
Arts & Culture
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Art, activism, and ecosexuality converge in Beth Stephens’ new film, Playing with Fire
Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency, the latest film by UC Santa Cruz professor Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, premiered at Frameline 49, blending queer sexuality, environmental activism, and performance art to explore our intimate relationship with fire and the climate crisis.
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State assemblymember honors The Humanities Institute
The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz celebrated its 25th anniversary with a lively Night at the Museum event at the MAH, featuring speculative fiction projects, public scholarship, and a special commendation from State Assemblymember Gail Pellerin.
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UC Santa Cruz opens cutting-edge Social Documentation Lab to advance justice through film
UC Santa Cruz’s new Social Documentation Laboratory provides a collaborative, inclusive space for graduate students to merge media production with critical scholarship and social justice.
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‘So to Speak’ earns award at IndieX Film Festival
Written, directed and produced by Shimizu, So to Speak features a Filipina American college student, Morena, as she faces questions of sexuality and identity.
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Celebrating the Humanities at UC Santa Cruz
The inaugural UC Santa Cruz Celebrating The Humanities gathering at the Seymour Center made a powerful case for the relevance, impact, and career power of humanistic learning. The event drew over 300 people.
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Changing the story: Acclaimed author William Finnegan on his long journey to The New Yorker
Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Finnegan (Cowell, ‘74, Literature), this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Humanities Undergraduate Alumni Award, spoke of the need for self-reinvention, crooked paths, career switches, and “changing your story” during his acceptance speech at this week’s Celebrating the Humanities event.
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A quarter century of new perspectives: The Humanities Institute turns 25
The Humanities Institute has an outsized impact on UC Santa Cruz and the wider world with its strong focus on research excellence, student success, and public engagement.
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Whales and the stories they carry about climate change are the subject of new art and science exhibition at the IAS
A new exhibit at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences at UC Santa Cruz merges cutting-edge whale research with immersive art to tell powerful, interdisciplinary stories about climate change and ecological justice.
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UC Santa Cruz foundry marks 50 years with bronze pour and celebration of legacy
UC Santa Cruz celebrated the 50th anniversary of its foundry—the last of its kind in the UC system to teach classes—with a festive bronze pour, alumni and student collaboration, and heartfelt tributes honoring its legacy, mentors, and community impact.
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Amending worlds: Rewriting futures at The Humanities Institute’s 25th Anniversary Night at the Museum
On the night of June 5, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History will come alive with squid lights, video projections, interactive computer games, the sights and sounds of archives, and the rustle of recycled fabrics and flags.

