Archive for the 'Web Exclusives' Category

Local Triathlete Wins Prestigious Competition

Published on May 16, 2012 in Web Exclusives.

Lauren Capone, member of Santa Barbara-based triathlon club Elite Racing Team, took  home the gold in the women’s amateur division at the 30th annual Wildflower Long Course Triathlon on Saturday, May 5. She completed the 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run in 5 hours, 4 minutes and 21 seconds.

Wildflower attracts competitors from around the world, and we’re proud to have a local girl come out on top. Lauren got her start with the Triathlon Club as a freshman at UCSB, and is now the current Ironman 70.3 World Champion in the women’s 20-24 category. After the race, she reflected, “I never felt particularly fast out there, but I felt strong, and I was able to fight my way into the lead on the run and hold it to the finish line.”

-Alex Francis

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2012-2013 City Arts Grant Applications Now Available Online

Published on May 14, 2012 in Web Exclusives.

Santa Barbara County Arts Commission released new online applications for grants in three categories: Community Events and Festivals, Organizational Development, and Community Arts.

The Community Events and Festivals Grant Program is offering a grant of up to $40,000 to local nonprofits that put on events, festivals, or programs that attract tourism, enhance Santa Barbara’s culture and preferably take place in tourism’s off-season between Memorial Day 2012 and mid-May 2013.

The Organizational Development Grant Program is focused on cultivating Santa Barbara’s artistic and administrative development, stability, and vitality. This up-to-$18,000 grant is intended to help support new programs and audience-development initiatives in all artistic disciplines.

Community Arts grants of up to $6,000 are available for organizations or individual artists with projects aimed at making art more accessible to underserved communities.

There will be three Technical Assistance Workshops, mandatory for first-time applicants, throughout May, and the application deadline for all three grants is June 11. Click here for more information, or contact Linda Gardy at  gardy@co.santa-barbara.ca.us or 805/568-3990.

-Alex Francis

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Santa Barbara Writers Transform Real Life into Theatrical Pleasures for “3″

Published on May 9, 2012 in Cultural Calendar and Web Exclusives.

Don’t miss “3”–three short plays in one evening–produced by Dramatic Women and written by three writers with deep Santa Barbara roots.

Rod Lathim

Rod Lathim (featured in Santa Barbara Seasons’ Spring Issue), is a 5th generation Santa Barbaran and will straddle the line of the “here” and the “hereafter” in Unfinished Business, as he explores the transition from one world to the next. Catherine Cole, a veteran of UCSB’s Theater & Dance department, will recount a story of unforeseen loss and separation in Always. Together while local playwright Ellen Anderson delves into a telling account of recent widowhood in Wabi Sabi Underground.

These short plays were inspired by much of the writers’ own experiences. Lathim, no stranger to the theatre or playwriting, directed The Boys Next Door, which was the debut production at Center Stage Theater in 1980. His new short play, Unfinished Business, is based on the journal he kept before his mother died. The entries, as well as the play, focuses on the spirit entities that appeared to help his mother in her transition through the messages they shared. “It is often not comfortable in our culture to talk about some of the things that happen on a spiritual level around the time of death…Unfinished Business deals with death in a very hopeful and uplifting manner,” says Lathim.

Cole, who teaches at UC Berkeley, also writes books about Africa, human rights, and performance.  Her works are often about life’s journeys, as seen in her play Out On a Limb, also produced by Dramatic Women, and a touring dance theater piece Five Foot Feat. She says of Always.Together, “it is my most compact piece yet: a solo performance. With poetic language and lean staging, it is a short tale about a big story, a creative answer to the well-worn question, ‘What happened to you?’”

 

 

Anderson, a recent widow of Dramatic Women’s founder and playwright Bob Potter (1934-2010), reflects on Wabi Sabi Underground,  “I’ve never been much on writing plays based on my own life, but widowhood altered the way I look at the world, and although this play is not directly autobiographical, it is wildly different from my 17 previous plays. It’s dark, reclusive, and introspective. The challenges of widowhood changed who I am as a writer.”

Performances are scheduled at Center Stage Theater for May 24-26 at 8:00 p.m. and May 27 at 2:00 p.m.  For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.centerstagetheater.org

–Colleen Lai

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Joyful Musical Benefit for Santa Barbara Children’s Chorus

Published on May 7, 2012 in Web Exclusives.

A chorus of a cappella and jazz musicians come together last night to support the Santa Barbara Children’s Chorus and what a joyful noise it was! The walls of the Marjorie Luke Theatre–named after a favorite theater teacher, which is itself a powerful testament to the importance of arts education–seemed to resonate with a shared loved of song, as musicians of all ages came together to support the youth chorus and further its goal of bringing music education and vocal training to children throughout the county.

VocalMotion, UCSB’s all-female a cappella group, opened the show with a sassy rendition of It’s Raining Men, keeping an upbeat mood throughout their set, which segued nicely into UCSB’s highly-entertaining, all-male a capella group, Brothas From Otha Mothas. BFOM, as they like to be called, did an unforgettable cover of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, along with several other radio-friendly tunes.

Ellen Rockne, founder of Santa Barbara Wonder Choir, also performed, along with Santa Barbara Jazz Collective and Pacific Sound Chorus, the award-winning tri-county barbershop quartet style group which also performed doo wop, jazz and contemporary classics to delight the crowd.

In addition, the Naked Voices, UCSB’s co-ed–and first and oldest–a cappella group also came out to support the young members of the Santa Barbara Children’s Chorus, a music education and performing group designed to provide children ages 8-14 with the opportunity for musical training and performing in a fun and challenging environment.

The finale was definitely a highlight, as members of all of the groups came together to perform an original song, It’s Up to You and Me, which the VocalMotion performers had workshopped with the Santa Barbara Children’s Chorus kids.

In addition to its performing group and upcoming summer camp, the nonprofit Santa Barbara Children’s Chorus will soon launch a vocal music program reaching several hundred students in local elementary schools and providing a music education curriculum and instruction to schools that cannot afford their own programs.  For more information click here.

–Leslie Dinaberg

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Environmental Education for the Next Generation hosts “Investing in Our Youth” Gala and Auction

Published on May 7, 2012 in Web Exclusives.

Join Environmental Education for the Next Generation (EENG) at the premiere “Investing in Our Youth” Gala & Auction on May 13 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Chase Palm Park Plaza. The event will feature a speech by assemblymember Das Williams and a live auction emceed by Geoff Green, executive director of Fund for Santa Barbara.

EENG was founded in 2009 by a group of UCSB undergraduates who saw a gap in children’s education and took the initiative to fill it. The up-and-coming organization sends teams of college-student volunteers out to first and second grade classrooms for an eight-week course designed to impart the importance of sustainability and empower the younger generation to take action. What started with five environmentally minded UCSB students and 25 second graders at Isla Vista Elementary School has now evolved into hundreds of college kids teaching more than 2,300 elementary school children throughout California.

With live music, a live auction and an open bar, this event promises to provide a very enjoyable Mother’s Day. For more information, contact Vanessa Duenas at vanessaduenas@eeng.org or click here.

-Alex Francis

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CAF Presents Headgear for Tony and Bloom Projects

Published on May 1, 2012 in Galleries and Web Exclusives.

Contemporary Arts Forum will present the exhibition Headgear for Tony from MFA students at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Tim Brown, Untitled, 2011

The opening reception will be Saturday May 19, 6:30-8 p.m. at Santa Barbara’s Contemporary Arts Forum. The exhibition will be open to the public with free admission from May 20 through July 8.

 

Susanna Vapnek, Tea Fire, 2011

Headgear for Tony presents fresh work from artists who are receiving their MFAs. These artists include Tim Brown, Jared Flores, Emily Halbardier, Bessie Kunath, Jae Lee, Nick Loewen, Ruby Osorio, Rimas Simaitis and Van Tran. The artists work is shaped by their experiences in the UCSB Department of Art’s Graduate Program, which emphasizes interdisciplinary and innovative approaches to art-making and the utilization of campus resources.

The exhibit will also feature paintings inspired by California’s wildfires in Bloom Projects by Susanna Vapnek. These projects are titled Sundowner, a reference to dangerous and uncontrollable hot winds that descend from the mountains to the sea fueling fires into raging infernos.
For more information on this exhibition please visit, http://www.sbcaf.org/exhibitions/upcoming/upcoming.html. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Coastal Housing Partnership’s Inaugural Home Buying Fair

Published on May 1, 2012 in Web Exclusives.

If you are even considering buying a home in Santa Barbara, don’t miss this opportunity to learn the ins and outs of today’s real estate market! On Saturday, May 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Coastal Housing Partnership is hosting the inaugural Home Buying Fair at Earl Warren Showgrounds.

Geared toward helping home buyers save money and make good decisions throughout the process, the fair will feature booths from local real estate agents, lenders, home inspection firms, and residential builders. There will also be free “how-to” sessions throughout the day on key aspects of the home-buying process and local market conditions.

For more information, call 805/969-1025 or visit http://www.coastalhousing.org/home-buying-fair/index.html.

-Alex Francis

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“Get inspired!” by National Public Gardens Day

Published on April 30, 2012 in Web Exclusives.

Friday, May 11, is National Public Gardens Day, and it is the perfect time to see all of the natural green beauty that our community has to offer. Santa Barbara’s private gardens have joined the city and county parks departments to put on a fantastic day-long celebration, highlighted by free admission and multiple tours.

This collaboration between Santa Barbara’s public organizations and private nonprofits is the first of its kind in the country, leading the way for other cities across the nation. Dr. Steve Windhager, Executive Director of Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, describes it as a ”win-win-win situation: for all the organizations involved; for raising awareness about the abundance of fantastic gardens in the area; and for the community.”

And you won’t want to miss this special opportunity to take in the beauty of our community’s many public gardens while raising awareness of the importance of environmental preservation and education. Make reservations to join the Garden Lovers Tour, which includes transportation to Ganna Walska Lotusland, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Casa del Herrero and Old Mission Santa Barbara, or leisurely stroll through the various participating gardens on your own time. Either way, the beautiful scenery won’t disappoint.

To reserve a spot on the Garden Lovers Tour, or for more information about the day’s other activities, visit www.sbpublicgardens.org.

-Alex Francis

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Santa Barbara Symphony Announces 60th Anniversary Season

Published on April 20, 2012 in Web Exclusives.

Maestro Nir Kabaretti announces the 2012 Santa Barbara Symphony Season. Photo: Stephanie Kao

Highlights include  commission from  Jonathan Leshnoff of Baltimore Chamber Orchestra

Yesterday the Santa Barbara Symphony announced the lineup and goals of its upcoming 2012-2012 60th anniversary season at a press conference on the Granada stage. In an intimate setting on a stage usually only graced by musicians and actors, a crowd of media members, Santa Barbara officials, and symphony enthusiasts gathered to listen to President of the Board Stefan Riesenfeld, Executive Director David Grossman and Maestro Nir Kabaretti discuss the importance of the symphony’s cultural impact on the art-filled city of Santa Barbara.

Kabaretti, an internationally renowned conductor who has conducted for symphonies in Italy, Israel, and across the United States, chose every piece for the upcoming season carefully, wishing to expose Santa Barbarians to lesser-known concertos and symphonies, as well as including a few of the greats.

In the 2012-13 year, we can expect works from all over the world: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2, Debussy’s Syrinx, Ibert’s Concerto for Flute, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and Takemitsu’s How Slow the Wind. These pieces range from Germany and Russia to France and Italy, and Takemitsu’s piece hails from Japan.

A special treat this year (to the delight of Kabaretti) is the commissioned piece by Jonathan Leshnoff, a composer currently with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. Leshnoff was asked to write a type of symphony called Concerto Grosso, a concerto in which several different musical instruments act as soloists, instead of just the usual one musician. The piece by Leshnoff was written specifically for the Santa Barbara Symphony, and it is one of the most anticipated shows of the year.

Santa Barbara SymphonyExecutive Director David Grossman, photo by Stephanie Kao

Other exciting unveilings included the soloists lined up for next year, as well as an appearance by a guest conductor. Some highly acclaimed names performing next year are Andre Watts (piano), Demarre McGill (flute), Glenn Dicterow (violin), Cynthia Phelps (viola), Michelle Temple (harpist in residence), and Xiayan Wang (piano). Conductor Gregory Vajda, a Hungarian-born conductor of the Oregon Symphony, will be guest conducting during April.

Most importantly, even with all of the announcements and exciting news, the overall tone of the meeting was one of reinforcing the importance of musical and artistic expression in our community. There is no doubt that the Santa Barbara Symphony, one of the best symphonic groups in the nation, helps to make these artistic forms available to people of all ages–there was even a performance by a Youth Symphony violinist to wow those present at the event.

With an exciting line-up of world-renowned musicians and conductors, the Santa Barbara Symphony continues to be one of the great artistic groups of our town. The 2012-2013 season is sure to be one of the best yet, and everyone is eager for the season opening in October to come around. For a complete schedule click here.

-Taylor Micaela Davis

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Hospice of Santa Barbara Exhibits Local Artist’s Photography

Published on April 20, 2012 in Web Exclusives.

Hospice of Santa Barbara is hosting an open-house reception to welcome the work of local photographer Betsy Mooney on Wednesday, April 25 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The exhibit, titled “On Tender Wings,” will be featured in the Leigh Block Gallery until mid-July.

Mooney’s exhibit will showcase photos of butterflies that she was inspired to take in memory of her son Joshua, who passed away in October of 2005. Along with counseling through Hospice of Santa Barbara, Mooney credits the creative process of photography for helping her heal. And looking at her photographs, it is easy to see why the graceful butterfly, which is the symbol of Hospice of Santa Barbara and representative of change, growth and metamorphosis, became one of her favorite subjects.

Refreshments, cheese and wine will be served at the reception, and Mooney will donate a portion of the proceeds from her art sales back to Hospice of Santa Barbara. For more information, call 805/563-8820 or visit www.hospiceofsantabarbara.org.

 

-Alex Francis

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