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Conflict and censorship in public education amid a divisive political environment will be discussed at a Community Forum to be presented online on Friday April, 14 at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

John Rogers, a Ph.D. Professor of Education and Director of the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (IDEA), will present the topic Defending Public Education and a Diverse Democracy. He will be joined by Lauren Gill, President of the Conejo Valley Unified School District Board of Education, and Betsy Connolly, a past School Board member, who will talk about the local education environment. Also speaking will be Michelle Nelson-Schmidt, an author and illustrator of children's books, who has seen some of her works banned in Florida.

Rogers and his colleagues at IDEA conducted a nationwide survey of high school principals last year, finding that 69 percent reported substantial political conflict over hot button issues that are playing a chilling role in education. In the survey, 50 percent of principals said parents or community members sought to limit or challenge teaching about issues of race and racism, 48 percent reported conflicts over policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ student rights, and 39 percent cited efforts to limit access to books in the school library. Principals said that at times, parents and community members engaged in anti-democratic practices such as spreading misinformation and employing threatening, denigrating and violent rhetoric.

PEN America, an organization that tracks efforts to limit freedom of expression, reports on its website that since January of 2021, 193 bills have been introduced in 41 states intended to restrict teaching and training in schools, colleges, state agencies and institutions regarding discussion of race , racism, gender and American history.

The online event is presented by Chalice Community Forum, a program of Chalice Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Conejo Valley. For a Zoom link to the free forum, register online at forum.chaliceuu.org. For information, visit that website or contact Randall Edwards by e-mail at forum@chaliceuu.org or through the church office at (805) 498-9548.

San Luis Obispo Master Chorale's 2022/2023 season concludes on April 23, 2023, with a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s great theatrical oratorio Elijah. This dramatic work tells the story of the prophet Elijah, a tale that includes the resurrection of a youth, a contest between prophets, the plotting of Queen Jezebel against Elijah, and Elijah’s final ascension into heaven.

The leading role of Elijah will be sung by Chicago-area bass soloist Daniel Eifert. Additional soloists include soprano Elissa Johnston (Los Angeles), as well as known local performers Susan Azaret Davies, contralto, and George Gorrindo, tenor.

The “Elijah” concert is sponsored by Marti Lindholm and Allan Smith. Soloist Daniel Eifert is sponsored by Cricket Handler and Jerry Boots.

“Elijah” will be held in Harold Miossi Hall at the San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center on the Cal Poly campus. Tickets are available at www.pacslo.org or by calling the PAC box office at 805-756-4849.

Beyond the Notes features leading scholars whose presentations highlight the times and culture surrounding the works performed by the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale. In this event, learn how Felix Mendelssohn's romantic music drew on his lifelong engagement with his German musical heritage as well as theater, literature, and poetry. An amateur painter, Mendelssohn also composed music that reflected the natural landscape he encountered in his many travels.

The San Luis Obispo Master Chorale will host two free educational presentations given by Dr. Marian Wilson Kimber, Professor of Musicology at the University of Iowa, as part of its Beyond the Notes series.

These presentations coincide with the SLO Master Chorale’s concert on Sunday, April 23 at 3pm at the San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center. Titled “Elijah,” it’s a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s great theatrical oratorio Elijah, a dramatic work that tells the story of the prophet Elijah. More details about these presentations are available at www.slomasterchorale.org.

Beyond the Notes is sponsored by Libbie Agran and the Shanbrom Family Foundation.

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM), will host its first Artist Pop-Up of the year on Saturday, April 22, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on the museum’s patio overlooking the harbor. Designers Janey Cinzori, Gina Sylvia, and Lori West will present items ranging from sea glass jewelry, ceramics, mosaics, and stained glass to photography.

Janey Cinzori
Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Janey Cinzori has followed her passion for and love of the ocean and its surroundings by working in the field of arts and design for more than 30 years. Her jewelry is handcrafted and designed in her Santa Barbara Studio and can be found in many retail locations along the California Coast or online at oceanjewelsb.com. Partial proceeds of Cinzori’s sales are donated to local nonprofit organizations working to protect the ocean and the Santa Barbara community. www.oceanjewelsb.com

Gina Sylvia
Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Gina Sylvia feels a deep connection to the inherent splendor of the local coastline. As an art instructor for Arts Outreach in the Santa Ynez Valley, she has helped children in the local schools develop their talents as artists. She has taught drawing, watercolor, acrylic painting, collage, and ceramics classes. More recently, she has been creating stained glass, ceramic mosaic animals, and landscapes on stone and wood, but she also loves to use soft pastel to capture the beauty in our local scenery. Follow Sylvia @ginasylviaart.

Lori West
Lori West has been photographing people and places for more than 40 years. Her true love is portrait and music photography, but during the pandemic her love of landscape photography grew. She has lived in Santa Barbara for more than 12 years, where she can capture nature’s beauty almost every day. As much as West loves photographing people, she also loves the sea, and the beautiful colors of the Pacific Ocean dominate her collection. She regularly travels the coast, but the magnificent beauty of Santa Barbara is exhibited in most of her images. When she’s not taking photographs, you may find her exercising, enjoying a live music show, or taking in the sunshine at the beach with her family. Learn more about West’s photography at loriwestphotography.com

Throughout the year, the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum presents various pop-up events featuring ocean-themed art, jewelry, and books created by some of the area’s most talented artists and authors. The events are free and open to the public. For more information about the year’s schedule, go to https://sbmm.org/santa-barbara-events/

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About SBMM
Founded in 2000 inside the harbor’s historic Waterfront Center Building (formerly the Naval Reserve Building), the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum creates exhibitions and hands-on, educational experiences that celebrate more than 13,000 years of maritime history in our region—from Chumash culture to today’s surfing scenes and environmental movements. Featuring the impressive First-Order Fresnel Lighthouse Lens from Point Conception, SBMM's current exhibits explore the History of Oil in Santa Barbara Channel & Chumash Use of Asphaltum, the history of commercial diving, the Honda Disaster, Whales Are Superheroes!, Wives and Daughters: Keepers of the Light, and The Lure of Lighthouses & Dancing Waves.

SBMM is located at 113 Harbor Way, Suite 190, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. Visit sbmm.org or call (805) 962-8404 for details.

Asteroids have brought the organic materials to Earth needed for life to begin, and also brought about major extinction events.

Dennis Willett of VCAS will talk about the discovery history of these mini planets, the most recent new discoveries, how we might protect ourselves from them, and exploit these “menaces” for their minerals.

Dennis is an avid asteroid chaser and has photographed and made videos of many "Near Earth Asteroids."

Don’t miss this exciting Talk and PowerPoint Presentation. Admission and Parking are FREE

Celebrate National Dance Day at NAMBA, Saturday, April 15.

$2000 for a pass to dance the whole day!

Local vendors, refreshments and more! Jazz, Tahitian, heels, and more!

Take a class from guest artist Gail Pearson and NAMBA faculty, Connor Casavan, Kayla Ancheta-Chey, Mia Tan Mendoza and Colleen O'Callaghan

DAVID CIPRIANI & AUSTIN WRINKLE WORKSHOP & PERFORMANCE
7-string, hybrid electric and Indian Slide Guitarist/composer/singer-songwriter Dave Cipriani, and world-renowned percussionist & drummer Austin Wrinkle touch the mystic and the earthy; bringing intense studies of Indian music, African, Jazz, Balkan, Classical, Rock and more into their unique world-music, heart embracing style of improvisation, compositions, and songs.

WORKSHOP: The World of Guitar!

I’ll demonstrate several different types of unusual guitars (7-string fingerstyle, electric guitar, hybrid guitar/bass, Indian) and show you some of the cool things that can be done that are out of the ordinary – playing multiple parts simultaneously, playing bass & guitar at same time (!), music from other cultures and more. We’ll show how ideas can cross over from one style to another or how they are similar or different.

The workshop will take place from 5:00-6:00, the performance at 7:00

SACRED MATTER, a Solo Exhibition by HUNG VIET NGUYEN

The exhibition showcase’s Nguyen’s highly textured painting technique, which imbues his landscapes and abstractions with a fantastical quality. All featured paintings are united by nature and interconnected by an exploration of the universal life forces that unite Spirit and Matter. The Sacred Landscapes series draws from the imaginary, playing in the realm of whimsy while being rooted in the artist’s reality. These paintings are playgrounds for the artist as complex compositions are built from swirling layers of paint, scrupulous fields of bold color, and playful forms. Nguyen notes that these paintings “reflect my inner self [and] many factors of myself which perhaps I can understand, or I can’t.” Going further than self-reflection, the artist’s weird and wondrous works embrace all that is known and all that is unknown.

About Hung Viet Nguyen:
Artist Hung Viet Nguyen was born in Saigon Vietnam in 1957. He studied Biology
at Science University, then transitioned to working as an illustrator, graphic artist
and designer after settling in the U.S. in 1982. He developed his artistry skills independently, studying many traditional Eastern and Western forms, media, and
techniques. Nguyen’s compels, labor intensive investigations of oil paint reveal a methodical mastery of textures. While portions of Nguyen’s work suggest the influence of many traditional art forms including woodblock prints, East Asian scroll paintings, ceramic art, mosaic, and stained glass, his ultimate expression of a contemporary pedigree.

The Gold Coast Concert Chorus (Elizabeth Helms, director) joins the Ventura College Chorus and Singers (Brent Wilson, director) for two performances of Maurice Duruflé's sublime Requiem. One of the most beautiful choral pieces ever written, the Requiem pairs flowing Gregorian chant with the lush, sumptuous harmonic language of 20th-century France. Duruflé's intensely personal take on the requiem mass remains his largest and most performed work. The piece will be paired with Jocelyn Hagen's Renaissance-inspired contemporary favorite, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Composed to honor da Vinci’s remarkable legacy on the 500th anniversary of his death in 2019, the work is set to text from his notebooks, which draw on themes of art, science, nature and technology.

The Gold Coast Concert Chorus (Elizabeth Helms, director) joins the Ventura College Chorus and Singers (Brent Wilson, director) for two performances of Maurice Duruflé's sublime Requiem. One of the most beautiful choral pieces ever written, the Requiem pairs flowing Gregorian chant with the lush, sumptuous harmonic language of 20th-century France. Duruflé's intensely personal take on the requiem mass remains his largest and most performed work. The piece will be paired with Jocelyn Hagen's Renaissance-inspired contemporary favorite, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Composed to honor da Vinci’s remarkable legacy on the 500th anniversary of his death in 2019, the work is set to text from his notebooks, which draw on themes of art, science, nature and technology.