Tag archives: SBCC

SBCC Does Christmas Before Thanksgiving 
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 19, 2024

SBCC Theatre jumps the gun on the holiday season, turning to Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang’s Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge for its student showcase, even before the campus collectively takes a break to talk – er, eat – turkey. A twist on the classic A Christmas Carol, Binge gets all unhinged in a […]

Don’t Suffer the Same Fate
By Montecito Journal   |   November 5, 2024

I’ve lived in Pacific Palisades for 22 years, and lived through Caruso’s redevelopment of our downtown area into a modern shopping mall. He was clever in his approach – buying up and closing down local businesses for years so that when the time came to present his plans, much of our community supported it, because […]

On Board with Guy Walker
By Montecito Journal   |   October 22, 2024

I give my strongest possible endorsement to Guy Walker for County Board of Education, for the Trustee Area including most of the Santa Ynez Valley, Vandenberg Village, Los Alamos, and Guadalupe. Guy has worked hard for many years as a volunteer in the field of education and understands the challenges and opportunities our students face. […]

Support for P
By Montecito Journal   |   October 15, 2024

Having lived and grown up in Santa Barbara over the last 70 plus years, my wife and I came to appreciate how important SBCC is to the health and welfare of our community. We attended local public schools and took advantage of SBCC upon graduating from high school. She was in one of the first […]

Bonkers in Yonkers
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 15, 2024

Jonathan Fox was both surprised and moved when he saw Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers in its original Broadway run back in the early 1990s, back when he was still a grad student in New York.  “I was familiar with his earlier plays like The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park, so I was […]

Home Support
By Richard Mineards   |   October 1, 2024

A third of U.K. residents support Prince Harry returning to the country on a permanent basis, a poll in the country’s Mail on Sunday has revealed. This represents a significant increase over the past six months, and suggests the Duke of Sussex, 40, has managed to turn the tide of public opinion. While more than […]

The Summer of Theater
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 16, 2024

Ensemble Theatre Company’s two upcoming presentations were already terrifically timely as they arrive within four months of November’s national election. That was part of the purpose behind ETC executive director Scott DeVine’s decision to schedule short productions of Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground and What the Constitution Means to Me as special events this summer. […]

Spring-ing to Success
By Richard Mineards   |   May 14, 2024

Santa Barbara City College hosted its fifth annual Spring Forward! college foundation gala on the Great Meadow on the West Campus under new CEO Bobbi Abram, who had only been on the job four days after moving from a similar position in Pasadena. “Let the fourth be with you!” she told the more than 300 […]

Mom, Apple Pie, Chevrolet and … ‘Rhapsody in Blue’
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 14, 2024

It seems every orchestra and their third cousins are playing Rhapsody in Blue this season to mark the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s once-controversial 1924 musical composition that combined elements of classical music with jazz piano – billed back then as an Experiment in Modern Music. Our own Santa Barbara Symphony is no exception. But […]

SBCC Atkinson Gallery Art Students Show
By Joanne A Calitri   |   April 30, 2024

The Atkinson Gallery and Art Department at Santa Barbara City College presented the 2024 Annual Student Exhibition. SBCC first year and second year students submitted their artwork for consideration to be in the show, and to compete for an art studies scholarship.  I attended the Opening Reception on Wednesday, April 17, at the Atkinson Gallery. […]

SBCC’s Clever Contemporary Political Comedy
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 16, 2024

SBCC Theatre Group closes out its 2023-24 season with Paul Slade Smith’s comedy The Outsider from April 10-27 in the Jurkowitz Theatre on SBCC’s West Campus. The comedy concerns a newly appointed governor of a small state who is terrified of public speaking and paralyzed by TV cameras, but great at actually governing. Determined to […]

SBCC Foundation’s New CEO 
By Richard Mineards   |   April 2, 2024

Bobbi Abram is Santa Barbara City College Foundation’s new chief executive officer, starting May 1. Abram has spent most of her career as a leader in nonprofit and higher education fundraising and administration, and has served as executive director of the Pasadena City College Foundation since 2012. “This is an exciting time to be joining […]

Women’s History Month 2024: Erika Endrijonas
By Joanne A Calitri   |   March 26, 2024

This week I interviewed Erika Endrijonas, Superintendent and President of Santa Barbara City College. A feminist and a women’s historian, she holds a B.A. in History from Cal State Northridge, and a M.A. and PhD in History from USC. Prior to her position at SBCC, her career included Dean and Professor, Union Institute & University, […]

SBCC Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 19, 2024

It was Geoff Green, the longtime CEO of SBCC Foundation, who created and spearheaded the organization’s SBCC Promise, the program that provides all recent local high school graduates with the opportunity to attend the community college full-time free of charge for up to two years. The Promise is comprehensive and robust, covering virtually everything a […]

Swashbuckling on Stage
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 5, 2024

“Who doesn’t want to play pirate?”  That’s how Michael Bernard explained one of his big reasons for choosing a new adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s beloved adventure story Treasure Island to direct for SBCC Theatre Group’s next production at the Garvin Theatre. “It’s such a classic story and it’s a really fun show, which there […]

Black History Month 2024: Jordan Killebrew
By Joanne A Calitri   |   February 27, 2024

Celebrating week three of Black History Month I met with Jordan Killebrew at his Santa Barbara City College office. He is the Executive Director (VP), Public Affairs & Communications for SBCC and has his own Graphics company, JK Graphic Solutions. His current volunteer work includes Founder of Project IV Love and Co-Founder & Executive Director […]

Island Life
By Richard Mineards   |   December 19, 2023

Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner and singer Jewel are reportedly an item. After the Oscar winner’s acrimonious divorce from wife Christine Baumgartner, he and Jewel were having fun on Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson’s private Caribbean Island, Necker, in the British Virgin Islands. The twosome were on the idyllic locale for a tennis fundraiser for Jewel’s […]

New Landscapes Part I: Group Exhibit at the Atkinson Gallery
By Joanne A Calitri   |   November 14, 2023

I attended the opening of an exhibition at the Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) titled New Landscapes Part I, which is on view through December 8. The artists exhibiting are Whitney Bedford, Diedrick Brackens, Manuel López, Cruz Ortiz, Jonathan Ryan,and Jonas Wood. The exhibition was conceived and curated by Atkinson Gallery Director […]

Mr. Green Goes to Sacramento
By Jeff Wing   |   October 24, 2023

Local Nonprofit Lion Moves to the Heart of Service Geoff Green smiles a lot in conversation, and he’s smiling now. This is not the tactical smile produced through gnashed teeth (you know the one), but a genuine show of pleasure in the moment. This can be disorienting to the part-time social cynic. Or so I’ve […]

The Summer on Stage
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 25, 2023

Guys and Dolls garnered a standing ovation in its glorious opening night at SBCC’s Garvin Theatre last Friday in a production that deserves kudos not only for its smartly-matched and crisply-directly 25-member cast – with plenty of chemistry in the two main couples – but also for its impressive full-scale set, terrific live orchestra, and […]