Fall Arts & Lectures Offerings Dish Out Arts,
Talk, and High-Stakes Culture
UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures
Launches Another Vibrant Season
By Josef Woodard | September 14, 2023
The high season of the all-important cultural force that is UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) may run from October to May each year, but the organism never goes completely dormant. We are in the moment when its summer simmer mode — popular movie screenings at the Courthouse Sunken Gardens — segues into the high heat of the official season.
It has long been an accepted wisdom that A&L plays a vital role in what makes Santa Barbara such a special place, culturally and otherwise. Luckily for us, the series also ranks highly in comparison to other such programs in the UC system, with exclusives, long-term projects and alliances, and commitments to local educational activities with visiting artists.
Music from a variety of genres flows through the university and downtown, along with world-class dance and the prized series of lectures from global notables. In the season’s first week alone, the offerings are kicked off by acclaimed young British jazz-pop wizard Jacob Collier on October 1, Martha Graham Dance Company on October 4, AI thought leader Mustafa Suleyman on October 5, and Nickel Creek on October 8, promoting a dynamic new album conceived and written in Santa Barbara retreat during the pandemic.