Community Calendar

UCSB Library presents an art installation by artist Elena Yu, exploring histories of the Ethnic and Gender Studies Collection (EGSC) and space in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

In Fall 2023, Yu was invited to create artworks in response to the history of the EGSC. The artist was drawn to two untouched back rooms - former staff offices left exactly as they were when vacated in 2022. Inside, decades of belongings sat frozen in time. In February 2024, the Library was preparing to renovate the rooms. Librarians had sorted and removed items to be sent to the University Archives and gave Yu access to use the remaining materials in her artworks. She was inspired by encountering ephemera related to the history of Ethnic Studies at UCSB and the day-to-day occupations of the library staff, including file cabinets full of book dust jackets and printed correspondences, and bulletin boards whose contents speak to the specific interests of former staff, who were charged with the upkeep of the collections and space.

This exhibition is part of a campus-wide arts partnership with the UCSB Arts Equity Commons (AEC) to support opportunities for engagement of faculty, students, and staff through the presence and practices of contemporary artists. AEC was established in 2022 as a consortium of the Department of Art, Department of History of Art and Architecture, and the Art Design & Architecture Museum through a systemwide grant from the UC Office of the President. The artist would like to thank Gary Colmenar, Angel Diaz, Alyce Harris, Sara Kelly, Marisol Ramos, Jonathan Rissmeyer, and Kim Yasuda for their support of this project.

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.

With Katie Deutschman

Perfect for expanding your grant writing skills, this intermediate workshop dives into the art of proposal writing by exploring the planning phases and each component of a winning proposal. This hands-on workshop will give you the opportunity to learn about how proposals relate to strategic and program planning, grant writing terminology and the basic components of a proposal. You will apply your new knowledge right away as you develop a draft proposal.

Come prepared to write! Please bring copies of your organization’s mission statement, project descriptions, and background materials. Please also bring paper and pen/pencil or a laptop.

Note: This workshop is designed for individuals who have had at least some experience writing and submitting grant proposals. Please register here: https://www.callutheran.edu/centers/nonprofit/workshops/event/2026-01-20-intermediate-proposal-writing-three-module-series

Part I: Tuesday, January 20, 2026 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Part II: Tuesday, January 27, 2026 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Part III: Tuesday, February 3, 2026 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

"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.

Using clips from David Merrick productions, such as 42nd Street, Gypsy, Subways are for Sleeping, Oliver, Hello Dolly and many more, we will view and discuss the life of Broadway’s most renowned producer, David Merrick. HIs childhood was agonizing, and yet he rose to became the “King of Broadway” only to fall and become a pitiful figure in later years. Viewed as both a genius and tyrannical villain, his presence is still felt on Broadway today.

This lecture takes place virtually via Zoom.

The Fifty and Better (FAB) program was designed for people ages 50 and older, seeking intellectual stimulation through university-level courses — without the pressure of grades — for the sake of learning and social engagement.

Siji Krishnan’s paintings invite viewers into a world where memory, myth, and daily life intertwine. Working primarily on delicate rice paper, she builds up translucent layers of watercolor and oil to reveal figures, landscapes, and hidden details. Her images often feel dreamlike—ponds shimmering with light, grasses bending in the rain, or figures dissolving into their surroundings—suggesting the ways that identity, home, and belonging are shaped by both what we see and what lies beneath the surface.

The exhibition The Secret Place brings together recent works from Krishnan’s Los Angeles debut, alongside five new large paintings created in her studio in Kerala, India. In these new works, Krishnan replaces her more figurative elements with water, plants, and sky. The natural world of her home—backwaters, monsoon rains, and village ponds—becomes a central motif, a site of both refuge and transformation. Themes of fertility and motherhood, community, and renewal flow through her practice, informed by her experiences of raising a child and the shifting boundaries between self and environment.

Krishnan’s art asks us to look slowly and closely. Small details emerge—an animal, a flower petal, a shadow of a figure—like secrets discovered over time. Both intimate and expansive, her paintings transcend cultural and geographic boundaries, embodying the Upanishadic (ancient Indian sacred philosophical texts) philosophy vasudhaiva kutumbakam: “the world is one family.”

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.

It’s the world premiere of Lou Stone Borenstein's romantic comedy, based on his multi-award-winning short film, "Jewish for Lunch."

Ruth Cohen finally finds the perfect Jewish man to love, marry, and above all, bring home to her Conservative family. But she neglected to ask one, small question: Is he Jewish? Or, can he at least fake it?

Featuring Kate Huffman, Ryle Decocq, Gregory Cohen, Abby Kohl, Ben Horowitz, Amanda Dolan, Daryl Mendelson. Written by Lou Stone Borenstein. Directed by Jeff Jackson. Presented by the Santa Monica Playhouse Jewish Heritage Series.

“Jewish for Dinner” is based on the short film “Jewish for Lunch,” with most of the same cast. It won Best Comedy at the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival, Best Comedy and Best Actor (Rylie Decocq) at the Mentone Film Festival, and Best Jewish Short Film at the Anatolian Film Festival in Turkey.

'Sholom Aleichem' means 'Hello, peace be with you.' For the Santa Monica Playhouse it means 'richness in Jewish theatre for the community to enjoy. The Messenger. The Jewish Heritage Series creates and presents experiences that keep the unique richness of Jewish theatre alive and honor the historical and cultural importance of Jewish heritage. On the cutting edge of Jewish theatre and education, it has touched the lives of over a million people. More than 500 artists have participated, including Annie Reiner, Brenda Krantz, Sammy Shore, Jerry Mayer, Rose Leiman Goldemberg, Connie Stevens, Milton Berle, Groucho, Harpo and Bill Marx. We welcome the creators and performers of Jewish for Dinner to the fold.

Santa Monica Playhouse programs are supported in part by the We Are Santa Monica Fund, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission, and Playhouse PALS.

UCSB Library presents an art installation by artist Elena Yu, exploring histories of the Ethnic and Gender Studies Collection (EGSC) and space in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

In Fall 2023, Yu was invited to create artworks in response to the history of the EGSC. The artist was drawn to two untouched back rooms - former staff offices left exactly as they were when vacated in 2022. Inside, decades of belongings sat frozen in time. In February 2024, the Library was preparing to renovate the rooms. Librarians had sorted and removed items to be sent to the University Archives and gave Yu access to use the remaining materials in her artworks. She was inspired by encountering ephemera related to the history of Ethnic Studies at UCSB and the day-to-day occupations of the library staff, including file cabinets full of book dust jackets and printed correspondences, and bulletin boards whose contents speak to the specific interests of former staff, who were charged with the upkeep of the collections and space.

This exhibition is part of a campus-wide arts partnership with the UCSB Arts Equity Commons (AEC) to support opportunities for engagement of faculty, students, and staff through the presence and practices of contemporary artists. AEC was established in 2022 as a consortium of the Department of Art, Department of History of Art and Architecture, and the Art Design & Architecture Museum through a systemwide grant from the UC Office of the President. The artist would like to thank Gary Colmenar, Angel Diaz, Alyce Harris, Sara Kelly, Marisol Ramos, Jonathan Rissmeyer, and Kim Yasuda for their support of this project.

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.