Tag archives: SBCC

Ensemble Theatre Company’s two upcoming presentations were already terrifically timely as they arrive within four months of November’s national election. That was part of the purpose behind ETC executive director Scott DeVine’s decision to schedule short productions of Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground and What the Constitution Means to Me as special events this summer. […]

Santa Barbara City College hosted its fifth annual Spring Forward! college foundation gala on the Great Meadow on the West Campus under new CEO Bobbi Abram, who had only been on the job four days after moving from a similar position in Pasadena. “Let the fourth be with you!” she told the more than 300 […]

It seems every orchestra and their third cousins are playing Rhapsody in Blue this season to mark the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s once-controversial 1924 musical composition that combined elements of classical music with jazz piano – billed back then as an Experiment in Modern Music. Our own Santa Barbara Symphony is no exception. But […]

The Atkinson Gallery and Art Department at Santa Barbara City College presented the 2024 Annual Student Exhibition. SBCC first year and second year students submitted their artwork for consideration to be in the show, and to compete for an art studies scholarship.  I attended the Opening Reception on Wednesday, April 17, at the Atkinson Gallery. […]

SBCC Theatre Group closes out its 2023-24 season with Paul Slade Smith’s comedy The Outsider from April 10-27 in the Jurkowitz Theatre on SBCC’s West Campus. The comedy concerns a newly appointed governor of a small state who is terrified of public speaking and paralyzed by TV cameras, but great at actually governing. Determined to […]

Bobbi Abram is Santa Barbara City College Foundation’s new chief executive officer, starting May 1. Abram has spent most of her career as a leader in nonprofit and higher education fundraising and administration, and has served as executive director of the Pasadena City College Foundation since 2012. “This is an exciting time to be joining […]

This week I interviewed Erika Endrijonas, Superintendent and President of Santa Barbara City College. A feminist and a women’s historian, she holds a B.A. in History from Cal State Northridge, and a M.A. and PhD in History from USC. Prior to her position at SBCC, her career included Dean and Professor, Union Institute & University, […]

It was Geoff Green, the longtime CEO of SBCC Foundation, who created and spearheaded the organization’s SBCC Promise, the program that provides all recent local high school graduates with the opportunity to attend the community college full-time free of charge for up to two years. The Promise is comprehensive and robust, covering virtually everything a […]

“Who doesn’t want to play pirate?”  That’s how Michael Bernard explained one of his big reasons for choosing a new adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s beloved adventure story Treasure Island to direct for SBCC Theatre Group’s next production at the Garvin Theatre. “It’s such a classic story and it’s a really fun show, which there […]

Celebrating week three of Black History Month I met with Jordan Killebrew at his Santa Barbara City College office. He is the Executive Director (VP), Public Affairs & Communications for SBCC and has his own Graphics company, JK Graphic Solutions. His current volunteer work includes Founder of Project IV Love and Co-Founder & Executive Director […]

Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner and singer Jewel are reportedly an item. After the Oscar winner’s acrimonious divorce from wife Christine Baumgartner, he and Jewel were having fun on Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson’s private Caribbean Island, Necker, in the British Virgin Islands. The twosome were on the idyllic locale for a tennis fundraiser for Jewel’s […]

I attended the opening of an exhibition at the Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) titled New Landscapes Part I, which is on view through December 8. The artists exhibiting are Whitney Bedford, Diedrick Brackens, Manuel López, Cruz Ortiz, Jonathan Ryan,and Jonas Wood. The exhibition was conceived and curated by Atkinson Gallery Director […]

Local Nonprofit Lion Moves to the Heart of Service Geoff Green smiles a lot in conversation, and he’s smiling now. This is not the tactical smile produced through gnashed teeth (you know the one), but a genuine show of pleasure in the moment. This can be disorienting to the part-time social cynic. Or so I’ve […]

Guys and Dolls garnered a standing ovation in its glorious opening night at SBCC’s Garvin Theatre last Friday in a production that deserves kudos not only for its smartly-matched and crisply-directly 25-member cast – with plenty of chemistry in the two main couples – but also for its impressive full-scale set, terrific live orchestra, and […]

If Anikka Abbott’s career had taken a different turn, she might be about to sing a soprano role at the Granada in the Music Academy’s opera in Santa Barbara this weekend.  As what happens in life, there’s been a bit of a detour, including serving as first runner-up to Miss Washington in the Miss America […]

After days of May gray, the sun shone brightly when Santa Barbara City College Foundation hosted its 4th annual Spring Forward! gala on the campus’s Great Meadow with 320 guests raising around $450,000 for general funds. Chief Executive Officer Geoff Green welcomed the supportive crowd of staff, faculty, college trustees and volunteers, and auctioned off […]

Rick Mokler is updating Our Town for our times and, well, our town too.  With George and Emily Get Married, the (now officially retired) longtime theater teacher at area high schools, who also later chaired the SBCC Theater Department, has taken the young lovers from Thornton Wilder’s 85-year-old chestnut, updated their professions to a recent […]

Here comes the Santa Barbara International Film Festival: more than 200 movies, including 52 world premieres and 78 U.S. premieres, representing more than 40 countries and just about every film genre ever invented, including a wide swath of documentaries elucidating myriad topics. The usual Oscar nominee-decorated/movie star actor tributes and an even more Academy Award-hopeful […]

Milt and Arlene Larsen opened the doors of their former club, the Magic Castle, to let the public know that the space by the Bird Refuge is now available for rental. Sarah Anticouni’s Groovy Vintage Clothing is already leasing space in the property, the former Cafe del Sol, so guests, including Alan and Lisa Parsons, […]

Fresh from the over-the-top antics, physical pratfalls, and intentionally terrible timing of The Play That Goes Wrong, which pulled out the stops – and mantle pieces and body parts, but no punches on closing night last weekend – SBCC Theatre Group segues into a student production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, one […]