It was an evening of high note, with many in between, when Montecito’s venerable, newly renamed Music Academy celebrated its 75th anniversary with a signature gala on its 10-acre Miraflores oceanside campus for 320 guests raising around $600,000. The boffo bash, co-chaired by the tony triumvirate of Valerie Montgomery, Kandy Luria-Budgor, and Michele Brustin, was […]
After its hugely successful Van Gogh exhibition, Santa Barbara Museum of Art launched Going Global: Abstract Art at Mid-Century. The show, which runs through September 25, features 35 works from the museum’s permanent collection running the gamut of mediums, from painting and sculpture to photography and lithography, and artist-invented mediums, including forms of kinetic art […]
Social gridlock reigned at the Hilton when the South Coast Business & Technology Awards celebrated local innovators with the 400 guests helping gross $287,000 for the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The annual event celebrates innovation, leadership, and success in our Eden by the Beach’s business and technology sectors. […]
To the Riviera aerie of Joan Rutkowski, board chair of Opera Santa Barbara, for a delightful Bistro Musicale for gourmands and oenophiles organized by Epicurean SB founder Amy Baer Robinson, and concert pianist Jacopo Giacopuzzi, founder of the two-year-old Italian organization La Piazza. Jacopo and his sister, Maddalena, both alumni of the Music Academy, played […]
Cultural gridlock reigned at the Santa Barbara Club when UCSB Arts & Lectures held its new 63rd season reveal party with 150 guests. “It has all been very challenging,” said Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta Billeci. “There have been many unknown hurdles during the pandemic. But we are now standing on the other side. We […]
It couldn’t have been a more purr-fect evening when ASAP, the Animal Shelter Assistance Program, hosted its eighth annual Basil’s Big Bash at the Hilton, with 274 guests helping raise around $100,000 for the 33-year-old feline charity that provides shelter, veterinary care, and adoption facilities for cats in need. The beachside hostelry’s Plaza del Sol […]
The Fund for Santa Barbara handed out checks totaling $330,000 at a Spring Community Awards celebration at the Cabrillo Pavilion. Since its founding 42 years ago, the organization has given away more than $8.5 million to worthy recipients, says Marcos Vargas, executive director. The fund’s major annual money raising event, held since 1994, is its […]
Opera Santa Barbara ended its season in grand style with a lavish production of Verdi’s 1853 classic La Traviata at the Granada, last performed in our Eden by the Beach 11 years ago. Soprano Anya Matanovic was superb as the titular Fallen Woman with her beloved played rousingly by tenor Nathan Granner in the three-act […]
Ensemble Theatre Company has concluded its 42nd season at the New Vic with an absolute cracker! Anthony Shaffer’s Tony Award-winning 1970 play Sleuth, directed by Jenny Sullivan, staged on a magnificent baronial set, is an absolute old-fashioned delight with two perfectly chosen British actors, Daniel Gerroll and Matthew Floyd Miller as the principal characters of […]
Santa Barbara rock legend Alan Parsons, who received an OBE – Order of the British Empire – in last year’s annual Queen Elizabeth Birthday Honors List, has been presented with his gong at long last after 12 months of pandemic delays. Alan, 73, tells me he received the honor from Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, […]
As Montecito’s Music Academy of the West celebrates its 75th anniversary, it’s a whole new image for the storied 10-acre Miraflores oceanside campus, I can exclusively reveal. For the past eight months, a team of academy board members, administration, and professional consultants – 21C Media Group from New York and My Brilliant Friend from Los […]
To the charming Sunstone Winery in Santa Ynez for A Toast To Home, a fundraiser for PATH – People Assisting the Homeless – which attracted 150 guests and was expected to raise around $60,000 for the 38-year-old charity that has homeless services in more than 150 cities with more than 60 locations. In 2021-22 PATH […]
Racketeers were out in force at La Arcada on State Street when the Santa Barbara School of Squash threw a colorful Viva Las Vegas! bash at the Eleven14 Sports Bar with 100 guests raising more than $50,000. But, laments executive director Robert Graham, it is a squash club without any courts given its regular facility, […]
Prince Harry and his Los Padres team were in fighting form at the Santa Barbara Polo Club before winging to London with his wife, Meghan Markle, and family, Archie, 3, and Lilibet Diana, who turns one on Saturday, for his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth’s four-day Platinum Jubilee Pageant. The Duke of Sussex’s team hoisted the Lisle […]
Santa Barbara City College Foundation hosted its Spring Forward! gala on the Great Meadow of the West Campus with nearly 300 guests raising more than $450,000, with $325,000 collected even before the sun-soaked event began. The ubiquitous Geoff Green, foundation CEO, says the organization provides more than $5 million annually to support scholarships and emergency […]
The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, has awarded a total of $140 million in grants to students, with $7.7 million this year to 2,139 recipients, board chair Matt Rowe told nearly more than 180 guests at the annual dinner at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. The scheme started humbly […]
A new exhibit at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum celebrates the region’s hiking trails and public lands through historic photographs, paintings, and historic items from the museum’s collections. Take a Hike, Save the World is a visual journey through our Eden by the Beach’s most scenic areas, as seen by artists and photographers beginning in […]
Lotusland, the 37-acre botanical paradise founded by opera singer Ganna Walska, was doing everything by the book when it launched a 288-page coffee table tome titled Lotusland: Eccentric Garden Paradise with a lavish lunch bash for 280 guests at the weekend. The Rizzoli publication, beautifully photographed by Lisa Romerein, is intended to share the beauty […]
Tom and Julianna Dain opened the gardens of their picturesque Montecito estate for LifeChronicles 2022 Remarkable Life Award and Film Festival with 100 guests raising more than $75,000. The awards, with ubiquitous emcee Geoff Green, honored Journal columnist, entrepreneur, and futurist Rinaldo Brutoco and his wife, Lalla, and the popular organization, founded by Kate Carter […]
Former actress Meghan Markle “came from nothing” and “trampled on others to get to the top” like a politician or a tycoon, her acid-penned biographer has revealed. “Victims” of the Duchess of Sussex, 40, are telling all in a new book by British investigative journalist Tom Bower, 75, he claims. Bower, speaking to GB News, […]
Ensemble Theatre Company staged its tour-de-force one-man show Vincent at the New Vic, originally presented by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in March to sold-out audiences as it mounted its highly acclaimed Vincent Van Gogh exhibition. The play paints a thoughtful, imaginary scenario about one of the most famous names in the art world […]
American Riviera Bank in the Upper Village was socially gridlocked when Walk Montecito hosted a sunset soirée for 50 supporters with wine donated by Doug Margerum and food from Rincon Catering. The sole-searching three-year project that is costing around $2,504,000 to complete the eight-and-a-half-mile neighborhood trail, has already raised $1,400,332 with two miles finished. It […]
Prince Harry may not be appearing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with his actress wife Meghan Markle after the Trooping of the Color ceremony next month, but he was definitely front and center at the Santa Barbara Polo Club playing in the final of the Folded Hills Pope Challenge final on Sunday. The closely […]
After a two-year absence given the pandemic, the Dream Foundation hosted its 11th annual Flower Empower lunch at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, with a record 239 guests raising more than $140,000 for the popular organization that fulfills the final wishes of terminally-ill adults. “It’s so nice to be together again with real people and […]
Peace and love were on the musical menu when the 74-year-old Santa Barbara Choral Society performed a Pax + Amare concert at the First Presbyterian Church under veteran conductor JoAnne Wasserman. Latvian baritone soloist Valdis Jansons, a voice coach at UCSB, sang in both pieces – French composer Maurice Duruflé’s 1947 “Requiem” and Ralph Vaughan […]
Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet mesmerized at the Granada when they performed for two consecutive nights as part of UCSB’s Arts & Lectures program. The magnificent company under Scottish artistic director Ashley Wheater kicked off the first night with Liam Scarlett’s “Vespertine,” originally created for the Norwegian National Ballet in 2015 and premiering with the Joffrey three […]
Call it the Prince Harry effect! Since it was announced that Queen Elizabeth’s 37-year-old grandson would be playing regularly in the 12-goal matches at the Santa Barbara Polo Club with his old friend Argentinian Ralph Lauren Polo model Nacho Figueras, the club’s telephone has been ringing off the hook and the website deluged with viewers. […]
Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s courtyard suffered major social gridlock when the Community Environmental Council hosted its spring fundraiser Metamorphosis: An Emergence with 250 guests raising more than $60,000. The boffo bash, a smaller affair than the organization’s annual Green Gala at The Lark, was co-chaired by board member Carolyn Fitzgerald and executive director Sigrid Wright […]
Santa Barbara Polo Club member Jef and Katie Graham opened the doors of their charming Montecito Ranch home for a gala for the ten-year-old club training center attended by 120 guests, raising more than $50,000. Center president Rhys Williams emceed the sunset soirée with volunteers from the Westmont College and UCSB polo teams. Jeff Scheraga, […]
Opera Santa Barbara took over the cavernous stage at the Granada for A Night in Rome, a monochromatic themed tribute to the iconic 1960 Oscar-winning Federico Fellini-directed satire comedy-drama film starring Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg, with a sold-out crowd of 154 guests raising more than $180,000 for the popular organization. The boffo bash, emceed […]
Michael Behrman, a local doctor, and his wife, Sonia, both foster parents, opened the picturesque gardens of their Hope Ranch home overlooking the Pacific when Angels Foster Care hosted its first Al Fresco lunch in three years with 255 guests raising more than $100,000. “It’s really overwhelming for all of us to be back like […]
More than 100 guests were in the pink when the Breast Cancer Resource Center hosted its 14th annual THRIVE fashion show around the rustic lily pond at the Belmond El Encanto raising in excess of $75,000. Breast cancer survivors Lisa Couch, Beverly King Dorsey, Barbara Urbonas, Marietta Jablonka, Judy Blanco, and Melinda Rogers modeled fun […]
It was a night on the tiles when Dan and Meg Burnham hosted a Crescendo bash for Santa Barbara Symphony supporters at their penthouse aerie above the Granada Theatre to celebrate the orchestra’s Fandango Picante concert under maestro Nir Kabaretti. Violin superstar Anne Akiko Meyers performed music by legendary composer Arturo Marquez during the Mexican […]
Carpinteria’s international bestselling children’s author Hal Price and entertainment artist Michael Bayouth have gained national recognition as winners of the inaugural Bedside Reading Book Cover Award for their children’s rhyming verse chapter work, A Heart’s Journey Home. “It has been a magical experience working with such an amazing talent like Michael,” says Price. “We first […]
Santa Barbara-based Camerata Pacifica has appointed Jonathan Weedman to its board. He has more than 30 years of extensive professional experience working in the corporate, nonprofit, and community sectors, and was the sixth executive director for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. From 1996 to 2016 he served as senior Vice President for the […]
Santa Barbara Polo Club is now by royal appointment! Prince Harry is going to be playing regularly on the Los Padres team with his good friend, Argentinian Ralph Lauren Polo model Nacho Figueras, in the 12-goal tournament at the lush Carpinteria equestrian facility. “Prince Harry is an avid polo enthusiast and player, and has played […]
It was all tu-tu much when social gridlock reigned at the venerable Lobero when the State Street Ballet closed its season with a gala performance featuring highlights from the company’s repertoire from the past 27 years. The glittering event also paid tribute to philanthropic patrons Sara Miller McCune, Carrie Towbes, Margo Cohen-Feinberg, and Tim Mikel, […]
To UCSB’s Campbell Hall to see the talented Danish String Quartet perform part two of its four-year-old Doppelgänger Project, supported by the college’s Arts & Lectures program, as well as New York’s Carnegie Hall. The project pairs world premieres from four renowned composers with chamber music masterpieces by Schubert, including “Death and the Maiden” and […]
Six communication amazons were honored at the newly renovated Cabrillo Pavilion when the local chapter of The Association for Women in Communications held its 14th annual Santa Barbara event emceed by former KEYT-TV anchor and 2012 award recipient Paula Lopez Ochoa. The resilient and courageous sextet of communicators, who played key roles in getting critical […]
An energized and frenetic program provided a thoroughly entertaining evening when New York-based Ballet Hispánico performed Noche de Oro: A Celebration of 50 Years at the Granada, as part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures program. The tony troupe, under artistic director Eduardo Vilaro, performed three very differing works with Arabesque from 1984, an […]