Headliners to perform at Summerlin Festival of Arts

The Summerlin Festival of Arts, celebrating its 20th year this weekend in Downtown Summerlin, features an entertainment lineup. Joining the more than 100 artists and craftspeople who will showcase their original fine art are headliners including Clint Holmes, Human Nature, Absinthe's tap dancing duo Sean and John and a special appearance by performers from Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil.

"We reimagined the event this year with a much bigger focus on entertainment, more children's art activities and fun and interesting culinary offerings from Downtown Summerlin eateries and restaurants," said Danielle Bisterfeldt, director of marketing, Summerlin. "With so many talented singers, dancers and musicians joining the painters, sculptors and photographers, this year's festival is truly a celebration of the arts."

Other performers new to the festival include vocal jazz trio Dangerous Curves, Skye Dee Miles, who currently performs at Rose Rabbit Lie, Alec Zeilon of the Frankie Moreno band, cellist Shana Tucker, the Las Vegas Institute of Advanced Mariachi Studies and Faith Conservatory of the Fine Arts.

Live art demonstrations include District Artz, which brings its large-scale Guerrilla Kages to the festival for live canvas paintings and Chef Chan Boupha of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Las Vegas with his food art carving.

Students from UNLV's Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering will entertain the crowd with their DRC-HUBO Metal Rebel live action robot and meet-and-greet on Sunday.

Returning to the festival is a joint performance by the Nevada School of the Arts Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Charles Cushinery with members of Las Vegas Philharmonic. And, returning this year but with a new spin is The Academy of Nevada Ballet Theatre (NBT), featuring contemporary dance performances.

"Summerlin is home base for our Academy; it's where we create our art, and the kids are very excited to participate in a local celebration of our community and our medium," said Terane Comito, director of Education and Outreach for NBT. At the festival, NBT will offer special 2015-16 season ticket discounts and hold drawings for VIP packages to an NBT performance at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

Interactive art activities at the Children's Pavilion, hosted by Discovery Children's Museum, include a one-of-a-kind painting activity by St. Jude Children's Hospital. A special storybook reading with local children's book author Leslie Frisbee includes a free gift for the first 30 children who register to attend the book reading at the Summerlin booth Saturday and Sunday.

The Summerlin Festival of Arts at Downtown Summerlin will be held 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Sunday. It is free to the public. For more information visit summerlin.com. Follow live updates and join the social media conversation with #summerlinarts on Twitter: @summerlinlv, facebook.com/summerlinlv and on Instagram: @summerlin.