Events By Quarter
The MCC in Santa Barbara
Speak Deadly: Poetry as Social Justice / An Evening of Spoken Word with Paul Tran
Breakfast Culture Club, 711 Chapala St
Paul Tran is a queer & gender queer Vietnamese American poet & historian. In 2015, they became the 10th ranked slam poet in the world & the first Asian American to represent the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe at the National Poetry Slam. Paul is a teaching artist at Urban Word NYC and Poetry Editor at The Offing, a channel of the Los Angeles Review of Books. Join us for a night of poetry & conversation about intergenerational trauma, racialized labor, U.S. Empire, & sexual violence.
An Evening of Music & Dance of Bali: Gamelan Sekar Jaya
MCC Theater
Gamelan Sekar Jaya offers a scintillating performance of Balinese music and dance, complete with gongs, flutes, metallophones of bronze and bamboo, fluttering fingers, and the powerfully-determined expressions of golden-clad dancers. The ensemble will bring to the stage classic and contemporary works from Bali's great traditions in this intimate theater. Formed in 1979, the orchestra has performed in various settings and venues from the bustling village squares in Bali to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
Tickets: $5 for UCSB students and children under 12 // $15 general admission. Purchase tickets here.
Watch them dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFAzCKej1fI
Cup of Culture
El Canto del Colibrí
MCC Theater
In an intimate documentary, immigrant Latino fathers across the U.S. recount the impact of their LGBTQ children’s coming out. They delve deeply into issues of immigration, prejudice, and isolation, while thoughtfully asking questions of their communities, culture, and even their religious beliefs. The result is a powerful lesson on solidarity and humility in a film that both heals and inspires. Live Q&A with the director following the film. (Spanish w/ English Subtitles, 2015, 53 min)
Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akkMDt4trUQ
Race Matters Series
The Importance of Black Radical Imagination
MCC Theater
Over the last decade, we have witnessed an all-out assault on the black radical tradition. What stands as legitimate forms of black political dissent now seem to be limited to some form of black liberalism (or neoliberalism). As the material conditions of black life continue to deteriorate, the battleground of the imagination becomes all the more important. How might we open up space to imagine black politics differently—to reactivate a black radical imagination in the aftermath of the Obama years? Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. is the Chair of the Department for African American Studies and Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton University.
