UCSB Arts & Lectures

05/27/2026

Our Summer Cinema lineup is here!

Join us for Mixtapes & Misfits in July and August to enjoy unforgettable coming-of-age classics, cult favorites and feel-good films celebrating outsiders, dreamers, rebels and romantics.

🎬 Lineup:
• July 10 – Pretty in Pink
• July 17 – Say Anything...
• July 24 – La Bamba
• July 31 – Rushmore
• August 14 – Love & Basketball
• August 21 – Napoleon Dynamite
• August 28 – Hairspray

📍 County Courthouse
⏰ Films begin at 8:30 PM
🚫 No screening August 7 due to Fiesta

✨ A big thank you to our partners in this series: Montecito Bank & Trust and The Gainey Foundation

05/16/2026

TOMORROW 🎶 The San Francisco Girls Chorus, led by Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe, brings luminous clarity to Philip Glass’ settings of poetry by Allen Ginsberg and Leonard Cohen in this 90th birthday celebration.

Hear them perform Father Death Blues (sound on for a sneak peek!) and more in Philip Glass and The Poets, alongside pianist Timo Andres and spoken word artist Taylor Mac.

A rare chance to experience Glass’ music through the radiant precision of one of the world’s premier youth choruses.

📍 Campbell Hall
🗓 Sun, May 17 | 7 PM
🎟️ https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/events-tickets/events/25-26/philip-glass-and-the-poets/

✨ Please note: Philip Glass will not be performing.

Philip Glass and the Poets is produced by Pomegranate Arts

05/15/2026

✨ This Sunday ✨In this 90th birthday celebration of Philip Glass, Lucinda Childs performs poetry from Einstein on the Beach, returning to the text of Knee Play 2 and I Feel the Earth Move that she originated in 1976.

She joins pianist Timo Andres and spoken word artist Taylor Mac, with the radiant sound of the San Francisco Girls Chorus led by Valerie Sainte Agathe, in a program that also features Glass’ Etudes and settings of poetry by Allen Ginsberg and Leonard Cohen.

A rare chance to experience a living pioneer revisiting the words that changed contemporary performance.

📍 Campbell Hall
🗓 Sun, May 17 | 7 PM
🎟️ https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/events-tickets/events/25-26/philip-glass-and-the-poets/

✨ Please note: Philip Glass will not be performing.

🎥 New York City Center

05/14/2026

AI is not coming. It is here and it is reshaping Santa Barbara County in real time.

Join the region’s leading economists, engineers, and AI thinkers at the 2026 Santa Barbara County Economic Summit for an evening of big ideas, practical insight, and meaningful connection.

📅 Thu, May 21 | 4:30 PM
📍 The Granada Theatre Santa Barbara
🎟️ https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/events-tickets/events/25-26/2026-economic-summit/

Hear from Peter Rupert, Igor Mezić, and Zack Kass as they explore what artificial intelligence means for our local economy, workforce, and future. The first 500 guests receive a free copy of The Next RenAIssance.

Your ticket includes digital access to the 2026 Economic Outlook Publication and a post event reception to continue the conversation with community leaders and peers.
This is where Santa Barbara comes to understand what is next.

Reserve your seat and be part of the conversation shaping our region’s future.

05/12/2026

Philip Glass and The Poets honors the composer’s lifelong creative dialogue with writers like Allen Ginsberg and Leonard Cohen, in an evening where words and sound become inseparable.

Pianist Timo Andres performs Glass’ iconic Etudes and chamber works, while MacArthur Fellow Taylor Mac brings the poetry to life through spoken word. Legendary choreographer Lucinda Childs returns to Einstein on the Beach, and the San Francisco Girls Chorus lends its luminous sound to songs born from these collaborations.

You will hear music from Einstein on the Beach, Hydrogen Jukebox, Book of Longing, and more, alongside rare recordings of Ginsberg reading his own poetry set to Glass’ music.

📍 Campbell Hall
🗓 Sun, May 17 | 7 PM
🎟️ https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/events-tickets/events/25-26/philip-glass-and-the-poets/

A portrait of artistic friendship. A celebration of collaboration. A birthday homage to one of the most influential composers of our time.

✨ Please note: Philip Glass will not be performing.

05/08/2026

On May 17, longtime interpreter Timo Andres and theater artist and MacArthur Fellow Taylor Mac celebrate the extraordinary collaborations of Philip Glass and the poets who shaped his work.

Featuring special appearances by legendary choreographer Lucinda Childs and the San Francisco Girls Chorus, this evening weaves music, spoken word, and movement into a portrait of one of the most influential composers of the last half century.

You will hear music from Einstein on the Beach, Hydrogen Jukebox, Book of Longing, and more, alongside rare recordings of Allen Ginsberg reading his own poetry set to Glass’ intimate chamber works.

A celebration of artistic friendship, creative exchange, and the power of words set to sound.

📍 Campbell Hall
🗓 Sun, May 17 | 7 PM
🎟️ https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/events-tickets/events/25-26/philip-glass-and-the-poets/

✨ Please note: Philip Glass will not be performing.

05/06/2026

MacArthur “genius” choreographer Kyle Abraham and A.I.M by Kyle Abraham bring an electrifying evening of dance set to live music that pulses with history, soul, and urgency to The Granada Theatre on May 12.

Featuring 2x4 (music by Shelley Washington), If We Were a Love Song (music by Nina Simone), and The Gettin’ (set to Robert Glasper’s interpretation of Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite), this program blends lush movement, infectious music, and magnetic dancers into a portrait of love, loss, and transformation that feels both personal and political.

Experience one of today’s most in-demand choreographers in his 20th anniversary season.

📍 The Granada Theatre
🗓️ Tue, May 12 | 7:30 PM
🎟️ https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/events-tickets/events/25-26/aim-by-kyle-abraham/

05/04/2026

Writer, naturalist, and activist Terry Tempest Williams joins Pico Iyer for a powerful conversation on imagination, justice, and our responsibility to the living world.

Called “one of the great chroniclers of the American West,” Williams brings the lyricism of a poet and the urgency of an advocate to this dialogue, inspired by her forthcoming book The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary. Together, they explore how ecological awareness and human rights are deeply intertwined, and what it means to witness, to care, and to act.

📅 Wed, May 13 | 7:30 PM
📍 Campbell Hall
🎟️ https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/events-tickets/events/25-26/terry-tempest-williams/

Books available for purchase courtesy of Chaucer's Bookstore.

05/01/2026

Ira Glass will be at UCSB Arts & Letters in Santa Barbara on October 4th, sharing lessons from his life and career in storytelling. Don’t miss it.

Master storyteller Ira Glass, creator and host of the beloved public radio show and podcast This American Life, joins acclaimed writer Pico Iyer for a wide-ranging conversation about storytelling, journalism and the search for meaning in modern life. Get tickets for Ira Glass on Oct 4, 2025 at Campb...