Culture at a Click
These days, many of us are making time to get creative, responding to the restrictions of staying home with surprising humor and insight. Writer and journalist Pico Iyer observes, “It’s only by going nowhere – by sitting still or letting my mind relax – that I find that the thoughts that come to me unbidden are far fresher and more imaginative than the ones I consciously seek out.“
Enjoy A&L artists offering new takes on the creative process and community, including musicians from the Silkroad Ensemble, dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and French cellist Gautier Capuçon. Get a sneak peek at the efforts of our Online Student Ambassador program and see what an A&L staff member creates when she’s not writing the descriptions for all of our events!
With deepest appreciation,
Celesta M. Billeci
Miller McCune Executive Director
Please consider a gift to help us through this challenging time.
A constant source of inspiration at A&L, the Silkroad Ensemble brings unique programs, world premieres and extensive residencies to UCSB and Santa Barbara. Continuing to share creativity and build community with audiences worldwide through Silkroad Home Sessions, the ensemble's artists are bringing music of comfort and joy directly from their homes into yours! Watch Silkroad founder Yo-Yo Ma's kick-off of the virtual series above, then view the full schedule and join their online watch parties with friends and strangers from all corners of the world.
You're learning it here first: the Silkroad Ensemble will return to A&L next season! Stay tuned for the 2020-2021 season announcement coming this summer.
With a reputation as one of the most acclaimed international ambassadors of American culture, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater promotes the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of American modern dance. At this moment in time, Ailey dancers may not be in the same place, but they are still finding ways to dance and dance together.
In their lockdown series The Show Must Go On, Ailey dancers come together while apart to dance excerpts from their repertory. Check out the video for Night Creature, above, and find even more to watch (including full-length ballets) on their Ailey All Access website.
photo: Gregory Batardon
Superstar cellist Gautier Capuçon, whose Santa Barbara performance with pianist Yuja Wang was among those affected by the global health crisis, is posting daily doses of music while on lockdown in Paris. Now on his 54th video, his posts include delightful surprises like performing Max Richter's On the Nature of Daylight as a duo with his wife Delphine, or Handel-Halvorsen's Passacaglia with his brother, violinist Renaud Capuçon.
For the past three weeks, A&L's Online Student Ambassadors have been generating ideas, researching topics and creating educational materials for their peers. A mutli-platform endeavor where students are writing blogs, designing playlists, crafting surveys and curating online events, the program provides educational content created by students, for students.
In this sneak peek at their work-in-progress, Krysta Bass, a fourth-year English major/Art minor at UCSB who has been working as an A&L marketing assistant, looks to writers – including Pico Iyer – to help her navigate her range of emotions in response to life during a pandemic.
Getting Crafty with Caitlin O'Hara, A&L's Senior Writer/Publicist
Writing is a solitary act, so when she's not working for A&L, Caitlin is happy to be collaborating with her partner in crime (local artist Michael Matheson). Together, they work on design projects, silkscreen t-shirts, print wood block carvings, teach craft classes, and create all sorts of fun things to sell at local markets. Pop-ups and classes are on hiatus, but that doesn't slow them down!
Here's a how-to on one of their favorite things to make right now. Using pencil drawings on vintage paper and filling them in with Indian inks, make these little burners fast and loose – the looser the better! For more of what Caitlin and Mike are up to, check them out on Instagram @metalteepee and @dear.babe.
