'LB Spindulio Archyvo Projektas' - LB Spindulys Archive Project - needs your support.

The LB Spindulys Archive Project representing the collected films and videos from the Paulius Jasiukonis Estate is now underway and needs your support.

We will be archiving the documentary works of Paulius Jasiukonis, and others, as they pertain to the Los Angeles Jaunimo Ansamblis & LB Spindulys, and as they exist recorded on film, video, audio, from 1963 to 2009. Presently, we are transfering to digital form all video, audio, and film elements from the Jasiukonis Estate, and we intend to make this material available for further edited publications, viewing and studies by academics, historians, general public and future generations.

We have over 30 hours of video, audio and 16mm & super 8 film to preserve, duplicate and edit. All of these source materials are fragile and degrading, because that is what happens to analog video and celluloid film over time. Without preservation, this material will degrade beyond use value, copying or viewing.

Many of our Los Angeles Lithuanian community founders have passed away, and along with them have passed many of the historical facts and ‘stories’ of our community, except those recorded on film, video or audio.

The Jasiukonis media archives have been made available to Spindulys for a limited time only to perform transfers of this archival material to digital form. Aloyzas Razutis, a film-video-digital media expert, has made himself available to supervise and edit this material prior to its departure to Lithuania later this year.

The overall cost of the preservation phase of this project is set at $10,000 and will cover material costs, lab costs, labor and duplication.

Support this Archive Project now by sending donations via cheques payable to LB SPINDULYS, and mailed to ‘Spindulys Archyvas’, 3165 Harmony Place, La Crescenta, CA 91214. For further information contact Danguole Varnas at telephone 818 249 7574 or e-mail: spindulys@aol.com. Your participation will ensure that our Los Angeles Lithuanian American culture has a audio-visual memory of its own past.

The director of Spindulys Danguole R. Varnas traveled to Vilnius, Lithuania and on March 11, 2009 accepted the award on behalf of the group and herself. This distinctive award is akin to a 'Academy Award' for folk dance work and all at Spindulys are moved by this award.

Read the interview with Danguole Varnas (in Lithuanian) for a Spindulys response to this award.

Teatro premija. Teatro premijos komisijos pirmininkas Algimantas Žemaitaitis JAV LB Kultūros tarybos pirmininkei pranešė, kad komisija vienbalsiai skiria 2008 m. Teatro premiją a. a. Pauliui Jasiukoniui. Komisijos pirmininkas rašo, kad Paulius Jasiukonis, kuris netikėtai mirė šiais metais, buvo nepakeičiamas darbuotojas visame kame: teatre, filmuose, radijo programose ir ypatingai įamžinant išeivijos lietuvių kultūrinę veiklą. Paulius Jasiukonis gyveno Los Angeles, CA.

Sveikinu visus 2008-ųjų metų JAV Lietuvių Bendruomenės Kultūros tarybos premijų laureatus. Premijų mecenatas – JAV LB Krašto valdyba.

Dalė Lukienė
JAV LB Kultūros tarybos pirmininkė

"Los Angeles Lithuanian-American youth ensemble LB Spindulys took on the challenge to host the XIII Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival. Spindulys, registering as the largest of the 40 participating groups from the North American continent, welcomed the task of planning and presenting the upcoming festival. Preparations for this huge event, which would feature over 1000 dancers in a large amphitheater performing to an audience of three thousand, took over a year of planning. This was to be the 13th such festival, occurring only every four years in North America, and now it was to be held for the first time in Los Angeles. What a challenge! "

Read the full illustrated and detailed story by Danguole R. Varniene here.

Visit the Lithuanian Folk Dance Institute site www.lttsi.org for news stories about the festival; also visit festival photo page for photo views of the dance festival as provided by a number of photographers..