ON Culture | A Chock-A-Block Week of Cool Culture

This edition of ON Culture was originally emailed to subscribers on May 23, 2025. To receive Leslie Dinaberg’s arts newsletter in your inbox on Fridays, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

ON the Drawing Board

An artist at work on I Madonnari 2024 | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Memorial Day weekend signals one of Santa Barbara’s most colorful, longstanding traditions: the I Madonnari Street Painting Festival at the Old Mission. A benefit for the Children’s Creative Project (CCP) — an ever-more-essential program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office to support arts education programs throughout the county — is celebrating its 39th year this long holiday weekend. In addition to approximately 140 stunning street paintings, there’s also three days of free live entertainment and delicious food from favorite local vendors. Not only is this a fun and beautiful event, festival proceeds have been used to sponsor fine arts programs led by professional artists for more than 80,000 children in county public schools, making a real difference in the arts community. To learn more or donate, visit ccp.sbceo.org/i-madonnari/welcome.

Artist Nicole Belton with “Gibraltar Rock” | Photo: Courtesy

Also on the drawing board this weekend, artist Nicole Belton will be at the Hotel Californian for a special three-day installation that began on Thursday with sketches for the outline of her newest mural. Then, from Friday-Sunday, May 23-25, she’ll transform the sketch into a vibrant work of art. All are invited to join Hotel Californian on Friday, May 23, for a complimentary meet n’ greet reception on Court of Califia (the building next to Finney’s across from the main lobby) with Nicole. Enjoy complimentary light bites; sip curated cocktails, wine, and beer available for purchase; and watch her mural take shape just steps away.

ON the Walls

Painting by Leslie Lewis Sigler | Photo: Sullivan Goss Gallery

I find Leslie Lewis Sigler’s realistic portraits of inherited silver endlessly fascinating, and the artist has now broadened her scope for her third solo exhibition at Sullivan Goss. Kindred, which opens May 30 and will be on view through July 28, includes a series of hyper-realistic layered tablescapes that evoke the subtle importance of domestic life. You really have to see them in person to fully appreciate the depth of her skill. More info here.

“An Afternoon Walk” by Carrie Givens | Photo: Courtesy

Our arts & culture team has been awfully busy lately. Check out our recent stories on Elliott Hundley’s Major New Exhibition Proscenium at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; To Bamboo!…an Homage… at the Lompoc Valley Art Association’s Cypress Gallery; TL;DR: TEXT / ART (Too Long; Didn’t Read / Too Long; Don’t Read) at Sullivan Goss; Dan LeVin’s pop-up at Carr Winery (extended to the end of May); and the Oak Group’s Colors of the Spirit show at the Faulkner Gallery. Artist Marcia Rickard, a retired art historian, has an interesting exhibit coming to the Architectural Foundation Gallery May 31. Titled GIMME SHELTER, these paintings and prints highlight the fragility of “home” in a world fraught by war and natural disasters. It is on view through August 9. See afsb.org for details.

ON the (Music) Stage

Jackson Browne will join the Crosby Collective for a special two night gig at the Lobero June 12-13. | Photo: Courtesy

We first broke the news back in April, and the day is almost here. The Crosby Collective with special guest Jackson Browne comes to the Lobero June 12-13 for a very special performance (read story here). Helmed by mashup maven Jason Crosby, the ensemble of music veterans performs amalgamated compositions, plugging songs together to create one cohesive movement like “Friend of the Lithium,” Grateful Dead meets Nirvana. The one-of-a-kind musical exploration resonates with listeners, given its air of familiarity and improvisational backbone. Click here for more info.

Jon Batiste at the Santa Barbara Bowl, August 9, 2024 | Photo: Carl Perry

The Santa Barbara Bowl season is off and running with two great shows by James Taylor last week (read my review here) and reviews to come for Jack White and Khruangbin this week. Also recently announced, the joyful Jon Batiste returns on September 20 (read my review of his last visit here).

Glen Hansard and Eddie Vedder perform at Ohana Fest 2024. | Photo: Michael Kravetsky for Ohana

The Ohana Festival returns to Doheny State Beach in Dana Point September 26-28 with another stellar lineup featuring headliners Eddie Vedder and Earthlings, Green Day and Hozier, alongside performances by Kings of Leon, Cage The Elephant, Leon Bridges, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Garbage, Wet Leg, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Royel Otis, Stereophonics, Lukas Nelson, and many more. We had such a blast last year (read story here), I’m really looking forward to this one. Click here for more details and tickets.

Rüfüs Du Sol at Portola 2024 | Photo: Julian Bajsel

Also coming up in the Bay Area is Portola 2025, the premiere dance music festival. Xavier Pereyra has the skinny on this year’s lineup here, with headliners including LCD Soundsystem, The Chemical Brothers, Anti Up (Chris Lake and Chris Lorenzo), Christina Aguilera, Dom Dolla, Peggy Gou, Dom Dolla, Mau P, and more. See Portolamusicfestival.com.

ON the (Dance) Stage

Dance Nation, a production from the Department of Theater and Dance at UC Santa Barbara (May 22-31 at UCSB’s Performing Arts Theater) is a moving play that follows a troupe of 13-year-old competitive dancers as they prepare for a national championship. As they push their bodies and psyches to the limit, the girls (and one boy) grapple with questions of identity, desire, and power — laying bare the messiness and magnificence of growing up. “Dance Nation dares to take young people seriously — to honor their ambition, their contradictions, their hunger,” said Director Pesha Rudnick, who worked on the show with Choreographer Christina McCarthy.

“There is nothing cute or coy about wanting to win, despite the fact that often other girls will punish you for wanting to be the best. This play gives voice to the power, rage, vulnerability, and complexity of adolescence in a way that’s rarely seen on stage,” said Rudnick. The organizers did warn that the play contains explicit language and adult themes including references to sex and depression, and is appropriate for ages 15 and older. Click here for tickets and more information.

UCSB Dance Company in ‘Curio’ by Meredith Ventura | Photo: Stephen Sherrill

The UCSB Dance Company recently returned from their European Tour 2025 where they participated in seven performances, took master classes, attended a Flamenco dance show in Barcelona, contemporary ballet performances in Skopje, Macedonia, and in Sofia, Bulgaria, and even had time to explore natural and cultural features in the countries visited on their tour. Not only that, they won two trophies at the Barcelona International Dance Awards, where 14 countries and more than 200 dancers were represented. UCSB took second place in the category Dance Fusion and Best Music For Dance, with the choreographies Curio by Meredith Ventura, Maenad by Delila Moseley, and what it takes to care by Megha Ramachandran performed. Bravo!

ON the (Comedy) Stage

I will have an interview with him in an upcoming issue, but you don’t want to miss one of my favorite comedians, Brad Williams, who is coming to the Granada on Saturday, June 7. Robin Williams called him “Prozac with a head” and I called him simply hilarious (read my 2024 review here). Click here for ticket info.

ON the Page

Longtime Independent writer Roger Durling (don’t miss this week’s excellent cover story on Lynda Weinman), has yet another honor this month. Roger wrote an essay included in Criterion’s new release of Julian Schnabel’s remastered BASQUIAT (starring the fabulous and almost unrecognizable Jeffrey Wright, who SBIFF honored in 2024). If you haven’t seen the film, I’d highly recommend it. Schnabel delves into the downtown-Manhattan art world of the 1980s and the life of a visionary artist whose rise from graffiti tagger to art star forces him to confront the glare of sudden fame, along with racism, his own struggles with addiction, and the difficulties of being self-determining and free in America. Click here for more info.

ON the Calendar

Piano Kitchen artists include, clockwise from left, Dick Dunlap, Erin Bonski, Paul Berkowitz, and Alvise Pascucci | Photos: Courtesy

“Night of the Living Piano” comes to the new Piano Kitchen this Saturday, May 24, at 7 p.m. Four great pianists — Erin Bonski, Paul Berkowitz, Alvise Pascucci, and Dick Dunlap — will present works for solo piano. The Piano Kitchen is at 4185 Carpinteria Ave. Unit 3. Tickets are $20 at the door. BYOB or get your wine and empanadas next door.

For a complete calendar of events this week and beyond, visit independent.com/events/.