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Screening and Q&A with the Filmmakers

“You don’t realize the limits of what human beings can do unless you’re tested.”– Cara Yar Khan

“Facing the Falls dares viewers to challenge their perception of what people with disabilities are capable of.” People Magazine

Facing the Falls chronicles international disability rights advocate and entrepreneur Cara Yar Khan’s quest to live an extraordinary life and shatter stigma against people living with disabilities. Deep in the throes of an aggressive muscle-wasting disease and no longer able to walk unassisted, Yar Khan ventures out on a daring, 12-day expedition through the Grand Canyon. In this story of fear, hubris, courage and perseverance against the odds, the expedition team grapples with the remote wilderness and comes face to face with their individual demons and insecurities. Co-produced by UCSB’s Wendy Eley Jackson. (Facing the Falls: Celia Aniskovich, 2024, 34 min.)

Registration is recommended (but not required) for this FREE event. Seating is unreserved/general admission. To ensure the best experience possible, we encourage patrons with accessibility requirements to contact the A&L ticket office in advance.

Santa Barbara Permaculture Network’s
2025 Annual Eco Hero Award
Honoring Bill & Athena Steen & Roxanne Swentzell
Natural Building Pioneers

Sunday, March 23, 6:30-9pm, 2025
TICKETS $10, $20, & Friends of Eco Hero $100 (students & kids free)

Location: Lobero Theatre
33 E Canon Perdido St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Tickets on Sale Now: Lobero Ticket Office

Reception follows in the Lobero Courtyard for all ticket holders

Santa Barbara Permaculture Network celebrates its 5th Annual Eco Hero Award, continuing to honor those making significant and positive change, this time honoring Natural Building pioneers, Bill & Athena Steen & Roxanne Swentzell, joining us in person on Sunday, March 23, 2025.

All three hail from the American Southwest, they are natural builders, authors and acclaimed artists, each one devoted to the beauty of the land, with a commitment to building with care of the earth as a priority.

$5,000+ in cash prizes and more! Prize categories for trout, bass, catfish, crappie and carp! Raffles, kids acrtivities, and family fun! Learn more at https://www.troutderby.org/about/

The Neal Taylor Nature Center Fish Derby is an annual event that has been taking place at Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara, CA since the mid 90s. Every year, hundreds of people venture out for weekend of fun, fishing, and festivities.

The event hosts a variety of activities. People of all ages are welcome to participate. Ages 5 and up can participate in the fish weighing contest, and earn cash and fishing gear prizes. There are also several raffles, with prizes that include fishing gear, gift baskets, local restaurant gift certificates, lake cruises, and more.

Other activities include arts & crafts, workshops, bait-making stations, live music at HOOK’d bar & grill, boat rentals, an on-site disc golf course, and several biking and hiking trails surrounding Cachuma Lake.

Camping is available at Cachuma Lake Recreation Area during the event, and is booked separately through the Santa Barbara County website. Reservations fill up quick, so make sure you plan far in advance!

This is a family-friendly event, and all are welcome! We look forward to welcoming you to the Fish Derby!


The Fish Derby is a fundraiser for The Neal Taylor Nature Center, a non-profit that operates within the Cachuma Lake Recreation Area. Founded in 1988, the Neal Taylor Nature Center at Cachuma Lake is celebrating over three decades of connecting kids and adults to discovering the wonders of their own backyard – Cachuma Lake and the Santa Ynez watershed. The nature center hosts thousands of people every year and helps educate the masses about the wonders of the natural ecology and history of the Santa Ynez River Valley. Learn more about clnaturecenter.org/about

Join us for a night of pop, rock, and more with an incredible line-up of vocalists including Shelley Regner (Ashley in Pitch Perfect franchise, original Mezzo member of Disney’s DCappella), John Krause (original Broadway cast of Hadestown, Wicked tour), Molly McCook (Fox's Last Man Standing), Trent Mills (McCoy-Rigby tour of The Little Mermaid, Center Theatre Group's A Christmas Story, 5-Star's Shrek and Music Man), and Isabella De Souza Moore (currently on the national Annie tour) and backed by Music Director & Singer-Songwriter Casey Comstock, guitarist Will Tone, and drummer Austin Farmer.

100% of ticket sales and money raised going directly to benefit two schools and their performing arts programs that were destroyed in the Palisades and Eaton fires. Eliot Arts Magnet Middle School which sustained significant damage by the Eaton Fire and Palisades Charter High School which had extensive campus damage caused by the Palisades Fire.

The Santa Barbara-based Doublewide Kings play a uniquely tweaked blend of original music and cover tunes that brings new passion to the familiar pleasures of roots-rock, Americana, country-blues, and the glory days of ‘70s FM radio.

With sommelier-like precision, these every-day Joes have cobbled together a repertoire that combines the deepest and most rewarding of old vine cuts with their own tasty, freshly-pressed songs, and the heady result is that, in the hands of the Kings, rock’n’roll once again feels urgent, exhilarating, and above all, fun.

From shimmering harmonies and delicate acoustic work to soaring guitar solos and big, bottom-swaying grooves, the Doublewide Kings bring their own crafty magic to every stage they step on, and they don’t quit until band and audience have become one happy, sweaty, satisfied tribe.

If you miss the soul-edifying thrill of live, bold rock’n’roll, the Kings are ready to light you up again. If you’ve never experienced that particular thrill, the Kings would be honored to show you how it’s done. "

Guest speaker Chancellor Lorne Everett will present a lecture on his experience over 35 years as Chairman within the World Federation of Scientist. Dr Everett will present insights into nuclear war, world pollution, plastics, the world water crisis, asteroid impacts, and other Planetary Emergencies and highlight environmental concerns closer to home.

Chancellor Lorne Everett will share his experience over 35 years as a Chairman within the World Federation of Scientists, headquartered at CERN (home of the Large Hadron Collider) in Geneva Switzerland. The meetings on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies are chaired by the Science Advisor to the Pope and are held in 3 repurposed monasteries in Erice Sicily. Over 124 Nobel Laureates have participated in these meetings including numerous key players in the Manhattan Project.

Dr Everett will present insights into nuclear war, world pollution, plastics, the world water crisis, asteroid impacts, and other Planetary Emergencies. Although the annual meeting in August is held in 3 monasteries in Sicily, a second meeting is often held in the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican. Rare pictures of the Pope’s private quarters and gardens will be shown. The Pope often sends a letter of welcome to our meetings and has been the keynote speaker.

When: Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.
Where: The Neal Taylor Nature Center at Cachuma Lake
Meet and greet with light refreshments after the presentation.
Lecture and Admission to the Nature Center – Donation
More about our presenter

Tasty treats have a strawberry twist at the 39th Annual California Strawberry Festival, Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds (10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura, CA 93001). Strawberry-themed nachos, chocolate-dipped strawberries, strawberry kabobs, popcorn, and margaritas are just a few of the choices. The festival also features 150 artists and crafters, a Strawberryland for kids, live entertainment on three stages, carnival rides, and a "build-your-own" strawberry shortcake experience.

Trays of freshly picked, vine-ripened strawberries are available at the festival and used in festival strawberry-themed foods. Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. both days. General admission is $15, active military with ID and family and seniors 62 and over, $10, youth ages 5 to 12, $8 and children 4 and under are free. Limited parking onsite. Visitors are encouraged to use the free shuttle service nearby or take advantage of the Ventura Amtrak Station across the street. For more information, go to www.CAStrawberryFestival.org.

Camerata Pacifica’s Baroque program “Strawberry Fields,” offering a unique glimpse into the vibrant musical and social fabric of 18th-century England, is a foot-stomping celebration of two iconic composers who, though they never met, shared a passion for music and dance: George Frideric Handel and Ignatius Sancho.

Featuring the return of audience favorites violinist Rachell Ellen Wong and baroque continuo band Ruckus, along with flutist Emi Ferguson, music director of Camerata Pacifica Baroque series, “Strawberry Fields” interweaves their unique arrangements of three of Handel's inventive trio sonatas with Sancho's upbeat 12 Country Dances for the Year 1779. The name of Camerata Pacifica’s program is inspired by the colorful title of one of the 12 movements in Sancho’s work: “Strawberries and Cream.”

Presented at four Southern California locations, the performances of the Baroque program are Tuesday, February 25, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Thursday, February 27, 8:00 pm, at Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles; Friday, February 28, 7:00 pm, at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West; and Sunday, March 2, 2025, 3:00 pm, at Thousand Oaks’ Janet and Ray Scherr Forum.

For tickets ($75 at The Huntington, Music Academy of the West, and Zipper Hall; $91, including fees, at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) and information, visit www.cameratapacifica.org.

Camerata Pacifica’s Baroque program “Strawberry Fields,” offering a unique glimpse into the vibrant musical and social fabric of 18th-century England, is a foot-stomping celebration of two iconic composers who, though they never met, shared a passion for music and dance: George Frideric Handel and Ignatius Sancho.

Featuring the return of audience favorites violinist Rachell Ellen Wong and baroque continuo band Ruckus, along with flutist Emi Ferguson, music director of Camerata Pacifica Baroque series, “Strawberry Fields” interweaves their unique arrangements of three of Handel's inventive trio sonatas with Sancho's upbeat 12 Country Dances for the Year 1779. The name of Camerata Pacifica’s program is inspired by the colorful title of one of the 12 movements in Sancho’s work: “Strawberries and Cream.”

Presented at four Southern California locations, the performances of the Baroque program are Tuesday, February 25, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Thursday, February 27, 8:00 pm, at Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles; Friday, February 28, 7:00 pm, at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West; and Sunday, March 2, 2025, 3:00 pm, at Thousand Oaks’ Janet and Ray Scherr Forum.

For tickets ($75 at The Huntington, Music Academy of the West, and Zipper Hall; $91, including fees, at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) and information, visit www.cameratapacifica.org.

Ross Gay, the author of the UCSB Reads 2025 book The Book of Delights: Essays will present a free, public talk in UCSB’s Campbell Hall, followed by Q&A and a book signing. This event is presented by UCSB Library in partnership with UCSB Arts & Lectures.

This event is free but advance registration through the Arts & Lectures portal is required. If you don't have an Arts & Lectures account, you will be asked to create one. This event will be photographed or recorded.

The Book of Delights is a collection of essays celebrating small, ordinary wonders. Written daily over one tumultuous year, Gay’s humorous, poetic and philosophical essays cover a wide range of topics. From a high five with a stranger to cradling a tomato seedling aboard an airplane, Gay reveals how staking out a space for joy brings us closer together.

Ross Gay won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry in 2015, the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award in 2016 and the PEN/Jean Stein Award in 2021. He is a faculty member in the English Department at Indiana University.

UCSB Reads is an award-winning program that brings the campus and Santa Barbara communities together to read a common book that explores compelling issues of our time. The program is sponsored by UCSB Library and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and was started in 2007. Each year, a committee of faculty, staff, students, and community partners convene to select an intellectually stimulating, interdisciplinary book by a living author that appeals to a wide range of readers and can be incorporated into the UCSB curriculum.

For up-to-date details about UCSB Reads events, sponsors, and more, go to www.library.ucsb.edu/ucsbreads2025.