Apr 12 Sunday
Since 2007, UCSB Reads has fostered a shared sense of belonging by bringing the UCSB campus and Santa Barbara communities together to read a common book that explores compelling issues of our time. Conceived by then Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas, the program is led by the UCSB Library in collaboration with campus and community partners. Each year, a committee of UCSB faculty, students, staff, and community members selects a thought-provoking, interdisciplinary book written by a living author that encourages a wide range of readers to engage with a contemporary social, political, cultural or scientific issue such as climate change, racial justice, technology, memory, identity, and democracy.
The program kicks off in winter with a book giveaway for UCSB students led by the Chancellor, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, and University Librarian, and culminates with a free public talk by the book’s author(s) at Campbell Hall in the spring. Throughout the winter and spring quarters, the Library sponsors a variety of free learning, experiential, and social events to explore the book’s themes. The selected book is also incorporated into the university curriculum for winter and spring, allowing students to explore its themes in an academic context. UCSB Reads is generously supported by many individuals, university departments, and organizations.
This exhibition highlights the history of UCSB Reads since its inception, featuring promotional posters, selected books, custom bookmarks along with testimonials and images of participants engaging with programming throughout the years. UCSB Reads has become a beloved campus tradition that brings together thousands of people every year and demonstrates the power of literature to bridge divides, promote intellectual engagement, and build community.
More than 1,200 UCSB students annually participate in the UCSB Education Abroad Program (EAP) to study, intern, and conduct research in 35+ countries, earning UC credit toward majors, minors, and general education requirements. Returning students are invited to share their most memorable images from their time outside the United States with EAP.
Curated by EAP staff, this exhibition showcases standout submissions from EAP’s annual photo contests. Through these eye-catching photographs, students share their experiences living abroad with the campus community and highlight how EAP has enriched their undergraduate education at UCSB.
"Through most of our lives and work, Cedric and I have had deep commitments to collaboration, internationalism, and solidarity movements."–Elizabeth Robinson, 2024
This exhibition documents the life’s work of Cedric J. Robinson and Elizabeth Peters Robinson, placing it in the global context of the Black radical tradition. The Robinsons were renowned for their seminal scholarship and activism that had wide-ranging influence at UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), in academia, and across many public arenas. The exhibition is drawn from the Cedric J. and Elizabeth P. Robinson Archive (“Robinson Archive”) and supplemented by a variety of materials from other collections in UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections, as well as personal contributions from Elizabeth Robinson.
A deeply influential educator, Cedric Robinson (1940-2016) was a well-known scholar of racial capitalism and the Black radical tradition, and an active participant in political movements, both at home and internationally. For more than 30 years, Elizabeth Robinson has been an educator, social worker, former associate director for media at KCSB-FM radio, activist, and community media producer.
This exhibition was curated by Yolanda Blue, the Library’s Curator of American and International History, Politics, and Cultures Collections, in collaboration with New York University and UCSB Library staff.
This collaborative exhibition celebrates the intersection of art and environmental stewardship, highlighting the efforts of the Oak Group, the UCSB Cheadle Center for Biodiversity & Ecological Restoration, and Coal Oil Point Reserve to conserve the Devereux Slough. Art in Service of the Land invites viewers to explore how art documents, interprets, and amplifies the ongoing work of conservation, revealing the beauty and complexity of the North Campus Open Space (NCOS) and inspiring engagement with our local environment.
This exhibition was curated and cosponsored by the Oak Group and the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, in collaboration with UCSB Library staff.
The Oak Group is one of the first artist groups in the U.S. to combine creativity with conservation. Since 1986, Oak Group artists have exhibited artworks painted on location to raise awareness and funds for open spaces, generating over $3 million in sales to support the preservation of lands for wildlife, recreation, ranching, and farming. The group includes 25 active members and has presented more than 100 exhibitions benefiting over 20 conservation organizations.
William Shakespeare’s plays transcended their origins almost immediately. Even during his lifetime, his unforgettable characters and indelible lines were already escaping the stage – taken up by others and repurposed and circulated in diverse ways. While his plays have been performed continuously for over four hundred years, they have also left the stage behind to live on elsewhere.
Printers and publishers have reproduced Shakespeare’s words in every possible textual format and in numerous languages. Literary and visual artists have continuously adapted and reinterpreted them in various artforms. Musicians and choreographers have refashioned his stories into opera, ballet, pop songs, and modern dance. Meanwhile, filmmakers, television writers, and videogame creators have transformed them for modern screens. This exhibition explores the many forms and many afterlives of Shakespeare’s art – from a single scrap of his crabbed handwritten text to the digital media of the twenty-first century.
Infinite Variety was co-curated by David Gartrell, the Library’s Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, and Professor Jim Kearney, Department of English. The exhibition is on display in the Jackie Laskoff Exhibition Alcove, located in the Sara Miller McCune Arts Library (1st Floor, Mountain Side), and is co-sponsored by UCSB Library and the Department of English.
Show the beach some love! Join Explore Ecology for a cleanup on the 2nd Sunday of every month at 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at beautiful Arroyo Burro Beach. Meet in front of the Watershed Resource Center (blue building) to sign in.
You are welcome to bring your own cleanup supplies or use ours. Cleanups will be self-guided and can include the beach, the parking lot, or the open spaces surrounding Arroyo Burro.
Be sure to visit the Watershed Resource Center during cleanup hours to see interactive displays about local watersheds from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.
Participants will receive a coupon for a free cup of chowder from the Santa Barbara Shellfish Co.
Community service volunteer hours are available for this fun outdoor volunteer opportunity.
There’s no need to RSVP- you can just show up. We can’t wait to see you there!
The first-ever “Free Museum Day” at MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, is Sunday, April 12. Presented as part of “Count Play Explore,” a California initiative to foster confidence and curiosity in math, science, and computer science among children from birth through third grade.
Kids of all ages enjoy museum exhibits plus special interactive stations by community partners, including slime-making, a color-changing chemistry activity, water-filtration exploration, two types of robots, and more.
Family resources are available about early childhood development, support services, learning tools, parent education, and more.
Presented in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Education Office. Free admission, but reservations are highly recommended at www.moxi.org.
Tiffany Chung: indelible traces is the first comprehensive museum survey of Vietnamese American artist, Tiffany Chung (born 1969; MFA, UCSB ’00). Including more than 70 artworks that highlight Chung’s expansive 25-year career, these works pointedly reveal histories that have too often been overlooked or intentionally ignored. She excavates the complex and often hidden entanglements—of history, politics, geography, economy, and climate—that accrue and shape landscapes, built environments, conflicts, and human migration. Best known for her intricately drawn and embroidered maps, a major part of Chung’s work interrogates the nexus of the climate-conflict crisis, which views climate disasters and armed conflicts as dual systemic causes of forced migration.
Tiffany Chung: indelible traces is organized by the Art, Design & Architecture Museum and is guest curated by Orianna Cacchione, Deputy Director at the University of Richmond Museums. The exhibition is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support provided by UCSB’s Art Equity Commons, the Billy Rose Foundation, and the AD&A Museum Council.
Thanks to VibeWell this event is free. Reserve your place today!Join choreographer and educator Beth Megill, Artistic Director (AD) of Megill & Company (MeCo), for an inspiring afternoon exploring the creative process behind spontaneous dance.
Making Dance begins with a workshop on improvisational dance techniques at 12:15 pm, followed by a live performance featuring impromptu dance movements at 2 pm..
Workshop participants will discover tools to create playful joyous dances in the MeCo style. Join MeCo company members and explore movement ideas and collaborative dance-making practices. All levels of movers and dancers are welcome.
Directly after the workshop, attendees may perform spontaneous dance-theater for NAMBA audiences. Participants must attend the workshop to perform as part of the afternoon showcase. And of course, you don’t have to perform… if you don’t want to. But, we promise it is super fun!
Beth Megill is a choreographer, performer, and professor of dance at Moorpark College. She holds an MFA in Dance from UC Irvine and co-founded Megill & Company, a Southern California dance theater company known for vibrant, imaginative work that blends humor, intellect, and expressive movement.
