SUMMARY
- UC Santa Barbara English Department Alumnus John Arnhold, with his wife Jody, a luminary in dance education, has made a generous gift of $1.145 million that will be used over three years to support multi-day residencies with renowned artists like Wynton Marsalis, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and more
- The Arnhold A&L Education Initiative will deepen Arts & Lectures’ signature cross-campus collaborations that connect featured A&L guests with students in the classroom, enhancing campus partnerships across disciplines
- Arts & Lectures’ outreach programs provide hundreds of educational opportunities each year
▶ ▶ ▶ Editors/Reviewers: Please include the full name of UCSB Arts & Lectures in all media coverage, including reviews.
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January 21, 2022 — UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) is pleased to announce the creation of the Arnhold A&L Education Initiative. Luminaries John and Jody Arnhold, generous benefactors to the UC Santa Barbara campus, continue to honor their interest in supporting the University with this new gift of $1.145 million over three years. The Arnholds’ philanthropy at UC Santa Barbara has made a significant impact on the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, UCSB Athletics, and beyond; including support for students and production in Theater and Dance, the English Department, and recently the opening of the new Arnhold Tennis Center.
The Arnhold A&L Education Initiative, designated to sustain A&L’s mission to educate, entertain and inspire UC Santa Barbara students and members of the Santa Barbara community, will support upcoming residencies with world-renowned artists like Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (JLCO), who will perform a virtual assembly for Santa Barbara and Ventura County K-12 students from its Jazz for Young People program titled What Does Jazz Mean? on Fri., Feb. 4 at 9:45 a.m. The presentation will be live streamed from The Granada Theatre for local schools, while UCSB Black Studies students who have been invited to observe can participate in a post-performance Q&A with the artists. Tickets to JLCO’s Feb. 4, 8:00 p.m. public performance are available online now.
Additional 2021-2022 season events and affiliated outreach funded by the Arnhold A&L Education Initiative include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on Wednesday and Thursday, April 13-14 at 8:00 p.m. at The Granada Theatre; and Ballet Hispánico’s multi-day teaching residency and public performance Noche de Oro: A Celebration of 50 Years, on Friday, April 29 (rescheduled from January 21, 2022) at 8:00 p.m. at The Granada Theatre. In the fall of 2021, the initiative enabled an extensive residency by Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra that culminated in a lively performance of O’Farrill and company’s Fandango at the Wall (Oct. 15, 2021), inspired by the HBO documentary, at UCSB Campbell Hall.
Through the Arnhold A&L Education Initiative, UCSB Arts & Lectures will continue to deepen the signature cross-campus collaborations that connect A&L’s featured guests with students in the classroom. Supporting artists in multi-day residencies, the Arnhold A&L Education Initiative will enhance partnerships among a breadth of disciplines across campus and in the community. UCSB’s student learning objectives will intersect with diverse arts, culture and ideas to propel academic achievement forward with creativity at its core.
Inspired by the energy of campus and the world-class artists and thinkers A&L brings to the community, UCSB alumnus John Arnhold relishes the student opportunities he and his wife Jody can help make possible. “The arts stimulate the imagination,” says Arnhold, “so exposing students to those at the top of their craft will enhance the educational experience at UCSB. Students will think bigger, dream bigger and create bigger.”
“The Arnholds’ gift is truly visionary,” says Arts & Lectures’ Miller McCune Executive Director, Celesta M. Billeci. “It will allow Arts & Lectures to fulfill our mission to serve our campus and community with robust residencies and arts education programs with some of today’s most prolific performers. Beginning last October with the great Arturo O’Farrill and his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and now on to Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Hispánico and beyond, the Arnholds’ multi-year commitment means that we can deliver life-changing arts experiences. A&L can continue to create hope; even in these challenging times we can look forward.”
“The residencies supported through this initiative impact our campus as well as the larger Santa Barbara community,” adds Loribeth Gregory-Beck, A&L’s Director of Education & Community Engagement. “Learners of all ages, both on campus and off, benefit from the inspiration shared during educational sessions.”
Access for ALL, Arts & Lectures’ suite of education programs, provides hundreds of inspirational, enriching and dynamic learning opportunities each year for classrooms, campus and the community. The Arnhold A&L Education Initiative will have a transformative effect in the years ahead.
See A&L’s full 2022 lineup here
This is a moment that calls for Optimism, Resilience, Courage and Vision.
Santa Barbara needs Hope, and Arts & Lectures is uniquely positioned to respond.
A&L’s 2021-2022 CREATING HOPE programming initiative has already inspired our community with presentations by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, chef José Andrés and author Anne Lamott. We will continue to inspire, through shared experiences with thought leaders, creative problem solvers and arts visionaries who will guide us forward. CREATING HOPE programs strengthen human connection, promote emotional well-being, joy and compassion, and envision positive change. Learn more about CREATING HOPE: https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/CreatingHope.aspx
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
Founded in 1959, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) is the largest and most influential arts and lectures organization between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A&L annually presents more than a hundred public events, from critically acclaimed concerts and dance performances by world-renowned artists to talks by groundbreaking authors and film series at UCSB and Santa Barbara-area venues. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” A&L also oversees an outreach program that brings visiting artists and speakers into local classrooms and other venues for master classes, open rehearsals, discussions and more, serving K-12 students, college students and the general public.
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