Choose your own ARTventure Saturday at Costa Mesa’s Hertzog Community Center

Costa Mesa will cement its reputation as a City of the Arts Saturday, when ARTventure — a day of art-centered activities, performances and a juried art exhibition — takes over the Norma Hertzog Community Center and Lions Park.

Created to widen access to the local arts scene, the event has appeared at different venues over the years, including a post-pandemic revival of an in-person festival at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ Samueli Theater last September.

With more than 200 paintings, sculptures and mixed-media pieces from more than 100 adult and youth artists, the exhibition takes place in the community center from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and features a voting option for a people’s choice award.

Costa Mesa’s 2022 ARTventure drew a crowd to the Segerstrom Center’s Samueli Theater. This year’s event takes place Saturday at the Norma Hertzog Community Center.

(Courtesy of city of Costa Mesa)

Unlike previous years, contained to a single weekend, the work will remain on display at the community center through Nov. 5.

But this year’s festivities will also crank things up a notch, as organizers take advantage of nearby Lions Park event lawn and Donald Dungan Library, with Day of the Dead-themed activities, face painting and games as well as performances by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater.

“This year it is bigger and better than ever,” said Charlene Ashendorf, chair of the Costa Mesa Arts Commission. “Every year, we’ve thought we have to give this more life, and this is where we are today. The whole area will really be alive during the day Saturday, and that’s what we wanted — to make it a community art event.”

Costa Mesa’s annual ARTventure, which takes place this year at the city’s Lions Park, invites the community to spend a day of art-centered fun.

(Courtesy of the city of Costa Mesa)

Attendees Saturday can also learn about local arts organizations, participate in creative crafts and activities and enjoy live musical acts, a chalk art demonstration and food trucks at Lions Park, before the event transitions to an awards ceremony at the Orange County Museum of Art, from 5 to 9 p.m.

That event is open to those who register online, with free shuttle service between Lions Park and OCMA from 4:15 to 9:15 p.m.

ARTventure follows on the heels of an inaugural citywide Art Crawl Experience, during which viewers shuttled around to different venues to see, make and appreciate art. The nascent but growing pilot program and the expanded footprint of this weekend’s event are part of implementing the city’s new Arts Master Plan, a vision to expand arts offerings for children and adults.

“We see this as another indication that our master plan, approved by the City Council, was the right thing to do,” Ashendorf said. “It’s really gaining a lot of steam throughout the local community.”

Costa Mesa’s Norma Hertzog Community Center is located at 1845 Park Ave. OCMA is located at 3333 Avenue of the Arts, in Costa Mesa. ARTventure is free and open to the public. For more, visit artventurecm.com.

Costa Mesa’s ARTventure, seen in 2022, takes place at the city’s Hertzog Community Center Saturday with art-centric activities and performances.

(Courtesy of the city of Costa Mesa)