Now at the CAW
The Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative Presents:
City Council Candidates Forum on the Arts
Wednesday, October 7, 5:15 – 8:00PM.
Doors open at 5:00PM
Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden Street
The Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative is pleased to revive its tradition of hosting a candidates forum on the arts. Open to all City Council candidates in Districts 4, 5, and 6, as well as mayoral candidates, this forum will focus on how they plan to support and sustain the arts in Santa Barbara.
​
5:00pm: Gates Open
5:15pm: Audience seated – SBAC welcome and intros
5:30pm: District 4 Candidate Forum
6:00pm Break
6:10pm District 5 Candidate Forum
6:40pm Break
6:50pm District 6 Candidate Forum
7:20pm Break
7:30pm Mayoral Candidate Forum
8:00pm Adjourn
...
​The Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative (SBAC) is a nonprofit committed to sustaining and growing all forms of the arts in Santa Barbara. Through long-term programs like the Community Arts Workshop, the Funk Zone Maps, Pianos on State, and in many smaller projects and collaborations, the SBAC works to sustain and grow the unique cultural ecology of our community. For many years, the SBAC has had a tradition of hosting a City of Santa Barbara Candidates’ Forum on the Arts during election years.
The SBAC does not issue endorsements of candidates.
Rebecca Zendejas Presents:
The Recycled Show: ReFabrication
Opening Reception: Friday Oct. 9, 5-8pm.
Gallery Hours: Friday Oct. 9 & 15 10am-5pm, Saturday Oct. 17 11a-3p
Or by appointment: 805-324-7443
"The Recycled Show: ReFabrication" is the continuation of the vision that Jami Joelle Nielsen was developing before her untimely death. Considering our relationship to fabric, clothing, fashion & adornment and its impact on the environment, over a dozen local artists have contributed artwork created with 75-80% up-cycled fabric and materials typically destined for the landfill.
​
Participating artists ​include: Georganne Alex, Andrew Baker,​ Mary Becker, Barbara Booth, Donna Gallant, Laurie Gross-Schaefer, Deeta Katz, Kathy Leader, Karen Lee, Becca Licha, Judy Nilsen, Heidi Parker, Mary Price, Matt Rodriguez, Meiya Sidney and Claire Wentzel.​
​
...
This exhibit will also feature a few pieces by Jami Joelle Nielsen, whose own practice as a recycled-object artist prompted her to ​create the inaugural "Recycled Show: A No Waste Exhibit" in 2024 at the CAW, which was formerly a recycling center. The concept for that show began taking shape in 2014, when Jami organized and curated the "No Waste Earth" exhibit at Art From Scrap.
Images from 2025 & 2024 Recycled Shows at the CAW.
The Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative Presents:
Upcycle Couture
A Reuse Runway Event
Friday, October 16th, 7 - 10pm
At the Community Arts Workshop
Join us on October 16, at the Community Arts Workshop, for our first ever fashion show fundraiser. In memory of our former Outreach Committee member, Jami Joelle Nielsen, the Arts Collaborative is hosting its first ever fashion show to support emerging designers, and raise money for our programming. The event will also collaborate with producing partner Explore Ecology and other environmental organizations to educate about the environmental effects of fast-fashion.
Guests will enjoy refreshments, music, and a fabulous show of hand-crafted designs from local designers followed by awards to honor artisanship and innovation to the design teams. All clothing will be for sale!
We hope you’ll gather with us to celebrate what’s possible when artists are tasked with creative solutions for a more sustainable future.
​
For more information visit: sbartscollaborative.org/upcycle-couture
The Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative Presents:
Area Meeting
A Place for Creative Exchange
Tuesday, October 13th, 6 - 8pm
At the Community Arts Workshop
Facilitators Patrick Melroy and Lyra Purugganan spark discussion with showcased artist Dannah Mari Hildalgo for our October Meet-up.
Area Meeting is a rally point for the creatives in our community. An excuse for us to be in the same place, a place which will inspire the right kind of imaginative friction. The first part of the evening is an interview-style discussion with a keynote artist. After a social break fueled by snacks, invited artists will present work in a supportive crit-style environment.
​
Area Meeting is for anyone who has ever read a wall placard at a gallery and found themselves with more questions than answers. Area Meeting is for the artist who needs to hear from other artists about the struggle, about the broken tools, the constant haunting of a studio space by specters of doubt and conflict as they battle to be heard through their work.
Off Register Santa Barbara Presents:
Off Register 2026
Santa Barbara Art Book & Print Fair
The 3rd annual zine and print festival
Saturday, October 24, 10am-5pm
Free!
From the organizer:
Join us for the 3rd annual Off Register: Santa Barbara Art Book and Print Fair! Visitors can meet, converse with, and purchase zines, prints, posters, t-shirts and other DIY printed goods from a diverse group of artists, designers, and publishers.
Off Register will feature over 50 artists/designers, zine and button-making activities, symposium-style panel discussions, alongside local food trucks, music and more! FREE admission.
Off Register: Santa Barbara Art Book & Print Fair is organized by a team of local artists, academics, entrepreneurs, and printers. The organization is a fiscally sponsored 501C3 non-profit with an all-volunteer board of organizers who are passionate about print! More information at offregistersb.org.
Images from past Off Register events.
The Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative Presents:
Artist Studio Survey
Tell us about your art and the space you need to create it.
The Arts Collaborative is venturing beyond the walls of the Community Arts Workshop to study the possibility of affordable artist studios in Santa Barbara.
With the rise in costs for both housing and commercial space, artists are being priced out of historic areas like the Funk Zone and struggling to find replacements.
The SBAC has rallied a small group of community leaders to study the need, the possibilities, and the methods for facilitating more affordable studio space for artists. Our group wants to hear from artists themselves to understand the realistic needs of our artistic community for creative work space.
Participating in this survey directly supports our ability to make this effort a reality.
We so appreciate your time.
Use the CAW
The CAW collaborates to empower and provide affordable space for art projects of all kinds. Have an idea? Use the CAW.
The Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative works to maintain the CAW as a "blank canvas" for as wide a diversity of arts uses and users as possible, providing space and collaborating with project initiators to make their ideas a success for the benefit of the broader community, and supporting and cultivating collaborations between artists and arts organizations, community groups, the business community, non-profit organizations and the entire community.
​
Find out more about how you can use the CAW here:
The SBAC facilitates the use of the CAW by artists, nonprofits, and community groups of all types; fostering exploration, conversation, collaboration, and connection to further its mission to sustain and grow all forms of the arts in Santa Barbara. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the users’ own, and do not necessarily represent those of the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative. The SBAC welcomes all in the work to sustain and grow the unique cultural ecology of our community.