San Marcos High School (SMHS) Band Boosters will host a FUNdraiser and celebration, 5-9 p.m. Saturday, April 8 at Draughtsmen Aleworks Mosaic Locale, 1131 State St., Santa Barbara.
The outdoor, family-friendly event is free to attend will feature live music from the Latin dance band Mezcal Martini, with special performances by SMHS’s award-winning Jazz Ensemble and La Cumbre Junior High School’s DrumLine.
The event illustrates the small instrumental music community within Santa Barbara Unified School District, and spotlights the need for additional funding to support the arts in local schools.
“We are thrilled to support Michael [Kiyoi, SMHS director of instrumental music] and the students at San Marcos and to collaborate with them on such a great event,” said Charlie Ortega, a founding member of Mezcal Martini and the instrumental music director for La Cumbre Junior High.
“We are so appreciative of Charlie [Ortega] and his band for donating their time and talent to our cause. It takes a big financial commitment to make our Instrumental Music program run and we need all the help we can get,” said Kiyoi.
“This is something a little different for us and will be a wonderful learning experience for all the students,” Kiyoi said. “And we’re really excited to hold the event at this venue for the first time as well with its centrally located downtown location and great acoustics.”
In addition to the music and dancing, there will be food for sale from Goodland Waffles & Melts, which will donate 15% of sales to the Royals, along with a bake sale of homemade goodies. Draughtsmen Aleworks will be donating $1 per tap purchase to the SMHS Band.
Raffle tickets will be sold with chances to win door prizes including gift certificates for restaurants and services, drum lessons, and gift baskets.
“We are excited to again partner with the San Marcos High School Band, support their incredible music program, and raise funds for the student musicians to thrive and travel for competitions,” said Tami Snow, partner at Draughtsmen Aleworks.
“This event has an amazing lineup with bands from both San Marcos and La Cumbre performing and Mezcal Martini — who has never played here — as the headliner. They will have everyone up and dancing in the courtyard for sure,” Snow said.
SMHS Band, which performs throughout Southern California, has a rigorous – and expensive – travel schedule. All proceeds from the April 8 event will support the San Marcos High School Band and help to defray the competition costs.
The band is accepting raffle item donations as well as paid sponsorships to support its program.