Like a warm summer thundershower, opportunities for cultural enrichment will drench Fresno during the California State University Summer Arts workshops June 29-July 26.

There are performances and lectures virtually every night of the week at prices as low as $5 a person. This is a major civic gift to the Valley, a chance for everyone to learn from some of the arts' finest practitioners at a cost lower than a movie ticket.

Guest artist/teachers include Mark Watters, Emmy Award-winning music director of the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics; Shakespeare & Company, an outdoor repertory group from Lenox, Mass.; Second City, the Chicago comedy troupe with companies in various cities; the Joe Goode Performance Group; Mariachi Imperial de Mexico; performance artist Denise Uyehara; hip-hop star Rennie Harris; Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter Nicholas Payton; and Deborah Barylski, casting director of television's "Life With Bonnie," "Home Improvement" and "Just Shoot Me."

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Pamela Wallace will be lecturing, and the class on cutting-edge theater lighting will be taught by the local firm Live Light.

Among the courses are video production, media music scoring, acting on camera, digital portraits, creative writing and dance. This is the fifth consecutive season Fresno State has hosted this artistic feast, a real coup for the university. Of the 23 campuses in the CSU system, this program is held at only one campus. Understandably, competition is tough, but student enrollment, community support and audience participation have been so impressive here the contract has been extended through 2005.

The program is a bonus for Fresno's bankbook, as well as its spirit and its brain. The program draws 500 students and 120 guest artists to town and employs almost 40 Fresno State students. Local vendors receive thousands in contracts every year for supplies needed to put on the event.

The Valley is fully capable of proving to CSU that Fresno State should continue to be the host campus of the Summer Arts program far beyond 2005. It would make a perfect permanent home for the seminar.

This is a rare opportunity for Valley families who love the arts to enrich their lives close to home at very reasonable prices. Check out the full calendar online at www.calstate.edu/summerarts or call 278-5109 for tickets.