With an expanded children's area, more headliner music and fine art, the Brentwood Arts Society is hoping to attract record numbers to this weekend's free two-day Art, Wine & Jazz Festival.
The 10th annual event, now in its second year at the Streets of Brentwood, will bring together local vintners and Bay Area artists as well as some well-known singers, top-flight bands, local food vendors and microbreweries.
"We're expecting we'll have more than last year because we have more to offer," the society's past president and festival liaison Jack Gaughan said, noting the group hopes to exceed last year's 15,000 attendance mark.
Dubbed a "family-friendly festival," the event has expanded its children's area this year, adding a Bricks 4 Kidz area where children can play with LEGOs to their heart's content, along with areas for children's dance, sculpture and painting projects.
To encourage budding artists, the organizers will set up some 20 easels and provide paper and paints, as well as offer art instructors and clay for children to sculpt their own creations and paint their own tiles. Several local schools will get into the act by hosting a Make a Tambourine event, while a local dance studio will teach kids how to move to the music, and Brentwood artist Al Lopez will draw caricatures of attendees.
"It's a big thing for us to make sure young people have a place in what we do," Gaughan said, noting the group supports school art docent programs, gives scholarships for art students and hosts annual districtwide art shows.
Part of that effort can be seen in the Walls of Art exhibit, where local schoolchildren will display some 1,000 art projects.
"It gets them recognition in a public view," Gaughan said of the art wall. "Families come to see what they've done. A lot of families come back the second day because they want to participate in the kids area."
In addition to the 44 juried artists exhibiting original works in all kinds of media, a group of Liberty High School artists will be on site chalk painting the streets throughout the day.
"My long-term goal is to someday have a street-painting festival in Brentwood," Gaughan said.
There'll be plenty for music aficionados to enjoy as well with nine acts playing on two stages throughout the weekend.
On tap Saturday are the Heritage High and Liberty High school big bands, Bob Belanski's Specdrum Orchestra, featuring Duane Lawrence, Holly Penfield and her father, Ray Penfield; Raul Ramirez Latin Jazz Quintet; The Marshall Otwell Jazz Quintet; and Alvon Johnson and Friends. Sunday's lineup includes Swing Fever Sextet with Denise Perrier, Anna Maria Flechero and Friends and the Lloyd Gregory Jazz Septet.
Three Liberty High School quartets will open the event by singing the national anthem and will later stroll the grounds, entertaining visitors with a cappella offerings.
Also, Leroy Parker, a renowned Bay Area artist of jazz greats, will be painting during the musical performances, and the artwork will be auctioned off during the weekend to raise money for local arts programs.
"We're trying to build up a war chest so we have money going forward," Gaughan said of the Brentwood Arts Society. " ... we would like to be the seed for stuff."
Proceeds from the event -- including 100 percent of the profit from BJ's Brewhouse's offerings -- will go to the nonprofit group, which sponsors a range of art and cultural activities in the city, including Broadway Under the Stars, Open Mic, Artists Open Studio and Artwalk, among others.
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