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2021 Arts News

November 16, 2021
Jazz virtuoso Charles Tolliver to reimagine Coltrane’s iconic ‘Africa/Brass’ on 60th anniversary
UC Santa Cruz will celebrate the 60th anniversary of John Coltrane’s iconic 'Africa/Brass' with jazz virtuoso Charles Tolliver joining the UC Santa Cruz Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Choir in a reimagining of the work.
October 28, 2021
How one tiny island influenced the world
Egill Bjarnason, journalist and Soc Doc alumnus, explains the big history of his native Iceland in a "joyously peculiar book."
October 12, 2021
Ensuring student success in both the short and long term
This wide-ranging effort will increase financial support for our undergraduate and graduate students, and advance their access to the guidance and experiences fundamental to their education and ultimately future success.
October 08, 2021
Arts convocation spotlights excellence and inclusion
Renowned conductor Kent Nagano was honored with the inaugural Distinguished Banana Slug Arts Award by the new Arts Dean Celine Shimizu. Shimizu spoke to the power of music and the arts in a time of ‘solemn joy' during the Arts Convocation.
October 05, 2021
Mellon Foundation award to support UC Santa Cruz’s ‘Visualizing Abolition’ initiative
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $1,977,000 grant to support 'Visualizing Abolition,' the nation’s most ambitious and sustained art and prison abolition initiative.
September 24, 2021
New BBQueer Fest dance and arts festival co-produced by UCSC dance professor Gerald Casel
Beginning on September 30, Santa Cruz will host the first annual BBQueer Fest—a four-day dance and arts festival organized by and for QTBIPOC artists and community members.
September 23, 2021
Stellar new faculty strengthen campus research, teaching
To build on existing research strength and branch into new areas of inquiry, UC Santa Cruz has recruited 40 new tenure-track faculty members for the academic year that starts this week.
August 31, 2021
Fundraising push seeks to bring Afghan thought leaders to safety on UCSC campus
UC Santa Cruz has launched an Afghanistan Visiting Scholars Emergency Support Fund, which aims to raise $100,000 before midnight, Sept. 3. as part of an effort place at least two at-risk Afghans into visiting scholar appointments.
August 17, 2021
UCSC theater arts alumna nominated for Emmy Award in television writing
UC Santa Cruz theater arts alumna Ashley Nicole Black is on a roll. The 36-year-old comedian has the distinction of being nominated twice in the same category of television writing for the upcoming 2021 Primetime Emmy Awards.
August 10, 2021
Two new grants support faculty diversity and retention
UC Santa Cruz was awarded grants from the University of California to support two collaborative multi-campus projects for advancing faculty diversity.
July 20, 2021
Susana Ruiz awarded ACLS digital grant to develop VR documentary of 2011 Egyptian Uprising
UC Santa Cruz assistant film and digital media professor Susana Ruiz has received a 2021 Digital Extension Grant of $150,000 from The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) for her project, Arab Data Bodies: Social Media in Mixed Reality.
June 07, 2021
Jeven Zarate-McCoy
In his four years at UCSC, Jeven Zarate-McCoy has served in various lead roles and officer positions with the Game Design and Arts Collaboration student group and is capping his final year as president.
June 07, 2021
Joslyn Chu
Joslyn Chu loved psychology before arriving at UCSC and planned to follow that path. But after a couple of classes she soon fell in love with the issues of Oceania and climate change, particularly how “people in Oceania are using art as a form of activism to spread awareness of effects of climate change,” she said.
June 07, 2021
Nicholas Hidy
It’s tough being a performing arts major when all the performing arts spaces are shut down. That’s the predicament Nick Hidy, who plays the French horn and trombone, found himself in as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe. But, as they say, out of adversity comes innovation.
May 27, 2021
Exhibition explores the art of creating comfort in a year of unexpected hardship and isolation
Twelve of UCSC's most promising artists will have their work on display in the 35th annual Irwin Scholarship exhibition, beginning June 3, at The Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery.
May 23, 2021
UC collaboration launches first online course in the Punjabi language
The first online Punjabi language course for University of California students that launched earlier this year is a collaboration of several UC campuses, centered on UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis.
May 19, 2021
UC Santa Cruz names Celine Parreñas Shimizu new dean of Arts Division
UC Santa Cruz has appointed award-winning filmmaker and film scholar Celine Parreñas Shimizu as dean of the Arts Division, effective July 1.
May 12, 2021
Alumna Reyna Grande wins Latino Spirit Award for Achievement in Literature & Advocacy
UC Santa Cruz alumna Reyna Grande (Kresge '99, B.A. creative writing, film & video) has received a 2021 Latino Spirit Award from the California Latino Legislative Caucus.
May 06, 2021
Creating a soundtrack and adding a heartbeat to the struggle for prison abolition
UCSC’s Institute of the Arts and Sciences will present ‘Music for Abolition'--an artist panel featuring three-time Grammy-award winning musician Terri Lyne Carrington with a dozen prominent guest musicians.
May 04, 2021
Preserving the legacy of Watsonville’s first Filipino immigrants
In partnership with the university, the community-led Tobera Project will develop an oral history archive and digital exhibition to be housed at McHenry Library.
April 19, 2021
Live reading of The Comedy of Errors to benefit new scholarship for theater students
UCSC’s Arts Division will present a live virtual reading of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors on Friday, April 23, to honor Theater Arts professor Danny Sheie, who is retiring this year after three decades at the campus.
April 15, 2021
Two UC Santa Cruz arts professors receive 2021 Guggenheim Fellowships
Film and digital media professor Irene Lusztig and art professor Elizabeth Stephens were among the 184 artists, writers, scholars, and scientists selected this year from nearly 3,000 applicants to receive Guggenheim Fellowships.
April 08, 2021
UCSC climate change conference focuses on food security issues
‘Confronting Climate Change: Food Security in a Changing World’ will be held virtually April 28-29, featuring a panel of experts and a series of short films.
April 06, 2021
UC Santa Cruz to launch new support center to advance the university’s innovation, industry engagement
UC Santa Cruz is launching a new support center to advance innovation, entrepreneurship and business engagement that will leverage the campus’s innovative spirit and be guided by its deep commitment to environmental and social justice.
April 06, 2021
Proud Slugs making a difference through public service
A Superior Court judge. The director of the public art program for Los Angeles. A defense attorney. They all believe in public service, and they all say their time at UC Santa Cruz changed their lives in permanent ways.
April 01, 2021
UCSC awarded three 2021 VOICE grants from UC National Center for Free Speech
UC Santa Cruz has received three awards from the UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement's Valuing Open and Inclusive Conversation and Engagement (VOICE) Grant Program.
March 22, 2021
Founding UC Santa Cruz professor and revered literary and cultural critic Harry Berger Jr. dies at 96
Harry Berger Jr., professor emeritus of literature and art history at UC Santa Cruz, died on March 12, 2021, at age 96. An internationally recognized scholar and founding UCSC faculty member, Berger was known for a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary approach that goes far beyond traditional academic boundaries.
March 11, 2021
How to live like Shakespeare
A new series of conversations about Shakespeare that explore different aspects of human experience and the human condition kicks off April 5, co-hosted by Sean Keilen, director of UCSC's Shakespeare Workshop, and Julia Lupton, co-director of the New Swan Shakespeare Center at UC Irvine.
February 21, 2021
Bringing physical engagement into the online teaching and learning environment
A new series of videos is now available to UCSC students, faculty, and staff to help offset the increasingly sedentary lifestyle generated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
February 16, 2021
Congratulations on 30 years of excellence
We are proud to offer our congratulations to AATAT, our African American Theater Arts Troupe, as it marks 30 years of community building, artistic excellence, and public service. It is a grand achievement for a small theater group willed into existence by a visionary staff member and a dozen students to be thriving three decades later.
February 05, 2021
Troupe dynamic
UC Santa Cruz's African American Theater Arts Troupe, which is celebrating its 30-year anniversary, has not only staged plays but also taken up works that deal with issues of race, injustice, and discrimination; brought its performances into the community; and awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships.
February 04, 2021
Three UCSC film alumni recognized by International Documentary Association
Three alumni from UCSC’s Film and Digital Media Department received nominations for this year's prestigious International Documentary Association Awards (IDA).
January 22, 2021
New book by arts professor takes fresh look at controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe
UCSC history of art and visual culture professor Derek Conrad Murray offers the first dedicated book-length critical study of Mapplethorpe's lesser-known still life flower photographs.