Raising the Curtain on Holiday Cheer

Set off by a row of brightly colored banners, UC Santa Barbara’s Arts District is the campus’s academic center for scholarship in the arts and fine arts.

At one time referred to simply as the Pardall corridor — the area that extends from the edge of campus at Pardall Road on one end to the music building and Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall on the other — the space includes the arts building; theater and dance buildings, both east and west; Hatlen Theater, the Performing Arts Theater; and the Art, Design & Architecture Museum. Also among them are the arts and music libraries.

According to John Majewski, acting dean of humanities and fine arts in UCSB’s College of Letters and Science, the Arts District designation serves to emphasize the vibrancy of the campus’s arts and fine arts programs. “We have some of the best fine art departments in the nation,” he said “Their outstanding performances and exhibits show the creative power of our faculty and students and help connect the campus to the broader community. I’m delighted that the Arts District is bringing more attention to this vital part of our intellectual life.”

During the month of December, the art, theater and dance and music departments, as well as the Art, Design & Architecture Museum, will present a variety of concerts, performances and exhibitions, all taking place in venues within the Arts District.

And the Band Played On

The Department of Music presents several concerts ranging from contemporary and Middle Eastern music to jazz, percussion and the mellifluous voices of the Gospel Choir, Chamber Choir and the Women’s Chorus. All events take place in UCSB’s Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall unless otherwise noted and admission is free for UCSB students.

UCSB Ensemble for Contemporary Music directed by Jeremy Haladyna, 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3. $10 general admission and $5 for all others.

University Wind Ensemble directed by Paul Bambach, 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Dec. 4. $10 general admission and $5 for all others.

UCSB Middle East Ensemble directed by Scott Marcus, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6. $15 general admission and $7 for all others.

UCSB Jazz Combos directed by John Nathan and featuring the music of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, and Herbie Hancock, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9. $10 general admission and $5 for all others.

UCSB Percussion Ensemble directed by Jon Nathan and featuring “found” percussion instruments and works by John Cage, Eric Griswald, Joel Smales, James Roming, Thierry de Mey and Mark Ford. $10 for general admission and $5 all others.

UCSB Gospel Choir directed by Victor Bell, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12. $15 general admission and $7 for all others.

UCSB Chamber Choir and Women’s Chorus, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St. in Santa Barbara. The Chamber Choir will present a program of music spanning several centuries, including work by Tomás Luis de Victoria, William Byrd, Francis Poulence and Ola Gjeilo. The Women’s Chorus will perform Josef Gabriel Rheinberger’s “Sechs Zweistimmige Hymnen,” as well as secular English, French and Canadian classics. $10 general admission, $5 for all others.

More information about music department events is available at www.music.ucsb.edu.

Dance, Dance, Dance

The Department of Theater and Dance presents “Axiom,” the annual fall dance concert. Under the direction of director Christina McCarthy, a lecturer in the theater and dance department, the concert will bring together 35 dancers performing six new works choreographed by fourth-year students, along with pieces by faculty members and guest artists. The concert also will feature original costumes and lighting created by advanced design students in collaboration with faculty mentors and choreographers.

Friday and Saturday, Dec. 12 and 13, in UCSB’s Hatlen Theater. $17 general admission, $13 for UCSB students, faculty and staff members, alumni, seniors and children. Additional information about the dance concert is available at www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu.

Glass Box Paintings

The Department of Art will host an open house from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12. Undergraduate student art will be displayed in several classrooms, and work by graduate students will be exhibited in the department’s Glass Box Gallery. The event is free and open to the public.

More information is available at https://www.arts.ucsb.edu/glass-box-gallery/.

Art, Design and Architecture

Fall exhibitions at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum continue through Friday, Dec. 12. Among them are “Barton Myers: Works of Architecture and Urbanism”; Bollywood 101: The Visual Culture of Bollywood Film Posters”; “Surface: The Handcrafted Object”; and “Observations: Travel Sketches from the Architecture and Design Collection.” The Museum is open noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is free. More information about current and upcoming exhibitions is available at www.museum.ucsb.edu/exhibitions.