Community Calendar

October 1- 31 - Join us for a month-long celebration of new vegan dishes all over Santa Barbara!

For the second year in a row, businesses across the region will showcase exciting special vegan menu items for an entire month, giving everyone the opportunity to explore creative plant-based dishes crafted by talented local chefs.

How It Works:

1- Visit participating restaurants across Santa Barbara.
2- Try their exclusive vegan offerings.
3- Share your experience—rate and review the dishes you try, comment, post photos of your favorite meals, and tag us at @veganchefchallengeWest.

This event is open to everyone, not just vegans! It’s about bringing our community together to celebrate incredible food and support our region's chefs.

Get Involved: Looking for ways to connect? Volunteer with us! We’re seeking passionate individuals to help with outreach, event promotion, and community building throughout the month. It's a great way to meet like-minded people and make a difference! Volunteer using this link: TinyURL.com/VOLVCC

Join us in making Santa Barbara an even more inclusive, vibrant, and compassionate community.

For details on participating businesses, menus, sponsorship opportunities, and more, visit our website at veganchefchallenge.org/SantaBarbara.

“One of the best in the country!” Daily Variety

A spectacular all-day theatre camp where young people make friends, expand their imagination and have fun as they act, sing, dance, play theatre games, and work with costumes and make-up, lighting and sound, sets and props, to help create an awesome fully staged original play or musical production written just for them.

‘I couldn’t stop smiling cheek to cheek!” Maia A, after her first session (age 5)

The respected Playhouse Diversity-in-Education Conservatory program for youth, now celebrating its 56th year, combines the fun and excitement of working as a team to create and perform a brand-new play with the joy and fulfillment of a stress-free, creative, arts-oriented environment in which working actors share their love of the craft with young people in all stages of development. Participants learn to share feelings and responsibilities with a group of their “play”-mates in an engaging and fun atmosphere and get a great physical workout, too.

“Our daughter learned more about drama in one week with SMP than in all the productions she’s ever done – put together. We're absolutely ecstatic!” educator and workshop mom Jennifer D.

No experience needed, but even the most “advanced” young actor will benefit from this unique hands-on method, structured so that each child can be successful.

Eight one-week classes to choose from, each with its own original show at the end of the week. Classes meet Mon – Fri, 9 to 3. June 16-20; June 23-27; July 14-18; July 21-25; July 28-Aug 1; Aug 4-8.

Special Teen Camp (ages 11 to 16, Aug 4-8) and Early Stages classes (ages 4 to 6, June 16-20 and July 28-Aug 1) also available.

“Thank You for giving our four children a priceless theatre experience at the Playhouse and for imparting top-quality values of caring and commitment which will stay with them always. Shiela T.

Playhouse conservatory alumni include Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Deschanel, Jason Ritter, Jason Segel, 12-year Playhouse alumna Cami Anderson, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and Maroon 5’s Mickey Madden, who calls the program “Great in so many ways!”

The Art, Design & Architecture Museum joins in the international centennial celebration of the birth of artist Joan Mitchell (1925–1992) with a spotlight exhibition of her work in the permanent collection.

Gifted to the AD&A Museum in 1985, Sunflower (1970) is part of a series dedicated to the sunflower that began in the late 1960s and continued until Mitchell’s passing. Inspired by her childhood experience of seeing Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower paintings in her home city of Chicago, Mitchell returned to the significance of the sunflower in her late life, commenting that sunflowers are, “like people to me.” Abstracted yet palpable, the painting reflects on the unique character of the sunflower and its life cycle–at once filled with a bright vitality that also hints at darkness and decay.

Joan Mitchell is widely recognized as one of the most significant American artists of the post-war era. Her abstract paintings are distinguished by their physicality, daring use of color, and personal interpretation of the natural world.

A native of Chicago, Mitchell studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Upon graduating in 1947, she spent over a year in France before settling in New York in late 1949. There, she became an active participant in the “New York School” of painters and poets, exploring different approaches to composition and gesture as part of the emerging Abstract Expressionist movement.

Over the next four decades, Mitchell dedicated herself to the single-minded pursuit of abstract painting of the highest order, while moving between New York, Paris, and later the French countryside in Vétheuil, where she made her home from 1968 until her death in 1992. Throughout her long and varied career, Mitchell drew on experiences and memories of the world around her—particularly views of cities, fields, rivers, lakes, and trees—as sources for her work. She once said, "I carry my landscapes around with me."

This presentation is organized by the Art, Design & Architecture Museum and is curated by Ana Briz, AD&A Museum Assistant Director and Curator of Exhibitions. Special thanks to the Joan Mitchell Foundation for providing the video Joan Mitchell: An Introduction that is on view. The exhibition is made possible thanks to the generous support of the AD&A Museum Council.

Based in Venice Beach, CA, an epicenter of nonconformist energy in the 1970s, Environmental Communications (EC) was a collective of architects, artists, and sociologists who championed an expanded understanding of architecture—one that encompassed not just individual buildings but the entire urban environment. To that end, the group documented defining traits of the then-booming consumerist society and the vibrant counterculture pushing back against it, primarily through photographic slides.

Challenging the architectural pedagogy of the time, which viewed architectural history as the evolution of styles through isolated buildings, EC distributed their slide sets to architecture schools and libraries across the country, offering a real-time and sweeping lens through which to teach the discipline.

Los Angeles—a crucible of market-driven ambition and anti-establishment spirit—became a central focus of EC’s visual inquiries. From smog-choked skies and sprawling suburbs to garish street art and Pop architecture, their slide sets captured the era’s cultural contradictions, evoking a sense of systemic unraveling while L.A. emerged as a beacon of radical freedom and creativity.

Including hundreds of slides, along with dozens of booklets and videos, the collective’s legacy stands as one of the most comprehensive and electrifying visual records of 1970s L.A. The presentation of EC’s materials from the Architecture and Design Collection here, following this year’s devastating fires in the Palisades and Altadena, serves not only as a poignant reminder of the city’s environmental fragility but also as a tribute to the extraordinary urban creativity that has fueled its resilience over the past five decades.

Big Bang Beat L.A. is organized by the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara and is coordinated by Silvia Perea, curator of the Architecture and Design Collection. The exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of the AD&A Museum Council. Exhibition furniture has generously been provided by Fatboy.

EVENT DATE:
Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 5:30pm
Sunday, December 7, 2025 - 5:00pm

Beyond the Object: Selections from the Permanent Collection brings together a range of artworks from the Art, Design & Architecture Museum’s holdings that engage with our lived environment beyond its constructed reality. By reimagining or presenting our contemporary moment anew, the artists highlighted in this exhibition point to various subjects in conceptual or abstracted ways. At times, the works on display are not what they seem at first, inviting viewers to look closely and consider another way of understanding the art object.

Featuring painting, sculpture, photography, and works on paper, this exhibition highlights recent acquisitions and gifts primarily from the past five years, demonstrating the Museum's commitment to expanding its modern and contemporary art collection. The title of the exhibition draws from the work of conceptual art group Art & Language, whose series Map to indicate… (2002) is on view. Through a reimagined world map, the collective plays with the conventions of cartography to comment on the worldwide influence of subjects such as art theory, social constructions, socio-political representation, and the ability for all of us to enact change.

Beyond the Object is organized by the Art, Design & Architecture Museum and is curated by Ana Briz, AD&A Museum Assistant Director and Curator of Exhibitions, with support from Curatorial Assistant Letícia Cobra Lima. The exhibition is made possible thanks to the generous support of the AD&A Museum Council.

Artists in the Exhibition

Art & Language (est. England, c. 1967)
Herbert Bayer (b. Austria, 1900–1985)
Huma Bhabha (b. Pakistan, 1962)
Jonathan Borofsky (b. United States, 1942)
Rose D’Amato (b. United States, 1991)
Elizabeth Sisco (b. United States, 1954), Louis Hock (b. United States, 1948), and David Avalos (b. United States, 1947–2025)
Theaster Gates (b. United States, 1973)
Ishi Glinsky (b. United States, 1982)
Michael Gonzalez (b. United States, 1953)
Mona Kuhn (b. Brazil, 1969)
Tony Lewis (b. United States, 1986)
Hung Liu (b. China, 1948–2021)
Gordon Matta-Clark (b. United States, 1943–1978)
Aliza Nisenbaum (b. Mexico, 1977)
Ruben Ochoa (b. United States, 1974)
Hank Pitcher (b. United States, 1949)
Steve Roden (b. United States, 1964–2023)
Harmonia Rosales (b. United States, 1984)
Analia Saban (b. Argentina, 1980)
Christopher Suarez (b. United States, 1994)
Jennifer West (b. United States, 1966)

EVENT DATE:
Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 5:30pm to Sunday, December 7, 2025 - 5:00pm

Mexican Prints: The Garcia-Correa Collection celebrates the gift of sixty-one Mexican prints from local collectors Gil Garcia and Marti Correa de Garcia to the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara. Focusing on lithographs, etchings, and linocuts from the 1920s to the 1980s, the Garcia-Correa Collection of Mexican Prints highlights the importance of the graphic arts in Mexico.

At the outset of the Mexican Revolution (1910–20), artists and activists alike turned to printmaking as a specifically Mexican way to address social and political issues such as agrarian and land reform. This mid-century collection of prints thematically focuses on labor, gender, and domesticity, all key aspects of campesino culture and its farming community that have informed the lives of the collectors.

On view are a selection of thirty-one prints that represent a preview of a larger, more comprehensive presentation planned in the years ahead. As an unprecedented addition to the Museum's permanent collection, the Garcia-Correa Collection of Mexican Prints features works by artists who have been foundational to the Mexican printmaking movement through collectives such as the Taller de Gráfica Popular [People’s Graphic Workshop]—one of the longest running artist collectives and most influential groups in the history of twentieth-century printmaking.

Mexican Prints is organized by the Art, Design & Architecture Museum and is curated by Ana Briz, AD&A Museum Assistant Director and Curator of Exhibitions, with support from Curatorial Assistants Claudia Grego March and Kaitlin Zarembinski. The exhibition is made possible thanks to the generous support of Gil Garcia and Marti Correa de Garcia, the AD&A Museum Council, and the UCSB Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.

Artists in the Exhibition

Ignacio Aguirre (b. Mexico, 1900–1990)
Emilio Amero (b. Mexico, 1901–1976)
Raúl Anguiano (b. Mexico, 1915–2006)
Alberto Beltrán (b. Mexico, 1923–2002)
Angel Bracho (b. Mexico, 1911–2005)
Jean Charlot (b. France 1898–1979)
Jose Chávez Morado (b. Mexico, 1909–2002)
Miguel Covarrubias (b. Mexico 1904–1957)
Marion Greenwood (b. United States, 1909-1970)
Sarah Jiménez (b. Mexico, 1927–2017)
Leopoldo Méndez (b. Mexico, 1902–1969)
Isidoro Ocampo (b. Mexico, 1920–1983)
Pablo O’Higgins (b. United States, 1904–1983)
José Clemente Orozco (b. Mexico, 1883–1949)
Fanny Rabel (b. Poland, 1922–2008)
David Alfaro Siqueiros (b.Mexico, 1896–1974)
Rufino Tamayo (b. Mexico, 1899–1991)
Alfredo Zalce (b. Mexico 1908–2003)
Francisco Zúñiga (b. Costa Rica, 1912–1998)

About the Collectors

Gil Garcia is the president of Garcia Architects Inc. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, he served on the Santa Barbara City Council for a tenure of ten years. Both Gil and Marti Correa de Garcia have served on the board of numerous non-profit organizations, including the Santa Barbara/Puerta Vallarta Sister City Committee and the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara North. Gil and Marti are the recipients of many community awards, including the 1997 Santa Barbara Lifetime Achievement Award.

This course focuses on the most popular, influential, and enduring artists of the British Invasion, which spanned roughly the years 1964 to 1968. We will examine the roots of those artists in their native Great Britain, and then show how they crashed the U.S. charts on the heels of the Beatles, who paved the way for their compatriots to take advantage of the lucrative American market. The Beatles were not just the first to do so – in spectacular fashion – but they also set a standard for British groups that came after them; groups that were self-contained, meaning they wrote their own songs, developed their own style, and had unique visual and musical trademarks.

In the first 4 weeks, we’ll be focusing on the following acts:

Part 1: The Bee Gees, Gerry & the Pacemakers

Part 2: The Dave Clark 5, The Hollies

Part 3: The Zombies, The Yardbirds

Part 4: Donovan, Herman’s Hermits

This course takes place both in-person at the Thousand Oaks campus and online 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.

October 1- 31 - Join us for a month-long celebration of new vegan dishes all over Santa Barbara!

For the second year in a row, businesses across the region will showcase exciting special vegan menu items for an entire month, giving everyone the opportunity to explore creative plant-based dishes crafted by talented local chefs.

How It Works:

1- Visit participating restaurants across Santa Barbara.
2- Try their exclusive vegan offerings.
3- Share your experience—rate and review the dishes you try, comment, post photos of your favorite meals, and tag us at @veganchefchallengeWest.

This event is open to everyone, not just vegans! It’s about bringing our community together to celebrate incredible food and support our region's chefs.

Get Involved: Looking for ways to connect? Volunteer with us! We’re seeking passionate individuals to help with outreach, event promotion, and community building throughout the month. It's a great way to meet like-minded people and make a difference! Volunteer using this link: TinyURL.com/VOLVCC

Join us in making Santa Barbara an even more inclusive, vibrant, and compassionate community.

For details on participating businesses, menus, sponsorship opportunities, and more, visit our website at veganchefchallenge.org/SantaBarbara.

“One of the best in the country!” Daily Variety

A spectacular all-day theatre camp where young people make friends, expand their imagination and have fun as they act, sing, dance, play theatre games, and work with costumes and make-up, lighting and sound, sets and props, to help create an awesome fully staged original play or musical production written just for them.

‘I couldn’t stop smiling cheek to cheek!” Maia A, after her first session (age 5)

The respected Playhouse Diversity-in-Education Conservatory program for youth, now celebrating its 56th year, combines the fun and excitement of working as a team to create and perform a brand-new play with the joy and fulfillment of a stress-free, creative, arts-oriented environment in which working actors share their love of the craft with young people in all stages of development. Participants learn to share feelings and responsibilities with a group of their “play”-mates in an engaging and fun atmosphere and get a great physical workout, too.

“Our daughter learned more about drama in one week with SMP than in all the productions she’s ever done – put together. We're absolutely ecstatic!” educator and workshop mom Jennifer D.

No experience needed, but even the most “advanced” young actor will benefit from this unique hands-on method, structured so that each child can be successful.

Eight one-week classes to choose from, each with its own original show at the end of the week. Classes meet Mon – Fri, 9 to 3. June 16-20; June 23-27; July 14-18; July 21-25; July 28-Aug 1; Aug 4-8.

Special Teen Camp (ages 11 to 16, Aug 4-8) and Early Stages classes (ages 4 to 6, June 16-20 and July 28-Aug 1) also available.

“Thank You for giving our four children a priceless theatre experience at the Playhouse and for imparting top-quality values of caring and commitment which will stay with them always. Shiela T.

Playhouse conservatory alumni include Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Deschanel, Jason Ritter, Jason Segel, 12-year Playhouse alumna Cami Anderson, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and Maroon 5’s Mickey Madden, who calls the program “Great in so many ways!”

On the fog-swept coastal bluffs overlooking California’s Golden Gate Bridge near the Marin Headlands, rises an imposing concrete bunker with the rusted remains of a 15-inch naval gun. Battery Spencer, a vestige of a bygone era, and many others in the area have kept watch over the coastal approach to San Francisco Bay since 1895. The West Coast of the United States from the Mexican to the Canadian borders is dotted by similar sites. Constructed during the Spanish American War, these coastal defensive positions gradually fell into disrepair, but still remained in various levels of service during WWII and the Cold War. This course will take a closer look at the history of these sites and in so doing provide an overview of how California and the West Coast experienced WWII and the Cold War. From the shelling of the Ellwood oil piers by a Japanese submarine near Gaviota to coastal radar and missile defenses, we will examine the role played by sites such as the Marin Headlands throughout this era. We will also explore what people living on the West Coast and California in particular feared as a result of WWII and how these responses shaped their daily lives. Today, you can still explore these unique sites, many of which are open to the public and this course will offer tips and suggestions for planning a visit.

This course takes place both in-person at the Thousand Oaks campus and online 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.