Arts & Culture
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$350,000 UC grant will expand support for doctoral students at UC Santa Cruz
A new $350,000 University of California grant will help UC Santa Cruz build a more welcoming and supportive environment for doctoral students, as part of the campus’s national leadership as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).
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More than a resume line: high schoolers build community in Art for All
With the summer rapidly drawing to an end, the Institute of the Arts and Sciences (IAS) has said a fond farewell to its 2026 cohort of eleven Santa Cruz County high schoolers who participated in Art for All, a summer youth program.
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Learning beyond the classroom: ten UC Santa Cruz students immerse themselves in Japanese art and culture
Ten students took part in an intense and immersive ten-day trip to Japan. Throughout the journey, they engaged in translanguaging, a practice that allows students to shuffle between two languages or more to deepen comprehension, express complex ideas, and build linguistic proficiency rather than treating languages as separate systems.
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Ethan van Thillo: From student film festival to a cultural institution
Ethan van Thillo (Merrill ’92, Latin American and Latino studies) founded the first-ever Chicano Film Festival at UC Santa Cruz, the first San Diego Latino Film Festival, and San Diego-based nonprofit Media Arts Center San Diego.
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Alumnus and Pixar editor Kevin Nolting empowers next-gen filmmakers at UCSC
Kevin Nolting (Porter ’79, aesthetic studies) founded Slug 48 within UC Santa Cruz’s Arts Division in 2024. The 48-hour filmmaking event empowers UC Santa Cruz students to push past creative boundaries.
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Shining a light on Bleak House: 46th annual Dickens Universe embraces Charles Dickens’s dark masterpiece
Bleak House, a 377,000-word page turner about family intrigue, wicked lawyers, and grinding legal bureaucracy, will be the focus of the 46th annual Dickens Universe this summer.
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From Homer to Hollywood: The enduring fascination with The Odyssey
Ahead of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film release, UC Santa Cruz classics professors discuss the enduring fascination with The Odyssey
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What can you do with a humanities degree? A new UC Santa Cruz course has answers
Launched this spring by the Humanities Division, “What Can I Do with My Degree? Humanities-Powered Jobs” introduces students to the professional possibilities of a humanities education while helping them develop collaboration, leadership, and communication skills that extend far beyond the classroom.
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Celebrating the Humanities at UC Santa Cruz
The annual Celebrating the Humanities gathering was more than just a way to recognize excellence across the division. This event, which filled the Merrill Cultural Center, was also a strong reminder of the relevance and career power of humanistic studies in an era of artificial intelligence.
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Humanities students are rethinking incarceration through VAST and EXCEL programs
Humanities students at UC Santa Cruz are finding new ways to think about incarceration through art, literature, journalism, and community internships.
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Art, research, and Night at the Museum: The flourishing partnership between UC Santa Cruz Humanities and the Museum of Art and History
Over the past ten years, the Humanities Division and The Humanities Institute have had a unique and successful partnership with the Museum of Art and History, working closely on exhibitions, public programming, student fellowships, and research initiatives that connect the university with the broader Santa Cruz community.
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An ancient production for the here and now
Mojada is a modern adaptation of Euripides’s 5th-century rendition of the Greek myth of Medea, exploring the tragic end to Medea’s marriage after her husband betrays her.