Setting the stage for another season of world-class performances and compelling films and speakers, UC Santa Barbara’s Arts & Lectures programming for 2024–25 begins in October with a kickoff concert by a Grammy-winning ensemble.
Dubbed “a quintessential live band” by the New York Times, the quasi-jazz collective Snarky Puppy plays the 2,000-seat Arlington Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara on October 1. Presented in collaboration with the ARTS District of Santa Barbara, the evening opens at 6 p.m. with a “Jazz & Gelato” live DJ set by KCRW’s Nassir Nassirzadeh, plus installations, prizes and gelato and ice cream from nearby shops. Snarky Puppy goes on at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices vary, with discount pricing for UCSB students.
Also at the Arlington, at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5, tech and education pioneer Salman Khan will discuss his new book, “Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing)” (Penguin Random House, 2024).
In 2006, Khan founded the nonprofit Khan Academy, a free online resource where students can view short video lessons in a variety of subjects and educators have access to practice exercises and other materials. Today the platform has more than 62 million registered users in 190 countries.
With the explosion of AI in recent years, students can get a leg up, says Khan, who holds three degrees from MIT in mathematics, electrical engineering and computer science, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. “(AI) could take your average student and turn them into an exceptional student (and) it can take your below-average student and turn them into an above-average student,” he said. The event is free for UCSB students.
At 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 22 at the Granada Theatre, A&L and the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara are co-presenting 2020 Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna, professor and chair of the departments of chemistry and molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley. With fellow biochemist and Nobel Prize co-winner Emmanuelle Charpentier, Doudna’s pioneering work on genome-engineering technology changed the course of human and agricultural genomics research, enabling scientists to change DNA with unprecedented precision. As a leader in public discussions about the ethical implications of genome editing and an advocate for related safety policies, Doudna’s talk, “CRISPR Gene Editing and the Future of Human Health,” reveals how the work can address many serious illnesses. Tickets are available here.
A schedule of the entire 2024–25 A&L season is available here.
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