2020  Arts News

UCSC arts professor documents spread of COVID-19 inside prisons, jails, and detention centers

A new Interactive web project by film and digital media professor Sharon Daniel creates a cumulative public record and evolving history of the pandemic’s impact on those incarcerated

Campus publishes sixth edition of “inquiry@UC Santa Cruz” research magazine

The stories, crafted by alumni of the world-renowned UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Master’s Program, cover projects across the five academic devisions.

UCSC offers new M.F.A. degree program in Environmental Art and Social Practice

The UC Santa Cruz Art Department is now accepting applications for a new M.F.A. degree program in Environmental Art and Social Practice (EASP), set to begin in fall quarter of 2021.

The 2020 new Slug reality: Handling adversity and transitioning to a virtual learning experience

Remote learning has its challenges, but the newest class of Banana Slugs is making the most out of this uncharted experience.

Arts professor micha cárdenas wins IndieCade Award for climate art game

Sin Sol (No Sun), an art game by UCSC assistant professor of Art & Design: Games and Playable Media, micha cárdenas, has won the Impact Award at the 2020 IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games.

Film professor Jennifer Taylor’s new documentary to screen online at DOC NYC film festival

America’s largest documentary film festival will be screening 'For the Love of Rutland'—the new documentary feature by UCSC associate professor of film and digital media Jennifer Maytorena Taylor—online throughout the U.S. this month.

UCSC Library completes project to make 670 Cabrillo Music Festival recordings available to public

The project preserves and now makes available live Festival performances from 1964 to 1990, featuring works by such experimental artists as John Cage, Annea Lockwood, and Lou Harrison.

The savior of the opera

With dampened prospects for in-person classes, rehearsals, and performances this pandemic year, UC Santa Cruz’s opera program is adapting with help from donor Scott Lord

‘Visualizing Abolition’ series kicks off with conversation featuring Angela Davis and Gina Dent

The UCSC Institute of the Arts and Sciences has joined forces with associate feminist studies professor Gina Dent to offer a year-long online series featuring artists, activists, scholars, and lawyers united by their commitment to the struggle for prison abolition.

Challenging how we see the prison-industrial complex

An ambitious two-part exhibit, titled Barring Freedom and Visualizing Abolition, organized by the UC Santa Cruz Institute of the Arts and Sciences, combines art and activism to address prison and policing issues.

10-screen film installation and photo exhibition by professor Isaac Julien opens at McEvoy Arts

The McEvoy Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco will present the West Coast debut of 'Lessons of the Hour,' a moving image and photography exhibition about the life of Frederick Douglass by British filmmaker, installation artist, and UC Santa Cruz professor of the arts, Isaac Julien.

New faculty build on campus strengths

UC Santa Cruz is welcoming 43 new faculty members to campus this academic year. Areas of expertise include psychology, mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics, computer science and engineering, and much more. 

UC Santa Cruz alumna Maya Rudolph wins two Emmy Awards

Last night, UC Santa Cruz alumna Maya Rudolph picked up her second Emmy of the week for her impression of California senator and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live

New art game explores intersection of personal trauma and climate induced wildfires

Sin Sol (No Sun) is an augmented reality game that allows players to experience the feelings of a climate change event. Set 50 years in the future, it tells the story of environmental collapse from the past—which is our present in 2020.

Summer Session helps students earn degrees

UC Santa Cruz staff and faculty have been steadily working to increase summer session enrollment, leading UCs in online offerings and working with departments to offer the classes students need to graduate.

John R. Lewis College: Providing the tools to stand up against injustice and create change

John R. Lewis College students take on social justice issues while pushing for positive growth and progress in society.

Rising to the Eco-Challenge

Two Slug alumni were part of a grueling, 11-day, 416-mile adventure race called Eco-Challenge Fiji, caught in a 10-episode series streaming on Amazon Prime.

New film by Jennifer Taylor portrays Vermont town as microcosm of divided America

"For the Love of Rutland," a new documentary by UCSC film professor Jennifer Taylor, is an exploration of the multiple problems now faced by rural America--most notably the opioid epidemic, income inequality, racism, and xenophobia. 

Merrill College: Embracing individuality and cultural identities

Merrill College values diversity, inclusion, and experiential learning.

UCSC collaborates with Santa Cruz Shakespeare for virtual Shakespeare Summer Series

The Humanities Institute and Shakespeare Workshop at UC Santa Cruz are joining forces with Santa Cruz Shakespeare to present their first virtual Shakespeare Summer Series.

UCSC’s SocDoc graduate documentary films to be screened online June 15 to August 31

UC Santa Cruz will present the premiere of thesis films by nine graduating M.F.A. students in the field of social documentation this year—in a special online presentation from June 15 to August 31.

Committee on Teaching recognizes innovative, dedicated instructors

The UC Santa Cruz Committee on Teaching has announced the eight recipients of the 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award.

UCSC faculty and alumni win Rydell Visual Arts Fellowships from Santa Cruz Community Foundation

A dance lecturer and two alumni from the UC Santa Cruz Arts Division have been awarded Rydell Visual Arts Fellowships for 2020 and 2021 from Community Foundation Santa Cruz County.

Virtual art galleries created to exhibit works of 13 Irwin Scholars

This year’s exhibition of artwork by 13 Irwin Scholars typically would be installed at the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery at Porter College. But, with campus closed and a physical exhibition out of the question, Irwin 2020 has gone virtual.

Cowell College: Blazing the trail to lifelong learning

UC Santa Cruz’s first college prides itself on academic rigor and the spirit of community, living up to its motto: “The pursuit of truth in the company of friends.”

Alumnus sews up $1 million prize on TV's Making the Cut

Graduate Jonny Cota, competing against international designers, makes a splash on reality-style fashion show produced by model Heidi Klum and fashion consultant Tim Gunn.

Watch UCSC participants talk about hope during TEDx Santa Cruz

Last December, TEDx Santa Cruz hosted a day-long extravaganza of talks curated around the theme of "The Art of Hope." Those talks, including ones by several UCSC affiliates, are now available for online viewing.

UC Santa Cruz theater arts costume shop steps up to combat COVID-19

Just a couple of weeks ago, Brent Foland never imagined he'd be building face masks for his fellow UC Santa Cruz employees.

Art in the time of COVID

UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of the Arts and Sciences offers shelter-in-place relief with a new, virtual museum called Art Without Distance, featuring sights, sounds, words, curricula, and even a quirky campus tour.

Broadcasting opportunity

Alumnus Rizal Aliga takes the KZSC model to his high school alma mater, establishing a student-run broadcasting club that builds school spirit while providing students with career and communications skills.

How to #keepteaching and #keeplearning during a pandemic

Jody Greene is eager—almost desperate—to help her colleagues who are facing the unprecedented challenge of shifting to remote instruction for the entire spring quarter.

UC Santa Cruz campus was ready for its close-up

Producers of 'Devs,' the new sci-fi thriller that premiered March 5 on Hulu, were looking for just the right location to depict a high-tech corporate campus with a tinge of dystopia. It needed to look like Northern California — sort of Silicon Valley-ish — and it needed to say science and tech. UC Santa Cruz was the right place at the right time.

Art professor’s exhibition in Spain addresses algae and climate change

UC Santa Cruz art professor Jennifer Parker believes that algae are an “unsung hero of the planet”--noting that these photosynthetic organisms produce one half of the total global oxygen, while absorbing one third of the carbon dioxide produced worldwide...

Stevenson College: An inclusive, collaborative social atmosphere

Stevenson College was built on a legacy of responsibility, engagement, and mutual understanding, preparing students to become leaders and to make positive social change in their communities.

UCSC taking art/science LASER talk series downtown for special evening at Rio Theater

On Wednesday, Feb. 19, the Institute of the Arts and Sciences will bring its local LASER—now in its seventh year of quarterly talks on campus—downtown for a special evening at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz, beginning at 7 p.m.

In Memoriam: Jonathan Kahana (1966-2019)

‘We The Enemy’ solo show by artist Carlos Motta explores the politics of borders

'We the Enemy,' the first West Coast solo exhibition of artworks by internationally acclaimed artist Carlos Motta, opens at the Sesnon Gallery on Jan. 23. It will be accompanied by 'Bodies on the Border,' a symposium at UCSC and SFMOMA, organized by the artist in collaboration with UCSC's Institute of the Arts and Sciences.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor to kick off ‘Beyond the End of the World’ lecture series

The Humanities Institute and the Center for Creative Ecologies at UC Santa Cruz will launch the "Beyond the End of the World" lecture series with award-winning author Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, on January 23, at the Music Center Recital Hall.

Arts professor’s anthology named one of 'Best Art Books of the Decade'

'Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology'--a diverse collection of essays edited by UCSC history of art and visual culture professor Jennifer González--has been named one of the "Best Art Books of the Decade" by ArtNews.