“It’s Too Darn Hot” for Weekly Certified Farmers Market

Popular Community Event Takes a Break for the Summer

PALM SPRINGS – May 19, 2008: The Palm Springs Cultural Center announced today that its Certified Farmers Market program will take a break over the summer months. The last Market of the season will take place on Saturday, June 28, from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM, adjacent to the Camelot Theatres at 2300 E. Baristo Road at Farrell in Palm Springs.

The Market kicked-off in February 2008 and has seen unparalleled success with an estimated 1,000 shoppers buying fresh vegetables and fruit (no spray and organic) each week. Additionally, the Market has offered cut flowers, honey, eggs, nuts, herbs, bread, cheese and plants. All participating farmers and vendors are regionally based, most within 100 miles of Palm Springs.

“We’d love to stay open through the summer, but it’s just too darn hot,” said Paul Palodichuk, Manager of the Palm Springs Certified Farmers Market. “We’re an outdoor community-based event, and as temperatures have risen over the past several weeks, we’ve noticed that the heat has detracted from both our shoppers’ and farmer’s experience. We’ve formed a community at the Market and I know folks feel part of it. We’ll surely miss seeing our friends and customers on a weekly basis, but we feel the best plan is take a brief hiatus and then return in full-force in the Fall.”

The Market will re-open on Saturday, October 4 for a full season in the same location adjacent to the Camelot Theatres with new additional vendors and its usual array of fresh vegetables and fruit (no spray and organic), flowers, bread and plants.

The Palm Springs Certified Farmers Market is a weekly “food-based” community event and is sponsored by the Palm Springs Cultural Center, a non-profit organization established to encourage the development of the cultural arts in the Coachella Valley with a specific focus in the areas of film, fine art, live performance, dance, music, and community festivals. The Center is dedicated to advancing education, to nurturing community-wide participation in the cultural arts, and to sponsoring scholarship awards for deserving individuals.

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Contact:

O’Bayley Communications – Tim O’Bayley, 760/778-3525 tim@obayley.net or
Palm Springs Cultural Center – Thomas Ethan Harris, 760/322-3521 thomas@psculturalcenter.org

PALM SPRINGS GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL COMING THIS SUMMER
Film Submissions Now Being Accepted

PALM SPRINGS, CA – March 27, 2008: Palm Springs Cultural Center is adding a major event to its calendar of happenings – The Palm Springs Gay & Lesbian Film Festival – to be held at Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs from Friday, July 25 through Thursday, July 31, 2008. The festival will present a varied combination of feature films, documentaries, and short films, and is now accepting submissions of films created by and/or about thematic issues relevant to the LGBT community.

“We’re establishing this new film event as a focal point for Palm Springs’ LGBT community during the summer,” says Thomas Ethan Harris, Artistic Director for the Palm Springs Cultural Center. “With other Palm Springs gay events like Greater Palm Springs Pride in November and the White Party in April, this week of films will hopefully become the summer’s signature event. Summer in Palm Springs has never been so much fun: Watch movies during the day, and play all night.”

Harris will serve as the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival’s Director of Programming and is the co-creator/former Director Of Programming of the acclaimed Los Angeles Film Festival. Along with the Los Angeles Film Festival and the International Festival of Emerging Talent in Monaco, the Palm Springs Gay & Lesbian Film Festival marks the third film festival that Harris has helped to establish.

The Palm Springs Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is currently accepting film submissions for the Festival, and has set an entry deadline of June 2, 2008. All entries will be pre-screened for consideration, however not all entries will be accepted for exhibition. The Official Submission Form and submission requirements can be found on the Palm Springs Cultural Center website at www.psculturalcenter.org.

The Palm Springs Gay & Lesbian Film Festival will be the climax to North American’s strong and influential summer “circuit” of other community-driven gay & lesbian film festivals which begins in May in Toronto and Miami, continues in June in New York and San Francisco, followed in early July with OutFest in Los Angeles. Says Harris, “We are so proud to find our significant place on the calendar of North America’s finest gay film festivals.”

The organizers of the Festival are working with the Desert Gay Tourism Guild, which is turning up the summer heat with special offers and events. Sponsorships and other community partnerships are welcome.

For questions regarding festival programming or submissions, please contact the Palm Springs Cultural Center at programming@psculturalcenter.org. For telephone inquiries of a general nature about the Festival, call 760/322-5321.

The Palm Springs Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is dedicated to advancing and further strengthening our diverse gay community through the establishment of a world-class forum that presents lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender cinema from around the world. We bring together film artists, film lovers and industry professionals in a weeklong celebration of motion pictures that reflect, inform, enrich and often transform lives.

The Palm Springs Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is a program of the Palm Springs Cultural Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to advancing education, to nurturing community-wide participation in the cultural arts, and to sponsoring scholarship awards for deserving individuals. For more information, please visit www.psculturalcenter.org.

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PALM SPRINGS CULTURAL CENTER ESTABLISHED TO BENEFIT ENTIRE COACHELLA VALLEYRozene and Ric Supple Create New Focus for the Desert’s Arts Community

PALM SPRINGS – January 24, 2008: Rozene and Ric Supple, owners of the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs and R&R Broadcasting, announced today the founding of the Palm Springs Cultural Center, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. The new Cultural Center will provide a nexus for cultural arts activities including the screening of films, art exhibitions, seminars, lecture series, student scholarships and outreach programs all focused on the arts in the Coachella Valley.

“We have always felt a strong dedication to Palm Springs and the Valley,” said Ric Supple, Board President of the Palm Springs Cultural Center. “This is our way of making a major long-term commitment to the cultural arts here. Rozene and I are very proud of what we’ve accomplished with the Camelot Theatres, and by creating the Cultural Center, we hope to enrich the Coachella Valley for many years to come.”

In November 2007 the Palm Springs Cultural Center received its 501(c)3 designation from the Internal Revenue Service as a California non-profit corporation with Ric Supple serving as President and Rozene Supple its Chairwoman. Regarding her board, Mrs. Supple stated, “The organization’s Board of Directors is made up of a dynamic team of community leaders such as John Wessman of Wessman Development Co., Michael Hammond of Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, and Dr. Tracy Conrad of The Willows Historic Palm Springs Inn. We also are delighted to have Scott Crisman of R&R Broadcasting serving as Secretary, and Russ Russell, of Union Bank, Treasurer. Completing our board are Denise DuBarry Hay, Stan Layne, Steven Maloney, Terry Masters, Dick Taylor, and Ricky Wright, principal of Palm Springs High School.”

Initially, the Camelot Theatres and its surrounding campus will be the home of the Cultural Center’s programs and events, and plans are currently underway to expand the Theatres. The Center will work in collaboration with the Camelot Theatres to present its film festivals, and the upstairs bar area will be transformed into an art gallery that will feature the work of artists throughout the Valley.

The Center’s Board has retained Thomas Ethan Harris as Artistic Director of Film Programs to oversee the development of a full calendar of events. Harris has a distinguished career in the arts, especially in film festival programming. He is a co-creator and former Director of Programming for Los Angeles Film Festival, and has served as director of programming for several local premiere events including the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, and the Festival of Native Film and Culture.

Of the Cultural Center, Harris says “We plan on being an important part of the cultural landscape in the Valley by presenting events and fostering programs that encourage the development of the cultural arts — specifically focusing on the areas of film, fine art, live performance, dance, music, and community festivals. The Center’s vision, and my own, is to advance cultural education, to nurture community-wide participation in the arts, and to encourage local artists and producers by sponsoring scholarship awards.”

The first event presented by the Cultural Center will be a weekly Certified Farmers Market where regionally based farmers and vendors will offer fresh, no-spray and organic produce and related products. The Market will be a community gathering place and a living, growing outdoor festival of healthy foods, local farms, nutritional education, arts, crafts, and entertainment. The Market will take place on Saturdays adjacent to the Camelot Theatres beginning February 16 and continuing weekly.

In April, the Palm Springs Student Film Festival presents a day of film screenings followed by an awards ceremony. The Student Film Festival is designed to open a pathway for young filmmakers to showcase their work in their home community, while offering a “first look” at the Valley’s creative and artistic riches. The Festival will feature the works of students from Palm Springs High School and other local schools.

The Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will be held in late July. This Festival will present lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender cinema from around the world, and bring together film artists, film lovers, and industry professionals in a week-long celebration of motion pictures that reflect, inform, enrich, and often transform lives.

The Cultural Center will also host special “One Night” studio advanced Preview Screenings throughout the year. In 2009, the Cultural Center will add more programs and film-related events including the new Palm Springs Silver Festival, which will celebrate the vibrancy of senior life in motion pictures. The Silver Festival aims to foster a greater understanding of the unique contributions, the multiplicity of experience, and the wealth of knowledge of those “young at heart.”

Additionally, the Cultural Center has scheduled a series of film events to be held at the Camelot Theatres in collaboration with other organizations. The first will be the Festival of Native Film and Culture produced in association with the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum. The Festival, now in its seventh year, will run from March 5 through 9 and showcase Native American and indigenous feature-length and short films. In November, the Cultural Center will continue the Camelot Theatre’s unique eight-year partnership with the American Film Institute, and will once again present AFI Comes to Palm Springs. The Cultural Center will also continue the Camelot’s ongoing relationship with KCET Television, with occasional screenings.

The following events are currently scheduled at the Palm Springs Cultural Center:

Certified Farmers Market Palm Springs Book Festival Student Film Festival Gay and Lesbian Film Festival AFI’s Best of the Fest Palm Springs Silver Festival

Returning October 4, 2008 Late Spring 2008 April 24 & 26, 2008 July 22 – 27, 2008 November 2008 February 2009