The annual Arts Division Convocation brings together the community to celebrate the new school year. The Distinguished Banana Slug Awards in the Arts is given every year to an honoree who exemplifies excellence and a dedication to the Arts Division. This year’s recipients are (posthumously) former professor Eduardo Carrillo, and his wife Alison Keeler Carrillo.
“I feel happy for anything that brings Ed's name forward,” says Alison. She has worked hard to maintain her late husband’s legacy, in part by creating the Museo Eduardo Carrillo, a foundation dedicated to honoring Eduardo Carrillo and his work. “I feel like he's getting the award, and the Museo Eduardo Carrillo is getting the award.”
The pair originally met when Eduardo saw Alison give a talk, although it would be four more years until he called her and they started dating. “I spent at least two months talking on the phone with him. He was so much fun to talk to that we just had a delightful time chatting,” says Alison. The duo kept their relationship platonic at the beginning given they were still in separate relationships.
She describes seeing him in person for their first date as “awe inspiring,” and she needed to keep reminding herself that she already knew everything about him. “All of a sudden, I was with this very handsome man.” They realized they had similar intentions, getting married and having children, and stayed together for 10 years before Eduardo’s death in 1997.
After his death, in conjunction with former University of California, Santa Cruz chancellor Mary Rita Cooke Greenwood, his friends and family created the Eduardo Carrillo Memorial Scholarship Fund. “The person who stepped right up with the minimum donation was my mother; she just donated $10,000 that day,” says Alison. Now, over 20 years later, the scholarship awards up to $1,000 to outstanding art students with documented financial need.
This fall marks the third anniversary of the Distinguished Banana Slug Award in the Arts. On the upcoming Convocation: An Arts Fall Welcome, Arts Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu says: “Beginning the fall quarter with our annual Arts Convocation is an important tradition for us particularly in celebrating the mission of the university, the vision of the arts division, and creating a sense of community and collaboration as well as ambition and aspiration. It’s where I outline my vision of the arts as its leader and give the Distinguished Arts Banana Slug Award with an in-depth conversation with them and our faculty.This warm and welcoming event inspires us towards our guiding principles of inclusion and innovation and equity and excellence."
