You are here

Feature Stories

Panel discussion participants

On November  6, 2015, UC Santa Cruz students and the local community were given the unique opportunity to hear renowned professionals in the entertainment industry give their insights and guidance about being part of this very competitive and sought-after field.

As a Porter College student at UC Santa Cruz, Jennie Morris knew that she would have an interesting career someday.

Photo of Randall Graham

Randall Grahm is not your typical winemaker. While the wines he produces at his Bonny Doon Vineyard are exceptional, having garnered several rave industry reviews over the years, the road he took to success had a lot of atypical twists and turns.

Founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard, Randall Grahm, began the Banana Slug Red wine label design project as a way to give back to the university and was intrigued by Dean David Yager’s idea about having art students get involved with the process. 

After graduating from UC Santa Cruz in 2005 with a degree in Film and Digital Media, Jaime Gonzalezknew that he was destined to become a filmmaker.

Oakland-based artist, Raymond Saunders, has taken his place in American art history ever since he first emerged as an important abstract visual artist during the 1950s.

On Monday, January 11, 2016, the inaugural Blum Scholar Award presentations took place and honored six outstanding UC Santa Cruz graduate students.

UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media alum Erik Pearson will be directing the upcoming play Marqués, a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which was written by UC Santa Cruz graduate students,Stephen Richter and Mónica Andrade, and is set in the shady world of drug... [more]

Visual artist and UC Santa Cruz alum (Porter 1995) Fritz Chesnut was exposed at an early age to art, especially since his mother earned her PhD in art education and his father, who has a Master’s in German, also studied music.

The UC Santa Cruz Arts Division is proud to announce the David Yager Fund, created by friends and supporters of the Arts to honor the legacy of former Dean, David Yager.  The fund was launched at a recent celebration at Dominic’s restaurant in West Hollywood to toast Yager as he transitioned... [more]

On Tuesday, October 6, the first celebration of the Plantronics Creativity and Innovation Scholars award took place at UC Santa Cruz. Ken Kannappan, the president and CEO of Plantronics and Darrin Caddes, Plantronics’ vice president of corporate design, joined ... [more]

You just never know where being a student at UC Santa Cruz will take you. Just ask Emily Heller, who was a History of Art and Visual Culture major in the class of 2007, and is now on a very successful track in the entertainment world as a stand-up comedian and comedy writer in Los Angeles.

In April 2013, an international group of documentary scholars and scholar-practitioners assembled at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland to participate in the first Poetics and Politics of Documentary Research Symposium.

The Arts Division was well represented at the 2015 Graduate Research Symposium with entries from four Social Documentation students, three Digital Arts and New Media students, two students in Theater Arts and two students from the Visual Studies program.  

The 2015 Eduardo Carrillo Scholarship recipients were honored on April 27 at a reception featuring a temporary exhibition of their work. Most of the 21 Carrillo scholars attended, along with Alison Carrillo, the creator of the Eduardo Carrillo Scholarship.

Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture, T.J. Demos is sitting in his office surrounded by boxes that have yet to be unpacked.

For the cast of this year’s Shakespeare To Go production, all the world is truly a stage as they start performing one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, As You Like It, and take it on the road this spring to various middle schools and high schools throughout Santa... [more]

What do contemporary music and vibrational communication from plants have in common? Quite a lot according to Larry Polansky, Professor of Music at UC Santa Cruz.

Recently several UC Santa Cruz Music Department students participated in prestigious music-related events where they showcased their exceptional talents. “We are very proud of our students, said Professor of Music and Music Department Chair Anatole Leikin.

Growing up in Palo Alto, Calif. into a gifted artistic family, it seems natural that Tom Franco would want to pursue a career in art.

For 15 years, Hannah Pederson has been on staff at UC Santa Cruz, but it was actually her love of food and talent for cooking that brought her originally to UC Santa Cruz.

Growing up as an Afrikaner in Johannesburg has given Nicol Hammond a rare perspective on racism, social justice and their impact on many areas, particularly music.

As an award-winning documentary filmmaker, Jennifer Maytorena Taylor’s filmography is especially impressive. Her insightful perspectives on people and circumstances that usually don’t have a voice in our society, have led her to examine difficult subjects via her discerning camera lens.

Ever since he was a child growing up in New Haven, Conn, Rick Prelinger has held a fascination with history, changing landscapes, and how places transform over time.

As the gaming industry continues to evolve from simple linear programming to cutting-edge artistic and interactive experiences, the Arts Division at UC Santa Cruz is leading the way in this sweeping change by taking education in gaming to the next level – and world-renowned game designer and... [more]

Pages