Tag archives: UCSB
Several years ago, Joe Rohde retired from Walt Disney Imagineering after four decades, eventually serving as executive designer and vice president of creative. He was the lead designer for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the zoological theme park near Orlando, Florida, and led the design team for Disney Resort & Spa’s beachside complex Aulani in Oahu. He […]
UCSB Theatre’s long-standing new play development program Launch Pad moves off campus to downtown Santa Barbara for the first time for a special one-day only staged reading of two works-in-progress at the Ensemble Theatre Company’s New Vic Theatre on August 27. It’s the result of both a new one-year-old collaboration between ETC and Launch Pad […]
It’s no accident that dance is at the front of the new oversized magazine promoting the 2026-27 UCSB Arts & Lectures season. After all, among all of the luminous events spread across the arts, entertainment, and spoken word genres, dance has been the sparkling gem in the A&L crown that adorns one of the finest […]
Meghan Bush, who was appointed the Miller McCune executive director of UCSB Arts & Lectures just over a year ago, is understandably excited about the “Word of Mouth” series in the upcoming 2026-27 season, the part that makes up the bulk of the latter half of the A&L moniker. “We have very high standards and […]
The World Cup ended its five-week North American run with two of the most diametrically-opposed games imaginable. The final found Argentina strangely taking on the style deployed by England in the semi-final when the European side went into ultimate defensive posture after scoring a single goal, allowing the South American defending champs to once again […]
France is still favored to win the World Cup – at least as of this writing – but the boys in blue are going to have to compete with output from their country even more artisanal than a sizzling Mbappé strike. Which is to say, the annual SBIFF French Wave Film Festival invades Santa Barbara […]
UCSB Arts & Lectures just released its impressive slate of events for the 2026-27 season. But before diving into everything the fall, winter and spring seasons gather under the A&L auspices, there is the 15th season of the free Summer Cinema series with which to happily reckon. These Friday night communal screenings at the Santa […]
Between conversations, croquettes, and glasses of bubbly, a crowd gathered for the UCSB Arts & Lectures 2026-2027 Season Reveal party at the Hotel Californian. After a touch of cavorting outside, the guests moved into the Alhambra Ballroom to see what is in store for the world-class set of performances and speakers that audiences have come […]
The UCSB Gauchos flamed out in the regionals of the NCAA baseball tournament late last month, although once again, ace pitcher Jackson Flora was fantastic in his only outing. The decision was made to save him for Game 2 against likely opponent Texas, the No. 6 ranked team in the country, but the plan went […]
Despite a No. 1 seed earned over the course of the full Big West conference season, UCSB’s Gaucho baseball team failed to capture the tournament, falling in successive games after an opening day victory and forfeiting the automatic berth to the NCAA national tourney. But don’t blame Jackson Flora. The righty flamethrowing pitcher added to […]
UCSB’s Launch Pad program was created to serve as a space for authors to develop new plays while working with student actors to incubate their ideas and present them as a work in progress. The emphasis is on producing new work, but the project for 2026, Melinda Lopez’s Standing Still, actually dates back almost 15 […]
San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has, for more than half a century, been a leader in expanding the environment and extent of what a string quartet can do. The Quartet’s CV now boasts more than 70 recordings, thousands of concerts across the globe, constant collaborations with composers and other adventurous musicians – and a seemingly endless […]
A 60-year soccer tradition is getting a new look this spring while benefiting a globally recognized local charity. Since 1966, Westmont and UC Santa Barbara have faced off in one of the Central Coast’s longest-running athletic rivalries. For decades, the match served as a preseason staple in August. However, with Westmont’s recent transition to NCAA […]
Whether by accident or design, UCSB Arts & Lectures has dedicated the first three Tuesdays in April to focusing on the L-word part of its name, with the dates offering discussions of some of the most pressing issues of the day. First up is Ibram X. Kendi, one of the world’s leading scholars of racism […]
It’s a bit of a schlep from Montecito to Fairview Ave. in Goleta, but given that it can often be hard to find an available pickleball court at Muni, or worse yet, have a game go belly up before it begins because of bad weather, The Picklr (yes, that’s the spelling) might be a valuable […]
Local baseball lovers who whooped it up as the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first back-to-back world series winners in a quarter century, were thrilled to see the team enhance its reputation as this era’s Evil Empire – once again signing the top-rated free agent Kyle Tucker to a massive contract in a bid to […]
Music & Meditation – founded by Santa Barbara pianist and composer Antonio Artese in collaboration with Carpinteria-based meditation guide and qigong/tai chi teacher Jessica Kolbe – had a trial launch last November at Weinman Hall on the campus of the Music Academy of the West featuring the two founders. After selling out the initial show, […]
Several no-cost events are on their way from UCSB’s Arts & Lectures, all with tie-ins to full presentations as part of its current season. The classical corner comes up big this season, first with violinist Nicola Benedetti leading a masterclass on Thursday, January 29, at Geiringer Hall, the morning after her concert at Campbell Hall. […]
Trumpeter Miles Davis and saxophonist John Coltrane, two monumental musicians who turned out to revolutionize jazz and beyond, happened to both be born in 1926. A century later, as their influence continues to reverberate in ways even they couldn’t have imagined, two of today’s visionary giants in Terence Blanchard and Ravi Coltrane come together for […]
Montecito Journal’s Richard Mineards is recovering nicely and sends his pip pips and gratitude to everyone who has reached out. New Chancellor and Two Nobel Prize Wins for UCSB Chancellor Dennis Assanis begins his work as the sixth chancellor of UCSB starting January 2026. He is spending his first weeks around campus meeting with students […]
