Santa Barbara County awarded arts grants to 12 nonprofits on June 16, providing more than $50,000 to support community development through arts and culture. For the 2025-26 Arts Making Impact (AMI) program, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors selected a dozen organizations to receive grants of up to $5,000 funded by the Santa Barbara […]
Music, Arts & Culture
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Local artist’s metal sculpture exhibit now on display at Elverhoj Museum in Solvang
The Elverhoj Museum of History and Art is now displaying Suzi Trubitz: Through the Years. The exhibit focuses on how the Santa Ynez sculptor transforms raw metal into art. Each piece demonstrates Trubitz’s conversation between fragility and force as a physical testament to her approach to making steel art with flames, according to the museum. […]
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F1: The Movie follows an older driver taking another shot at greatness
F1 The Movie What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Regal Edwards RPX Santa Maria, Movies Lompoc, Regal Arroyo Grande, Fair Oaks Theatre Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, Only the Brave, Maverick: Top Gun) directs this story he co-wrote with Ehren Kruger (Transformers: […]
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The Ballad of Willis Island is a charming comedy about memory and friendship
The Ballad of Wallis Island What’s it rated? PG-13 When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Peacock This film is charming from start to finish and full of fun, earnest, and quirky characters. Charles (Tim Key) can think of no better way to spend some of his lottery winnings than to have his favorite musicians brought to […]
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Deep Cover follows a trio of improv comics doing undercover police work
Deep Cover What’s it rated? R When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Amazon Prime Tom Kingsley (Black Pond, The Darkest Universe) directs this British comedy about unsuccessful improv comedy actors Kat (Bryce Dallas Howard), Marlon (Orlando Bloom), and Hugh (Nick Mohammed), who’re recruited by Det. Sgt. Graham Billings (Sean Bean) to buy counterfeit cigarettes from a […]
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Monster trucks to mash at Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles
Don’t have plans for the last weekend of July yet? The California Mid-State Fair has you covered. Tickets to the July 26 805 Country Rodeo Finals and July 27 Monster Truck Takeover are on sale now on the Mid-State Fair’s website. Both shows start at 7 p.m. inside the Main Grandstand Arena. Rodeo finals tickets […]
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28 Years Later is a postapocalyptic coming of age tale
28 Years Later What’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Regal Edwards RPX Santa Maria, Movies Lompoc, Regal Arroyo Grande Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire) directs this third installment of the zombie franchise. Original writer Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation, […]
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Cleaner is a fun little Die Hard wannabe
Cleaner What’s it rated? R When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Max Michael Campell has directed terrific films such as GoldenEye (1995), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and Casino Royal (2006), but his latest isn’t among his best. Cleaner is, however, a serviceable action adventure in the vein of Die Hard (1988). Former soldier Joey is […]
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Echo Valley explores the depth of a mother’s love
Echo Valley What’s it rated? R When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Apple TV+ Julianne Moore gives a quiet, simmering performance as Kate, a woman in the wake of tragedy who’s isolated herself into a life of training horses and awaiting the next time her daughter, Claire (Sydney Sweeney), shows up looking for drug money. When […]
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Santa Maria artist Tommy Ruiz highlights unconventional beauty with surrealist imagery expressing the trans experience
Trans-forming narratives As a trans man, Santa Maria artist Tommy Ruiz illustrates conventional people with bizarre body parts to highlight unorthodox forms of beauty. You can find him on Instagram @bunniesaregay. Tommy Ruiz was lying in bed as a 13-year-old girl when he suddenly realized he was transgender. It was July 2015. Caitlyn Jenner had […]
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PCPA celebrates summer under the stars by hosting Waitress, Holmes and Watson musicals
The Pacific Conservatory Theater (PCPA) welcomes the summer season with outdoor performances of Waitress: The Musical with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, singer of the 2013 hit “Brave” and 2007 hit “Love Song.” The show will play through July 6 at the Solvang Festival Theater. Through the two-and-a-half-hour show, a waitress named Jenna embarks […]
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Local photographer Kayla Marie highlights the planet’s natural beauty with her shots of beaches, sunsets, mountains
Picture perfect Kayla Marie has been photographing Santa Barbara County’s landscapes since she was 9 years old. Now a mother of two young children, she shares her pictures, hoping to inspire the next generation. Find her photos on Instagram under @_kayyyyylaaaaaaa_. Find her portfolio online at kaylamariephotography.smugmug.com. Growing up in Pismo Beach, a young Kayla […]
