire that “electrifies and delights” audiences nationwide—defying genres with every jump from primo orchestral, concerto and chamber arrangements to treasured jazz, burlesque and vaudeville improvisations.

On Saturday, August 6, at 7:30 pm, Veronica Swift—a young chanteuse with deep jazz roots but now branching out with classical, rock, soul, folk and funk selections—is determined as an artist to bring a post-COVID rebirth of hope to audiences everywhere as she breaks down genre barriers, uniting them under an anthem called “Sing”—an uplifting tribute to the positive change that music brings to the world. “There is this thing that’s like touching, except you don’t touch, you sing, just sing,” claims the artist. “The act of singing is a kind of secular prayer, in the spirit of John Lennon’s Imagine.”

The VMF festival concludes on Sunday, August 7, at 3 pm, with what the New York Times calls “America’s most astonishing choir,” The Crossing led by conductor Donald Nally and embracing new music with “a social conscience and fearless technique” created by the world’s most prestigious living composers and performed at marquee venues with the nation’s most adventuresome orchestras and ensembles. Find out why radio host Brian Lauritzen champions this 24-voice winner of two Grammy® awards for Best Choral Performance and 7 more nominations on his weekly “A Joyful Noise” KUSC broadcast of choral music almost every Sunday morning.

Year after year, the Ventura Music Festival is renowned for showcasing a breathtaking multiverse of musical styles from classical to contemporary. Connect with the artists and with fellow listeners in our community who love to discover the joy and excitement of familiar and brave new worlds of sound by attending VMF concerts this weekend and next.

Tickets: $15-65 at www.venturamusicfestival.org and 805.648.3146.