WHO: Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee of Santa Barbara (MLKSB)
WHAT: MLKSB Inaugural Fundraising Auction Renowned photojournalist, Santi Visalli donates his photos of Black Historical Icons to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee of Santa Barbara for its first ever fundraiser. This is an auction for serious collectors of photographs, historical content and the faces of powerful change from the 20th Century.
FEATURING: Limited Edition Photos of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammad Ali, Sammy Davis Jr., Arthur Ashe, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, Sydney Poitier, Duke Ellington, Harry Belafonte, Jesse Owens, Coretta Scott King, Grace Bumbry, Michael Jackson and more…
WHEN: Saturday, May 24, 2025 VIP Reception 5 – 6pm AUction 7:30 – 8:30pm
Main Event: 6 – 10 pm
WHERE: Community Environmental Council Hub, 1219 State Street, Santa Barbara 93101
INFO: (805) 259-5782 or email: mlkjrsb@gmail.com
BIDDING: Photographs will be available for preview starting May 10 online @MLKSB.org and in the Front Windows of the CEC Hub. Bidding on the photos will start at $2200. These are museum quality, mounted and framed especially for the event. Signed by Santi Visalli, photojournalist.
EXTRA: Before the event online at Galabid.com, seven of the photos in the exhibit, and up for auction, will be available to buy as prints (not framed). Bidding will start at $2,200. Limited number available.
PLUS: Fifty of the event posters will be up for sale at $100 each. Layout designed by Visalli who will also sign each poster sold. (17”X22”)
TICKETS: On sale now! $150 VIP tickets, $100 General Admission
Limited number of tickets to this very special auction for MLKSB
Vocalist Zoie Sophia, who has been described as mesmerizing, will entertain after the live auction.
Sponsorships for the evening are offered to local businesses and individuals to underwrite the costs entailed in the event. This will make available a portion of the proceeds for directly help the MLKSB Committee to gain the most from everyone’s generous donations. Sponsorship levels include I Have a Dream – $10,000; I Have Been to the Mountain Top – $5,000; Letters from Birmingham – $3,500 and Walk to Selma – $1,500.
For more info on how you can sponsor this first-time event, contact Executive Director of MLKSB, onja (say it: oh-wan-ja) Lawson at Email: mlkjrsb@gmail.com
About the Artist:
Santi Visalli is a highly prolific photojournalist and fine art photographer who has covered the news from social issues to politics to lifestyles. His files contain more than 200,000 photographs of well-known personalities of the last five decades, plus spectacular scenic and cityscapes. Visalli’s photos appeared in and on the covers of more than 50 magazines and newspapers worldwide, including the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, Life, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, American Heritage, Paris Match, Stern (in Germany), Oggi, Epoca, and L’Europeo (in Italy), and other international magazines in Sweden, South Africa, Australia, Israel, and Japan. Expanding coffee-table books—Visalli created eleven full-color portraits of major American cities, published by Rizzoli International Publishing in New York. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art curated the Santi Visalli at 90: Una Storia exhibit in 2021, and five of his photographs are in its permanent collection. Santi and his wife Gayla live in Santa Barbara, California.
MLKSB was honored to have shown Visalli’s photos of Dr. King last year in an exhibit titled “Captured and Recaptured” he thought were lost forever. Some of these will be in the auction. Santi himself will be present at the event. He is sharing the proceeds equally with MLKSB to help support the free programs the organization hosts throughout the year.
1 Comment MLKSB Fundraising Auction Debuts Rare Photos by Renowned Photojournalist Santi Visalli
Maureen 'Mo'
If you know someone who is a collector, pls pass this along to them. With gratitude from MLKSB!