The newly created Sinaloa Secretariat of Tourism has started out on a positive footing: granting funds for badly needed maintenance on the Angela Peralta Theater. Some 1.4 million pesos will go to repairs on the air conditioning and lighting systems. Starting July 7, the theater will be closed for about four weeks while this work is going on. CULTURA, the Municipal Institute of Culture, Tourism and Art, has absolutely nothing on its schedule for July and August at this writing, but it’s always a good idea to check the website: www.culturamazatlan.com, because events are likely to turn up before the Sinaloa Arts Fair comes to town in mid-October. A recently organized English language theater group made up of foreign residents with various levels of acting experience is planning an October premiere of a comic play called “Moby Dick.” Directing rehearsals throughout the summer is a theater pro from New Zealand named Colin McCulloch. Rumor has it that the successful Open Studio Tour which took

place this past winter may become a monthly event during the forthcoming winter season. For new readers, this is a day or weekend when local artists in and around the historic zone open their studios to the public. Visitors armed with free maps can wander through the area with its neoclassical architecture, stop at studios to view the works in progress and talk to the artists about their creations. Several members of the Colegio de Sinaloa, a group of about two dozen distinguished intellectuals from throughout the state, gathered in mid-June at the Mazatlán Art Museum for a donation ceremony. Colegio member Antonio Lopez Saenz, the most celebrated artist in the state, donated a variety of art works to the people of Sinaloa. Included in the collection are three oils by the maestro measuring 28 X 36 inches, a lithography by the late artist Carlos Bueno and two sculptures. One of these latter was the model for the Monument to the Sinaloa Family which sits in a glorieta just south of Valentino’s on the Malecón.