'BRILLIANT BEATS' THEME FOR TARGET FREE FAMILY SATURDAY NOV. 8

The Japanese American National Museum continues its highly successful public program series, Target Free Family Saturday, with the theme of "Brilliant Beats" for November 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The program, which is free to the general public, thanks to Target, will include fun family activities, including hands-on arts and crafts and drumming.

Highlighting the day of activities will be two opportunities to be part of a Drum Circle with the group drumtime, at 12 noon and 1:30 p.m. Each session lasts one hour and everyone is invited to participate as a percussionist. drumtime is organized by John Lacques, who has devoted his professional life to using music as a tool for empowerment and transformation. Lacques has organized drum circles for large public events, corporate trainings and youth gatherings. For more information, go to www.drumtime.net.

At 1 p.m., Progressive Taiko will perform. Progressive Taiko (or ProTa) is a small ensemble of taiko (Japanese festival drum) performers with diverse backgrounds in the arts, musical composition, and community projects. ProTa’s musical background stems from mixing traditional Japanese drumming with contemporary influences such as jazz and hip-hop. The mission of ProTa is to spread cultural awareness, support community issues, and educate the greater community through progressiveness in thought and artistic expression.

A Poongmul performance, the art of traditional Korean percussion, will be presented at 2:30 p.m. Poongmul explores the history of Korean culture through a diverse musical program. UCLA’s Poongmul drummers traditionally meet weekly during the school year to learn and practice various beats on different instruments for performances at special events, such as Korean Culture Night, Asian Pacific Heritage Month or Asian Pacific Islander Graduation, among many others. The performances include wearing traditional bright costumes and lively drumming.

Arts and crafts activities, which will be available from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., include the construction of a spinning drum. In time for Thanksgiving, participants will also be able to create their own gobbling turkey and even an origami (Japanese paper folding) turkey.

The Target Free Family Saturday series aims provide opportunities for families to learn, play and grow together while enjoying different cultural traditions. Because of the past success of this series, the Japanese American National Museum will begin holding the Target Free Family Saturday events once a month. This year concludes on December 13 with "Artfully Yours" featuring shared traditions within the Asian American community. A full schedule for 2009 is available by going to www.janm.org. For more information, call the Japanese American National Museum at (213) 625-0414.