Arts News
- July 17, 2024
Gaining professional experience and helping fellow Slugs through Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program
In her last year at UC Santa Cruz, Jane Grantham tackled numerous challenges, but one project stands out: developing a resource to assist fellow students in preparing for their careers.
- July 12, 2024
Artist-led walk-through offers rare opportunity to hear a creator discuss their own work in relationship to peers'
Seeing Through Stone opened in April, but is now hosting a unique opportunity to walk through the exhibition with one of the artists.
- July 02, 2024
Iconic concert film ‘Stop Making Sense’ playing at the Quarry Amphitheater
Of the many iconic figures who’ve come to Kresge Hall, none seem to be remembered as widely or as fondly as Talking Heads. Their 1977 performance and its history is what, in-part, led Jose Reyes-Olivas, the events and facilities general manager of the Quarry Amphitheater, to host a showing of the bands 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense.
- June 26, 2024
EmpowHer Sound: A seminar to help pave the way for women in music
UC Santa Cruz will be hosting EmpowHer Sound, a three hour exploration of a music production for women. The July 11 event is free for everyone. As an introductory course audience members will learn basic skills and tools to help that on their career journey in music.
- June 24, 2024
UC Santa Cruz alumna receives prestigious Sundance Fellowship
Brenda Avila-Hanna, who finished her MFA in Social Documentary in 2013, has won a prestigious fellowship at Sundance as part of their Producer Program. Her new film which combines fiction and documentary is her second ever feature film.
- June 10, 2024
The Harrisons' 'Survival Piece #5: Portable Orchard' on display at the Whitney
Survival Piece #5: Portable Orchard conceived and designed in 1972 by leading pioneers of the eco-art movement and UC Santa Cruz emeriti professors Helen Mayer Harrison (1927–2018) and Newton Harrison (1932–2022) will be exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York starting on June 29, 2024.
- June 10, 2024
The UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media Department celebrates 25 years
The Film and Digital Media Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz proudly marks 25 years, celebrating a legacy of success and innovation.
- June 03, 2024
The print sale celebrates its 50th anniversary
The Art Department is celebrating the 50th anniversary of UC Santa Cruz’s annual print sale. The widely beloved event features unique, handmade works and it is open to the public.
- May 30, 2024
The UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media Department presents: 'Echoes of Home'
To celebrate their achievements over the past two years the graduate film students are showcasing their works. The presentation at the Del Mar Theatre marks years of progress and the end of their time at University of California, Santa Cruz.
- May 23, 2024
In Memoriam: Larry Polansky
Composer, theorist, and professor emeritus Larry Polansky passed away on May 9, 2024 at age 69. Following a successful career in the music industry, Polansky (‘77, math and music) returned to the UC Santa Cruz campus in 2013 to join the Music Department faculty. He retired in 2019, but his years here left a lasting impact on his colleagues, students, and campus as a whole.
- May 21, 2024
The UCSC Arts Division & Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery present 'Material Matters'
Once a year the art department hands out its most prestigious award, the William Hyde Irwin and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship. Every year twelve students receive this merit scholarship to help them create work that will be presented in the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery. This year the 38th annual Irwan Exhibition runs from May 29 through June 15.
- May 20, 2024
The UCSC Arts Division presents Los Mejicas annual Spring show ‘Grupo Folklorico’
As one of the oldest organizations on campus, Los Mejicas has over half a century of bringing people together to celebrate their Mexican heritage. Their upcoming annual spring show, which marks the 52nd anniversary of the groups existence, celebrates traditional dance forms from six different regions in Mexico.
- May 15, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division presents "Iolanthe"
Iolanthe may not be Gilbert & Sullivan’s best known work but according to music lecturer Sheila Willey “I actually think the music is more interesting and a little bit more sophisticated, but not less accessible,” than their other productions. The upcoming performance of the operetta at UC Santa Cruz marks the first time in five years the music department has put on a Gilbert & Sullivan show since they did Pirates of Penzance in 2019.
- May 15, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division Presents 'Find Your Path!'
Find Your Path! is a two-day experience that guides students through potential career pathways through both in person and online events.
- May 10, 2024
$1M grant to help prepare students for impactful careers in the arts
The UCSC entity Moving Image Lab, a new partnership between the Isaac Julien Lab and The Humanities Institute, will receive the prestigious Mellon Foundation funding that will provide the hands-on experience and career-building training in production, curation, and research and publication that distinguishes this project.
- May 02, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division presents "An Iliad"
Professor Patty Gallagher, in collaboration with other UCSC faculty, arranged an upcoming of 'An Iliad,' a retelling of Homer's classic. The show represents years of work, and has been showing around the world since 2022.
- April 23, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division presents Prahlad Singh Tipanya
University of California, Santa Cruz is happy to welcome Prahlad Singh Tipanya and his ensemble for a rare performance of Indian folk music featuring the poetry of singer-saint Kabir. The Sunday performance will include music that is rarely heard in the United States.
- April 17, 2024
Slug 48: The new 48 hour film challenge for students
The Department of Film and Digital Media is introducing the first event of its kind, Slug 48. Participating undergraduates will have 48 hours to create a film from start to finish including script writing, filming, and post production. Students can participate in groups or sign up alone, it all starts this Friday April 19.
- April 16, 2024
Arts Division alumnus and artist, Fritz Chesnut, teaches art workshop for students
Recently, the University of California, Santa Cruz Arts Division hosted a workshop with alumnus and noted artist Fritz Chesnut. For three days Chesnut worked with a group of Art students teaching them a technique for applying paint distinctively to canvas using unexpected tools and materials as a new mode of creating abstract art.
- April 11, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Digital Arts and New Media program presents the 2024 MFA exhibition: "Embodiments"
The Digital Arts and New Media (DANM) program is showcasing the students’ best work in its annual MFA exhibition. Entitled Embodiments, the show features multimedia exhibits including visual novels, games and virtual reality as explorations into identity.
- April 10, 2024
The Institute of Arts and Science & the San Jose Museum of Art present "Seeing Through Stone"
The Institute of the Arts and Sciences at UC Santa Cruz (IAS) and San José Museum of Art (SJMA) are pleased to present Seeing through Stone, a multi-sited exhibition bringing together works by international artists whose works engage a history of struggle against prisons and their harms.
- April 10, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division presents “Search Party”
The Environmental Art & Social Practice (EASP) MFA looks at the intersection of the arts in terms of climate change and other systemic conflicts. This year’s MFA show is the second ever and features work from seven artists.
- March 18, 2024
April in Santa Cruz Creative Music and Arts Festival 2024: "A Time For Change"
The annual month-long celebration of the arts is back at UC Santa Cruz. There will be a dozen performances by talented professionals in art forms including dance, animation and much more.
- March 18, 2024
The Hindustani music concert featuring Uday Bhawalker accompanied by Sukhad Manik Munde
As a part of the (unofficially titled) Indian Music Series, University of California, Santa Cruz is welcoming Uday Bhawalkar to campus for a concert on Friday, April 12. The renowned vocalist will be performing Dhrupad music, one of the oldest musical genres in the Hindustani tradition.
- February 29, 2024
Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu launches her new book: "The Movies of Racial Childhoods"
To celebrate, Shimizu will be hosting a book launch on the University of California, Santa Cruz Campus at the Sesnon Gallery, where the book will be available for purchase from Two Birds Books. The book will be discussed in conversation with Shimizu and the Sesnon Gallery director Valeria Miranda.
- February 26, 2024
The Center for Creative Ecologies presents "Nuclear Nows: Contemporary Art, Radiation, and Militarized Ecologies”
This two-part symposium is the work of Zoe Weldon-Yochim, a Ph.D. Candidate in Visual Studies, in collaboration with T.J. Demos, Professor in the Department of the History of Art and Visual Culture and Director of the Center for Creative Ecologies, and will discuss the intersection of contemporary art, militarized ecologies, and nuclear nationalism.
- February 26, 2024
The UCSC Music Department presents "The World Making Aura of Sonic Blackness" with Moor Mother & James Gordon Williams
On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, the University of California, Santa Cruz Music Department presents a very special performance by guest artist Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) and James Gordon Williams, assistant professor of music composition at UC Santa Cruz in the Recital Hall of the Music Center.
- February 22, 2024
Stranger Things VR game co-written by UCSC’s Samantha Gorman launches in partnership with Netflix, Meta
A new virtual reality (VR) game set in the world of Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things launches today — and UC Santa Cruz Assistant Teaching Professor of Computational Media Samantha Gorman is a key creative mind behind it as the game’s co-writer and narrative director.
- February 15, 2024
Legal Studies major Lauren Elscott found her passion with music and events on campus
Lauren Elscott is senior in the legal studies program whose true passion lies in music and events. At UC Santa Cruz she discovered the electronic music minor and how to be involved on campus.
- February 12, 2024
Innovation at the intersection: An alum’s trailblazing ventures in tech, film, and social change
Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler is an award-winning tech entrepreneur, a filmmaker and producer, a social justice advocate, and a scholar.
- February 12, 2024
After Man: Alterhuman Ethics and Poetics at the Climate Change Tipping Point
Join associate professor micha cárdenas for her talk about the meeting point between the end of humanity and contemporary art.
- February 09, 2024
The UCSC’s African American Theater Arts Troupe presents Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage
Light-hearted comedy captures the struggles of the formerly incarcerated staff as they hope for a better life
- February 09, 2024
UCSC Central Asian Ensemble honors traditional Uzbek music with special guest master dutarist Rozibi Khodjaeva
UC Santa Cruz is home to the only Western dutar ensemble. They will be playing along with Rozibi Khodjaeva, a master dutar player who is visiting from her home in Uzbekistan. Under the instruction of associate music professor Tanya Merchant, the show will be a culmination of what her students have learned so far.
- February 06, 2024
The Department of Performance, Play, and Design depends on crucial funds from Measure 11
Many are hoping for an adjustment to Measure 11, which dictates the quarterly ticket price for all shows. If the measure makes it onto the ballot and passes it will bring in hundreds or thousands of dollars in revenue.
- January 30, 2024
We are all in this together: Favianna Rodriguez and the ecology of social movements
The redwood trees that tower over the UC Santa Cruz campus are glorious manifestations of an ecosystem built on symbiotic relationships. The mighty redwoods, the iconic banana slug, the small sorrel are all interwoven in their existence and survival.
- January 30, 2024
Renowned Sitarist Nishat Khan playing at UC Santa Cruz
The classical Indian musician will play at Music Center Recital Hall along with tabla player Nitin Mitta. The two are internationally recognized musicians. We will be welcoming Khan back after he last played in 2015.
- January 30, 2024
Music Professor Russell Rodriguez wins the Américo Paredes Prize
The American Folklore Society awarded UC Santa Cruz professor Russell Rodriguez the annual Paredes prize in recognition of his work in the arts with the local community and his contributions to folklore and tradition.
- January 24, 2024
Institute of Arts and Sciences announces new interdisciplinary initiative on climate change
A new multi-year initiative will bring together arts and science to start a conversation about marine biology and the effects of climate change. The new exhibit is set to premier in 2025, and the project is already in progress as the Friedlaender lab collaborates with nationally recognized artists.
- January 22, 2024
Institute of the Arts & Sciences announces inaugural artists in the Coha Nowark Art + Science Residency Program
- January 22, 2024
Duke University Press publishes Arts Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu’s new book: The Movies of Racial Childhoods
UC Santa Cruz’s Dean of the Arts Division, award-winning filmmaker and author publishes her fourth sole-written book, exploring contemporary representations of Asian American youth.
- January 18, 2024
UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience partnering with EY on Open Science Data Challenge on Coastal Resilience for students
Climate change is here, and so are its impacts on our communities. Globally, coastal hazards produce increasing costs, often to the most vulnerable populations. That’s why UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) and the University of California Disaster Resilience Network (UCDRN) are partnering with EY on its 2024 Open Science Data Challenge, focused on coastal resilience. CCCR will be hosting an event on campus on Jan. 25 for interested undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty to learn more about this significant opportunity.
- January 09, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Division of Undergraduate Education appoints Soraya Murray as new Provost of Porter College
The Division of Undergraduate Education at UC Santa Cruz is pleased to announce the appointment of Soraya Murray as the new Provost of Porter College, effective July 1, 2024. Murray, an esteemed interdisciplinary scholar with a passion for mentorship, will bring a unique perspective to her new role.