Nurturing the Arts

HDAE A&C Committee Chalks Up Another Year

From the San Miguel mural to the first annual Chalk & Music Fest, the Arts & Culture committee took 2023 from the ChI-5 to the Manzanita side UCSB style! (Cruz, 1996).

UCSB first-year student, Grace Lindsay, set up shop in the Santa Cruz Recreation Room just after the Spring quarter began, and settled in between the piano and pool tables to get her creative juices “flowing”. As the 2023 San Miguel Muralist winner, Grace worked hard to take her vision of “Community,” this year’s theme, from concept to reality on a 4’x12’ canvas crafted by HDAE’s own Makers, the Residential Operations team: Ernesto Villegas, Scott E. Suttner, Caesar Martinez, Andy Johnson, Elijah Langworthy, Stephen Federlein, Ishmael Carranza, and Danny Mann. You can see Grace’s work on the San Miguel stage by mid-July. 

In early November, the A&C committee was approached by third-year student and San Rafael Resident Assistant, Shoshana Medved, with a project hatched through her participation in UCSB’s Environmental Leadership Incubator (ELI), a class designed to increase sustainability across campus. Shoshana joined the A&C committee as a student representative and worked with Residential Operations Project Manager Ashley Cohen to navigate the channels needed to acquire approval from the small project committee, a prerequisite to moving the Residence Hall Little Free Library (LFL) project forward. Ashley’s invaluable help was also needed to coordinate with the maintenance team who handled the installation. 

Shoshana’s idea would bring collaborative support from ELI, local non-profit Art from Scrap, and the Arts & Culture Committee to bring LFLs to UCSB’s Residence Halls. This project showcased how the HDAE community works together to leverage our talents for the greater good of our broader community. Go team!

2022-23 was a year of creating community. The A&C committee collaborated with a student to support their unique vision. We said goodbye to the COVID restrictions that had been put in place since March 2020 and hello again to A&C’s music week in a newfound iteration, bringing back music as an integrative community experience. The Chalk & Music Fest hosted its inaugural year in Manzanita Village adjacent to the Carrillo Dining Commons—on the doorstep of De Anza. 

Out of our desire to bring back Community in a post-COVID world, students, staff, and visitors were invited to sit side-by-side on the walkway and conjure up their artistic expression, while grooving to the music provided by students and former HDAE staff member, Eric Zobel. The music ranged from electronic choreography to ballads, pop, rock & roll, and even a little karaoke. It was a fun, inviting space that allowed individuals a moment to escape into their creativity, to explore, and just be. 

Special thanks to Associate Vice Chancellor Willie Brown, the Residential Operations Team who refreshed the walkway to its original state and, the Arts & Culture Committee members who volunteered their time: Ashley Cohen, Nestor Covarrubias, Sara Engebrits, Julie Levangie, Marisol Gomez, Carol Hirashima, Michele Kunz, Eriko MacDonald, Shoshana Medved, and Sharon Tan.

Reference
This is a paraphrase. Cruz (1996), Island Style.