Life is Beautiful Kicks Off Art Programming for Inaugural Festival Today

Life is Beautiful (L.I.B.) unveils its art programming for the inaugural festival taking place today, October 26 and Sunday, October 27, 2013. Designed to be seamlessly programmed with the music, food and learning festival elements, L.I.B's art presentations will center around live performance, and several mediums of visual art with the festival grounds as its canvas.

"Our goal is to create a live urban gallery that is essentially woven into our festival footprint. We want to expose our festival-goers to many types of dynamic artistic mediums," stated festival co-founder Rehan Choudhry. "We are fortunate that Las Vegas is home to many of the world's greatest performance artists, and inspires much of the world's great visual art. We are infusing those stunning influences into our festival experience."

The festival's art program is comprised of three separate initiatives, bringing artists out of their traditional studios, galleries or theaters and into the streets of Downtown Las Vegas. With an up-close-and-personal feel, L.I.B.'s art program is meant to surround guests with both elusive and interactive activations.

RISE ABOVE: A Street Art Program

The urban surroundings of the Life is Beautiful venue provide a perfect backdrop for what will be an eclectic and permanent street art program that will redefine the look of Downtown Las Vegas for years to come. Curated by Charlotte Dutoit, RISE ABOVE will turn Downtown Las Vegas into an art-inspired playground showcasing works by some of the biggest names in international street art. Contributing artists include: Vhils (Portugal), D*Face (UK), Alexis Diaz (AKA La Pandilla from Puerto Rico), Interesni Kazki (Ukrane),Zio Ziegler (San Francisco), Ana Maria (Houston) and Aware (Las Vegas). Creation of these original pieces, which include murals, stencils by The Stencil Network (NYC) and giant show posters by Bicicleta Sem Freio (Brazil), will begin the week prior to the festival and be completed live on site.

The Odyssey: A Visual Art Experience

A first-class visual art program, curated by Patrick Duffy, former president of the Las Vegas Art Museum and current executive board member for Smith Center for the Performing Arts, will also be presented at L.I.B. His program, entitled The Odyssey, is a visual exploration of the art that inspires creativity in all of us, no matter age, education or upbringing. Presented through staged exhibits at varying venues, The Odyssey will show work from the Opportunity Village Art and Enrichment Program, Eric Tillinghast, William T. Wiley, Wendy Kveck, Catherine Borg, Yasmina and Javier Sanchez, Adam Morey, and Jaime Sholnick.

At the helm of the fine art programming is a multi-media presentation of "13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests" featuring Dean and Britta. A project commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, "13 Most Beautiful" is a live multimedia performance featuring large scale video projection of Warhol's Screen Tests (4-minute silent film portraits of visitors to his studio), set to the music of Dean and Britta and their band, who perform live on stage while the films are projected above.

"For many years 'art' has been synonymous with Downtown Las Vegas," says L.I.B. partner and First Friday managing partner Joey Vanas. "What Life is Beautiful intends to do during our festival weekend and beyond is bring national and international attention to our local artists and further the growth of Downtown Las Vegas as a serious art community."

Theatrical Performances

Festival attendees will see why Las Vegas is the Entertainment Capital of the World through performances from renowned Strip productions that will vacate their theaters and permeate the streets of Downtown. Featured acts include six shows by Cirque du Soliel,"Absinthe", Human Nature, "Jabbawockeez", "Million Dollar Quartet", Recycled Percussion and "Rock of Ages". Each will be programmed on (and sometimes off) the festival stages, presenting snippets of their well-known productions and giving guests an intimate yet varied taste of some of the best live shows in town.

Full details of the art, music and food programming can be seen at www.lifeisbeautifulfestival.com

Sponsors of the inaugural Life is Beautiful Festival include Wirtz Beverage Nevada, Heineken USA, Esquire Magazine, Las Vegas Review Journal, Sub-Zero Wolf, Westar Kitchen & Bath, Las Vegas Events, Cirque du Soleil, Zappos.com, Red Bull, El Cortez Hotel & Casino, the D Las Vegas, Toyota, Whole Foods Market, Le Creuset, Airstream 2 Go, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino and Flamingo Las Vegas.*Sponsors listed are current as of release date.

L.I.B. is being developed by Aurelian Marketing Group in partnership with Another Planet Entertainment, MAKTUB Marketing and Downtown Project. Visit www.lifeisbeautifulfestival.com and sign up to receive information updates via email. Connect with the Life is Beautiful team socially at Facebook.com/LIBFestival and Twitter.com/LifeIsBeautiful.