DJ Wyldeflower performing at the Armory’s 2023 benefit auction [photo credit: Armory Center for the Arts]
On March 28, Rocio “Wyldeflower” Contreras returns to the Old Pasadena arts center to DJ its annual Spring Benefit.
The fundraiser, scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. at the Armory’s campus at 145 North Raymond Avenue, supports the nonprofit’s education and exhibition programs, which include free community art classes that reach thousands of low-income youth and families across Pasadena and Los Angeles each year, according to the organization. Tickets and sponsorship packages are available through the Armory’s website.
Contreras grew up in Pasadena, attended Muir High School, and participated in the Armory’s Children Investigate the Environment program — an experience she has described as “definitely bright in my mind.” She later returned to the Armory as a Getty Multicultural Undergraduate Intern and a teaching assistant, helping to create what is now its screen printing program for teens.
She called the organization “one of the most special places I’ve ever worked,” and said her fondest memory was “that glimmer in a student’s eye when they are inspired, when they’ve absorbed what you’re teaching them and are motivated to begin to create.”
Today Contreras hosts a weekly show on KCRW 89.9 FM. Her sets at the Armory have been supported by a minigrant from the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division, according to the Armory.
The benefit evening includes handcrafted food, artisanal libations, artmaking activities, and a silent auction of what the Armory describes as “exceptional experiences.” Sponsors listed on the Armory’s website as of February 11, 2026, include Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Capital Group Private Client Services, and restaurateur Gale Kohl, among others.
The Armory Center for the Arts is a nonprofit visual arts organization founded in 1989 and housed in a 1932 former California National Guard armory in Old Pasadena, now known as The Gale Kohl Center for Creativity. Its stated mission is to nurture its community through creating, learning, and presenting art. The organization has partnered with the Pasadena Unified School District for more than 20 years to provide in-school art programming, according to its nonprofit filings, and more than 80 percent of its programming serves socioeconomically disadvantaged youth and families, according to the Los Angeles County Arts Ed Collective.
The Armory’s current exhibition, “Material Prophecies: Craft as Divination,” curated by Director of Exhibitions Taylor Bythewood-Porter, runs through August 1 and features eight artists working with earth, fiber, metal, and other materials.
Tickets and sponsorship details are available at www.armoryarts.org/
The Armory’s next public event before the benefit is ArtNight Pasadena on March 13, a free evening when 19 Pasadena arts organizations open their doors. The Spring Benefit follows two weeks later.
