Dec 12 Friday
Attendees will enjoy a welcome drink while we give a brief introduction to our bean-to-bar, dark chocolate making process. Ingredients for decorating will abound and inspire, and you'll learn a few tidbits about how we invent flavor combinations for new delicious, sweet products at our chocolate factory. We will fill chocolate bar molds with luscious 75% dark chocolate, and you will get to decorate chocolate bars with local ingredients, like flowers, salt and fruit. While bars are setting up, we will lead a 20-30 minute chocolate tasting experience while you sip on perfectly paired wines to enhance the flavors. We are happy to provide a non-alcoholic tasting experience for anyone in the group who might require that. Your custom chocolate bars will go home with you in beautiful, resealable Twenty-Four Blackbirds pouches. Don't miss out on this delicious experience!
The Light So Shines — A Theatrical Christmas Celebration of Hope, Joy & Light
Friday, December 12, 2025 · 7:00 PM · Lobero Theatre
This Christmas, the Santa Barbara Master Chorale and Dr. David Lozano Torres present The Light So Shines — a theatrical concert experience where drama and music intertwine to tell a story of hope, joy, and divine light. At the heart of the evening is Gerald Finzi’s luminous In Terra Pax, surrounded by inspiring works by Sarah Quartel, Dan Forrest, Mack Wilberg, and Mark Hayes. Beloved carols such as Angels We Have Heard on High, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, and Deck the Hall help guide the unfolding narrative, brought to life by actors, soloists, and chamber orchestra. A stirring and heartwarming holiday experience for the whole family.
Tickets: $30–$60, available at sbmasterchorale.org or the Lobero Theatre box office.
The Ojai Film Society’s beloved outdoor film series is back at Libbey Bowl, running on select Fridays from July 25–October 3. This year’s theme, Imagine A World, invites audiences to gather under the stars for films that spark creativity, connection, and conversation.
All screenings are free and begin at 7:30 PM.Walk-ups welcome; RSVPs encouraged.
Here's the line-up:
July 25: Sally
August 8: The NeverEnding Story
August 22: The Greatest Night in Pop (with director Bao Nguyen in attendance)
September 5: 9 to 5
September 18: Speak. (with director Jennifer Tiexiera in attendance)
October 3: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
👉 Learn more & RSVP: ojaifilmsociety.org
Everybody say “Yeah!” and let KINKY BOOTS lift your spirits to high-heeled heights! Winner of every Best Musical award, including the Tony®, Grammy®, and London’s Olivier Award, Kinky Boots captivates and entertains audiences around the world with a Tony-winning score by Cyndi Lauper, book by four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein, and original direction and Tony-winning choreography by Jerry Mitchell.
Based on true events, KINKY BOOTS follows the journey of two people with nothing in common— or so they think. The unlikely pair find that they have more in common than they realized... and discover that you change the world when you change your mind.
Performance Schedule:Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 - 7:30 p.m.Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 - 2:00 & 7:30 p.m.Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025 - 12:30 & 6:00 p.m.
Dec 13 Saturday
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.
"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.
Join us for Saturday morning art adventures in the EE Makerspace above Art from Scrap.
All materials provided - just bring your imagination!
Kids 5+ (adults must stay in the Makerspace with their child).
Projects may use hot glue guns - safety first!
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.”
Peek behind-the-scenes of our chocolate factory to get a high-level overview of the chocolate-making process, from bean to bar! This event is great for families, corporate groups, bachelorette weekends, and anyone new to chocolate or curious about where their food comes from. You’ll get to taste warm, flowing dark chocolate from our tempering machine, and you’ll get to sample our single origin 75% dark chocolate bars.
