Since March of 2020, we have been challenged and reshaped -- as a community and individuals -- by our experiences living through the COVID-19 pandemic and renewal of abolitionist and anti-racist activist movements. Amidst the shift to remote learning and working, UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections initiated two ongoing projects: the Santa Barbara Black Lives Matter Community Archives and the COVID-19 Community Archives.

Combine materials and techniques to create mixed media pieces that include painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. Depictions of birds and trees crossing cultures and time in the Museum’s collections will ignite imaginations and inspire both individual and collaborative creations.

Ages: 5 – 12

Instructors: Nicola Ghersen + Jason Summers

Email communityprograms@sbma.net or call 805.884.6457 for more information.

Location: Ridley-Tree Education Center

$150/6 weeks SBMA Members
$200/6 weeks Non-Members

As part of its multi-faceted celebration of whales this spring and summer, the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum announces the April 14 opening of its newest art exhibit, The Wonder of Whales: Two Artists’ Perspectives, which features whale paintings by two local artists, John Baran and Kelly Clause. Thanks to the generous support of Chevron, Dreier Family, Emmett Foundation, Mimi Michaelis, Hank and Mari Mitchel, June G. Outhwaite Foundation, and Wood-Claeyssens Foundation, the exhibit will be open to the public from April 14-July 31, 2022. Although their subjects are often similar, each artist brings his or her unique perspective, technique, style, and medium to the work in this exhibit.

In November and December 2021, Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) staff worked with students from Laguna Blanca Middle School, Peabody Charter, Santa Barbara Charter, and Santa Ynez Elementary School to teach them about the importance of whales to the environment and to create whale-inspired artwork to coincide with the museum’s newest exhibit, Whales Are Superheroes! The result of those efforts is on display in SBMM’s new student art exhibit, Whales are Superheroes! Saving the Planet One CO2 Molecule at a Time, opening on April 14, 2022, and on display through July 31, 2022.

The Bonsai Club of Santa Barbara will hold its annual show, sale and demonstrations Saturday and Sunday May 21 and 22 in the Fellowship Hall at Trinity Lutheran Church, 909 La Cumbre Road at the corner of Foothill Road. Admission is free and open to all who may be interested. Saturday hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

Santa Barbara Festival Ballet presents
Ballet in Bloom & The Toy Shoppe

Join Santa Barbara Festival Ballet for a celebration of dance on May 21 and May 22 at Center Stage Theater in downtown Santa Barbara.

Join us @ a fun Mix & Mingle Fundraiser this Sunday, May 22@ M Special Brewing Company. Benefiting the Center for Successful Aging, only $40/person and includes drinks/food. Special thaink you to our sponsors – Vista del Monte; SBSOS; Senior Living Consultants and Next Best Home. Learn more and grab tix! https://csamayevent.rsvpify.com

Pairing the Symphony with jazz royalty, and featuring a work of the first African American woman recognized as a symphonic composer, innovation feels wonderfully familiar.

In this unique collaboration between the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Opera Santa Barbara and in celebration of the exhibition "Through Vincent's Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources," composer, pianist, Grammy nominee and Guggenheim Fellow Jake Heggie discusses the coming together of "The Starry Night," a song cycle inspired by the art of Vincent van Gogh with text taken from his letters and poetry by Anne Sexton and Emily Dickinson. Performed by mezzo soprano Erin Alford.

Heggie is the composer of 8 full length operas, several one acts, nearly 300 art songs as well as chamber, choral and orchestral works, Heggie has been called by the Wall Street Journal "Arguably the world's most popular 21 st century opera and art song composer."

This conversation and performance is the third in a series of three related Parallel Stories exploring connections between art forms, allowing us to see those influences at work in the process of composition, the performance of music, and the poetry of narrative from the 19th century to the present day.

The New Vic Theatre
33 West Victoria Street

$25 SBMA Members
$30 Non-Members

Purchase tickets at https://tickets.sbma.net/event-detail/parallel-stories-2022-05-22/

Join C.A.R.E.4Paws for our annual Happy Tails event! You'll learn about the great work we're doing in the community and hear heartfelt Happy Tails from some of the many pet owners we help daily to keep animals healthy and in their homes.

The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature is pleased to announce a new yearlong, site-specific installation featuring Santa Barbara-based artist Kerrie Smith. Portals & Pathways, designed for the Michele Kuelbs Tower Gallery, is on view April 2022 through February 2023.

Five local authors will discuss their work, guided by Steven Gilbar. There will be appetizers and wine and a silent auction. The cost is $50 per person as this is a fundraiser for the Santa Barbara Public Library. To register go to the Friends of the Library website: www.friends-sblibrary.org