Telly Us More About It

TV Santa Barbara, the area’s community access center that operates channels 17 and 71, is the recipient of four 2021 Telly Awards, including the prestigious Gold Award for the production of “Make Goleta Count!”

Silver and bronze honors were also earned for video productions created in partnership with the Central Coast Division of the American Heart Association.

“It’s a great honor for TV Santa Barbara to be recognized for video excellence, especially during a year where video storytelling was more important than ever,” says Erik Davis, executive director of TVSB. “The gold award is especially meaningful because of the importance of the 2020 census and the incredible results achieved in the city of Goleta.”

Goleta had a 76 percent Census completion rate, the highest in Santa Barbara County.

“TV Santa Barbara really captured the heart and soul of our community in this video and we are so proud of it,” enthused Kelly Hoover, the city’s community relations manager.

The Wait is Almost Over

Ensemble Theatre Company’s New Vic theater is reopening to in-person audiences!

Beginning in October, ETC is planning a new season of five adventurous productions, including two musicals, the West Coast premiere of a gripping look at the intersection of racism and the police, a sequel to one of the company’s biggest hits, and a new production of a timeless comic thriller.

“We’re ecstatic that, at long last, we can finally reopen our doors to the public,” says Jonathan Fox, artistic director. “Rather than be cautious, we made a decision to return with an ambitious season. While we presented several performances online this past year, there’s truly no substitute for seeing theater live and in person.”

The season opener is Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical with a live on-stage band.

I can’t wait…

And the Winners Are . . .

Twelve outstanding musicians and vocal artists, ranging in age from 13 to 29, competed for scholarships amounting to more than $24,000 in the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation’s annual competition at the Music Academy of the West.

The finalists were selected from more than 25 applicants by Deborah Bertling, Kristine Pacheco-Bernt, Neil DiMaggio, David McKee, and Adrian Spence, founder of Camerata Pacifica.

Due to COVID restrictions the competition was held at Lehman Hall without an audience, other than judges Ani Aznavoorian, Paul Berkowitz, and Armen Guzelimian, as well as Bertling, the event host, and videographer David Bazemore.

The winners included Ching-Yun Chen, a doctoral candidate in piano performance at UCSB, in the adult instrumental category; sopranos Patricia Westley and Naomi Merer in the vocal competition; pianists Noelle and Holly Hadsall, and guitarist Joseph Malvinni in the junior division instrumentalists; and soprano Olivia Barker, and pianists Grace Hu, Nathaniel Hadsall, Evelina McGary, and Zeyn and Rhyan Schweyk for honorable mention awards.

The Infighting Continues . . .

Prince Harry’s continuing criticism of his father, Prince Charles, 72, has obviously caused the next King of England considerable angst.

Look no further than a video message he just broadcast about his mother Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee next year from his country estate, Highgrove.

Throughout the year-long pandemic the video calls from homes in the Cotswolds and Royal Birkhall, his home on the Balmoral estate in Scotland, have had as a background an array of family photos, including several of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

But when the Prince of Wales launched a campaign to plant millions of trees to celebrate the jubilee there was only a single framed photo of himself with the Queen, Prince William and Prince George — the line of succession to the 1,000-year-old UK throne.

There is now even talk whether Harry, 36, will join brother, William, 38, on July 1 for the unveiling of the bronze statue to their late mother, Princess Diana, at Kensington Palace on what would have been her 60th birthday.

An extremely sad state of affairs!