Two events at the Hammer Theatre Center in downtown San Jose will put artists \u2014 and the people who support them \u2014 in the spotlight this month.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 16, philanthropist Diane Brandenburg will be honored with the Cornerstone of the Arts award from the city\u2019s Office of Cultural Affairs and the San Jose Arts Commission. Brandenburg has long been a supporter of the arts in San Jose and is also a painter herself and had a solo show at the Triton Museum of Art in 2023.\u00a0Her current project is bringing \u201cSeeds of Peace,\u201d a large sculpture by Napa artist Mario Chiodo<\/a> to Arena Green West later this year.<\/p>\n Also at the 5:30 p.m. event, the Creative Impact award will be presented to 1Culture, the downtown art gallery founded by Andrew Espino in 2015; and Local Color founder and artist Erin Salazar will receive the Luminary Artist award, which will be her second honor this month \u2014 she\u2019s also receiving the History Maker award at History San Jose\u2019s Valley of Heart\u2019s Delight dinner<\/a> Thursday night.<\/p>\n There are some big, positive changes for the 14th annual Leigh Weimers Emerging Artists Awards. The program of the San Jose Rotary Club, which honors the longtime Mercury News columnist who died in 2012, is switching from midday to a 6 p.m. start at the Hammer on Oct. 21. Along with the time change, five people will be honored this year instead of four, and the unrestricted grant award has increased from $5,000 to $7,500.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s honorees are visual artist Leisar Garcia, ballet dancer Delaney Ewert, opera singer Alex Delgado, theater performer and singer Matt Locke and violinist Yeonglee Kim. The five will perform or otherwise present their art during the free showcase, which will include a post-show reception. There\u2019s more information on the awards at www.weimersawards.com<\/a>. (For full disclosure, I\u2019ve served on the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artists Awards committee since its inception but am not involved in the selection process.)<\/p>\n Tickets to both the Cornerstone of the Arts event<\/a> and the Weimers awards are free, but you do need to RSVP at hammertheatre.com<\/a> to attend.<\/p>\n THEATER SCENE: Teatro Visi\u00f3n opens Georgina Escobar\u2019s \u201cAlebrijes: A D\u00eda de Muertos Tale\u201d on Thursday at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. The mythologized story of the life of alebrijes creator Pedro Linares is directed by Rodrigo Garcia and is presented in Spanish with English supertitles. It will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays through Oct. 18. Get tickets at teatrovision.org.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve still got time to catch Bess Wohl\u2019s \u201cBarcelona\u201d at San Jose Stage Company<\/a> before it closes Oct. 11, as well as the hilarious and thought-provoking satire \u201cEureka Day\u201d at City Lights Theatre Company<\/a>, which closes Oct. 18.<\/p>\n At a different kind of theater, Cinequest held its first Maverick Meetup at the Alamo Drafthouse in Mountain View, bringing together volunteers and festival patrons for a social hour at Alamo\u2019s Dumbots bar. Cinequest founders Kathleen Powell and Halfdan Hussey say they hope to make the get-togethers a monthly event leading up to next year\u2019s festival.<\/p>\n SURPRISE GUESTS: While pianist Joyce Yang was Symphony San Jose\u2019s featured soloist this weekend on Jonathan Leshnoff\u2019s \u201cRhapsody on America,\u201d another acclaimed pianist, Jon Nakamatsu, was in the audience for Sunday\u2019s matinee performance at the California Theatre. Nakamatsu \u2014 who was recently named one of the symphony\u2019s new Artistic Partners and a soloist for the Jan. 23-24, 2027 program, \u201cPictures at an Exhibition\u201d<\/a> \u2014 had high praise for Yang\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n