The Family Art Day, which took place on Nov. 8, was one of many community events coordinated by the Carlsbad Cultural Arts  and designed to keep art prevalent in the city of Carlsbad.

Tonya Rodzach, the community arts coordinator with the Cultural Arts Office, manages different art education programs in Carlsbad. This particular program, the Family Art Day event at the Dove Library, is a free art-making workshop for children and parents in the community.

“I love seeing people active and engaged with arts in our community,” Rodzach said. “Here, people are introduced to new creative experiences to do not only hands-on art making but also different visual arts within our art gallery and different performing arts within our city.”

At the Family Art Day, the Original Art Exhibit allows chidren to make hands-on art project.  This year, the kids developed their own characters and story lines with quick thumb nail sketches.

The event also hosted illustrator and songwriter Morgan Taylor and his animated creation “Gustafer Yellowgold” for a live musical performance and storytelling.  Performing arts is an important component of this family event because it allows music to bring a story to life.

“This event is an opportunity to be engaged in various performing arts components that really help people engage in the arts and become better critical thinkers, giving them a creative environment to think about things in a different way while also giving them a sense of community within art culture,” Rodzach said.

Michele Tackett has been coming to the Carlsbad Family Art Day for the past three years with her daughter Ella. Tackett appreciates what the Cultural Arts does for the community because it introduces kids to the background of arts.

“The kids are always encouraged to go in and look through the exhibits and then come out and create their own art. By looking at the exhibit first, they see other types of programs and even non-professional programs as well,” Tackett said.  “The staff always has really creative ideas for the kids and lots of good volunteers are here that always help the kids.”

Every year, families return to the event, and the program grows as new families join. The Cultural Arts Office’s efforts to keep art prevalent in Carlsbad are proving to be successful.

“People light up when they’re creating different works of art,” Rodzach said. “I love seeing families return over and over again and watching them grow up.”