Han Xiao “Helen” Lai, an 11th-grade classical music student at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, is one of 111 semifinalists in the Los Angeles Music Center’s 2016 Spotlight Awards. More than 1,100 performing arts students from Southern California auditioned. This year’s semifinalists come from Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. The Music Center program, now in…

Saturday evening, April 12, the Art Alliance of Idyllwild is inviting the community to an old-fashioned, community event, “To greet, meet and eat,” according to Gary Kuscher, AAI president. He stressed that this is not an AAI art event or meeting, rather it is to get individuals and members of the various community groups to…

Rebekah Louisa Smith, Ph.D., “The Film Festival Doctor,” could have used her doctorate from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, to teach. Instead she carved a niche career as a matchmaker – marrying films to particular international film festivals. She recommended three films for screening at the sixth year of Stephen Savage’s Idyllwild International Festival of…