Student success stays at the forefront of the Arts Division

Find Your Path! provides annual opportunities for students to discover possible future careers


find your path! screen with empty chairs

In an endeavor to foster student success, every year the Arts Division hosts Find Your Path!, a two day event featuring workshops and guest speakers centered on finding success in the arts. This year’s event on April 8 & 9, marked the first time Find Your Path! was entirely hybrid for attendees, allowing students to attend either online or in person.

The first day of the event featured keynote speaker Consuelo Alba, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Watsonville Film Festival and a board member for the Arts Council Santa Cruz County, who opened up about her path to success and career goals. 

After her talk, Alba sat down with Esthela  Bañuelos, assistant Dean for Student Success and chief of staff for the arts division. “It was a treat to sit down with her for a Q&A after her presentation and have a wide ranging conversation about her path, her work, and the importance  of the arts in the current moment,” says Bañuelos.

Alba was followed by a presentation from UCSC Career Success which covered crafting resumes, cover letters, portfolios and more. It is one of the many goals of the Arts Division to ensure that students have pathways to career success, and that all forms of arts are seen as viable ways to forge a future. “Hearing from these panelists and seeing their career pathways and knowing that there is a future where you can combine that passion with a livelihood is really important for our students,” says Ashleigh Abe, the student success project coordinator.

April 9 showcased career options through four panels: Careers in Museums, Working in the Entertainment Industry, Careers in Performance Spaces and Careers in Creative Technologies. Guest speakers spoke over zoom and featured a combination of alumni, professors, and other working professionals.

Featured speakers include: Nicole Jonssen, the Monterey Museum public programs coordinator; Valeria Miranda, the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery Director; Marla Novo, the deputy director Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH); Oscar Paz, the education & outreach manager at the MAH; Matthew Prescott, editor for the TV show All American; Kara Frame, a video producer of Tiny Desk Concerts at NPR; Eseel Borlasa, an arts and event producer, film programmer, and publicist; Russell Rodriguez, a music professor and founder of the Mariachi band at UCSC; Michael Flora, the director of Indexical; Jill Maclean, the director of the Young Conservatory at the American Conservatory Theater; Renee Gittins, the studio head at Stumbling Cat Games; Adrian Syben, a senior video editor at Roblox; and Aron Garst, a freelance writer and journalist.

Students came prepared with questions, many of them having followed the careers of the panelists long before the event. Abe jokes that the students exceeded their expectations so far that they even ate all the lunch provided, which she thought was far too much to be possible.

Throughout the event students approached Bañuelos and Abe in hopes of staying connected to panelists and getting a jump start on their future. “I loved hearing students speak about the impact of the program on them,” said Bañuelos. “A few of our industry panelists offered to continue to connect with our students, and I’m thrilled students were able to make those connections.”

The vitality of Find Your Path! proves the importance of careers in the arts, as well as a strong determination by students to forge ahead. It sets a precedent for building connections in their desired fields and gives them a toolkit that will help them throughout their lives.

“I hope students took away from this event the possibilities that await them in Arts fields,” says Bañuelos. “Arts industries can be difficult to break into, and we work to provide our students with guidance, knowledge and connections that will support them as they identify next steps in their career pathways!”

Last modified: Apr 22, 2025