Tag archives: UCSB

After weeks of Nutcrackers and other Christmas-centric holiday shows culminating in big blowout bashes for New Year’s Eve, January’s arrival means we’re back to our usual environment of enviable entertainment in our ultra arts-blessed burg. Here’s some admittedly biased picks and other highly anticipated shows coming our way in winter.  Three big comedy performances happen […]

On October 16, the Lobero hosts a benefit evening supporting Good Samaritan Shelter centered around the premiere of Hope Lives Here: Breaking the Cycle of Homelessness. This short documentary created for Public Broadcasting offers an intimate look at the challenges of homelessness in Santa Barbara County, and the impact of programs that provide shelter, support, […]

The 7th Annual NatureTrack Film Festival, a celebration of nature and outdoor adventure through film, returns October 9-10 to kick off a year-long celebration of nature, adventure, and environmental stewardship that marks NatureTrack Foundation’s 15th anniversary year. The new slimmed-down format begins with a special opening night event at the Riviera Theatre that has already […]

Another longstanding Santa Barbara-based chamber music program also launches its new season this weekend, as the Santa Barbara Music Club opens its 56th series of concerts featuring purely pianists. The “Six Hands at One Piano: Romantic and Modern Perspectives” program, slated for 3 pm on Saturday, September 27, at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (4575 Auhay […]

On Tuesday, September 16, UCSB men’s basketball coach Joe Pasternack and two of his players, Luke Zuffelato of Santa Barbara and Koat Keat Tong of South Sudan, visited Crane Country Day School for an all-school assembly to share life lessons and encourage students to dream big. The main theme of their talk was “attitude” and […]

For most of its history, the UCSB Arts & Lectures-produced program ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! operated under the radar of the usual A&L events. That wasn’t an accident.  The idea was always to cater to the Spanish-speaking segment of the community, one that frequently might have been overlooked not only by A&L but […]

With its 2025-26 season UCSB Arts & Lectures is now offering more classical music events than any other programming organization from fall to spring, with a full 14 concerts on the slate for their 66th season. Recitals dominate the schedule, with performances from pianists Daniil Trifonov, Víkingur Ólafsson, Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Aristo Sham and […]

The 2023 short documentary film The Dads featured five fathers of trans children who joined Dennis Shepard – father of 1998’s infamously murdered teen Matthew Shepard – for a weekend fishing trip. In the course of the outing, the dads found common ground across racial, geographical, and generational lines in their unconditional love for their […]

After a nationwide search, UCSB ended up turning to its own backyard to find the new Miller McCune Executive Director of UCSB Arts & Lectures, tapping Meghan Bush, its Associate Director, to step into the role held for 25 years by Celesta Billeci,  under whose stewardship A&L became one of the country’s most prominent programs.  […]

UCSB pitcher Tyler Bremner impressed scouts, prospect prognosticators, and fans who came out to the ballgames to watch the fireballing right-hander. Bremner turned in a stunning sophomore season in 2024, resulting in his being rated pre-season this spring in the Top 10 for the 2025 draft. But his stock had slipped in the early weeks […]

UCSB Arts & Lectures’ annual series of free summer film screenings outdoors under the stars at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Gardens might have come up with its smartest theme yet. Dubbed “Dog Days of Summer,” the series sports seven nights of dog-themed movies in one of the more spectacular venues in the heart […]

Following a rigorous national search, Meghan Bush has been appointed the Miller McCune Executive Director of UCSB Arts & Lectures effective immediately. Bush brings two decades of dedicated service to A&L and a proven record of creative leadership, operational excellence, and deep commitment to the role of arts in public life. In accepting the new […]

Marianna Victoria Mashek is a Santa Barbara native, a Santa Barbara High School Don, and studied Studio Art at UCSB. She later studied Arts Administration at Antioch University, worked for the Santa Barbara Arts Council and Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, and Santa Barbara City College. If you detect a theme you’re not mistaken – […]

The Montecito Club clubhouse was socially gridlocked when retiring Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta Billeci revealed UCSB Arts & Lectures’ forthcoming 65th season featuring more than 50 events, including seven evenings of newly commissioned works representing its contribution to the national celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. Highlights include legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing three new […]

The Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall was totally energized when UCSB Arts & Lectures hosted captivating violinist Tessa Lark in her Santa Barbara debut with pianist Amy Yang, director of chamber music and piano studies at the Curtis Institute of Music. Béla Bartók’s “Romanian Folk Dances” kicked off the concert also featuring Eugène […]

Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights, UCSB Reads’ 2025 selection, is a New York Times bestselling collection of essays – written daily over the course of a year – celebrating small, ordinary wonders. Gay’s humorous, poetic and philosophical essays cover a wide range of topics, with vignettes that include such luminous oddities as sharing a […]

Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theater is described as “an American cultural treasure” and after two performances at the Granada, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures series, one can see why, as it brought its unique blend of contemporary and classic movement to the cavernous stage. Showcasing a dazzling range of cultural influences and […]

Famed Santa Barbara architect Robin Donaldson has traveled the world with the recent pair of documentary films – The House: 6 Points of Departure and This Is Not a House – that chronicle his immersive work on two important homes in the Montecito foothills; the Crawford House and Hill House. Donaldson, who studied painting and […]

Donavon Frankenreiter headlines the Saturday afternoon new GauchoFest at the annual All Gaucho Reunion at UCSB. Frankenreiter, a longtime associate of UCSB grad Jack (“Bubble Toes”) Johnson and a regular at SOhO over the years, will close out the 2-6 pm concert on April 26 at the UCSB Campus Green that also features DJ Orbs […]

Owls, a New York-based string quartet collective, wooed the audience at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall with their original, visceral performance, part of UCSB Arts and Lectures. The entertaining foursome, which unusually included two cellists rather than two violinists – Gabriel Cabezas and Paul Wiancko, violist Ayane Kozasa, and violinist Alexi Kenney […]