UPCOMING EVENTS
PAST EVENTS
ARTS PROFESSIONAL PATHWAYS - Arts & Activism: A Conversation with Shepard Fairey, Frank Abe, and Andrew Aydin
Friday, May 22, 2023 - 12pm
Online Event
Arts Professional Pathways: Arts & Activism brings American contemporary artist/activist Shepard Fairey, Frank Abe, lead author of WE HEREBY REFUSE: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, and Andrew Aydin, co-author of autobiographical graphic novel trilogy March, into a conversation about their journeys of mobilizing artistic interventions for political activism.
Professors Dee Hibbert-Jones and Kristen Gillette will moderate the discussions.
ARTS DEAN'S LECTURE - A Conversation with POSE Co-Creator Steven Canals: Redefining Diversity through Creative Interventions
Friday, May 19, 2023 - 10:00 am
What does “diversity” mean to you and the creative industry? When we celebrate the increasingly diverse representations on screen, we must remember there is still so much to do when it comes to diversity and inclusion behind the camera. Join us for a conversation with, Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning co-creator, executive producer, director, and writer of the FX drama series POSE, Steven Canals, and Film & Digital Media Professor L.S. Kim about utilizing creative interventions for social change. We will talk to Steven about his past and current professional pathways and how he translated his lived experience into a screenplay and, finally, a seminal drama series that advocates for the LGBTQ community.
ARTS DEAN'S LECTURE - A Conversation with Award-winning Pixar Editor Kevin Nolting and Disney Historian Don Peri: Directing and Editing Feelings
Wednesday, May 10, 2023 - 5:00 pm
Have you seen the first 20 minutes of UP (2019) and experienced the full spectrum of human emotions or teared up at the bittersweet farewell to ping pong in Inside Out (2015)? These moments, while short, leave lasting impressions thanks to the invisible labors behind the scenes. What does it take to edit a film like them? How do we convey emotions through the art of directing and editing?
Join us for a conversation with award-winning Pixar film editor Kevin Nolting and Disney Historian Don Peri. We will discuss the impact of Disney/Pixar animated films and the professional pathways in the animation industry. A reception with a special screening will take place at 5 PM. At 6 PM, there will be a panel discussion, another short screening, followed by a Q&A.
Professor Gustavo Vazquez and FDM student Gabby Goss will moderate the conversations.
Santa Cruz COE & UCSC ArtsBridge Celebration
Tuesday, May 9, 2023 - 3:30pm
Porter Koi Pond at UCSC
[This event is open to Arts Division Faculty & Staff, UCSC Students, and UCSC ArtsBridge partnered host schools only and is not open to the general public.]
UCSC ArtsBridge, in partnership with Santa Cruz County Office of Education, is holding Awards Ceremonies for 2023 ArtsBridge Scholars. Audiences are invited to join in celebrating their success and learn more about ArtsBridge!
Find YOUR Path! 2023
Wednesday, April 19, 12pm & Friday, April 21, 12pm
Find YOUR Path! 2023 is a two-part professional event for students interested in arts and entertainment. We will demystify and make more inclusive pathways to careers in the art and entertainment industries!
- PART 1: Join us on Wednesday, April 19, Noon - 1:30 PM for an in-person workshop at Digital Arts Research Center, Room 308, where we will get you started on your resume, cover letter, portfolio, and more!
- PART 2: Then Join us on Friday, April 21, Noon - 1:30 PM on Zoom to participate in 2–3 panels featuring local and national employers, alumni, and creative professionals where you can ask your questions or receive advice!
Planned Panels
Click HERE for a complete list of speaker bios
- "Careers in Arts Education"
- ArtsBridge | Arts Council Santa Cruz | Joffrey Ballet School | Santa Cruz Office of Education
- "Theater Arts & Performance Spaces"
- American Conservatory Theater | Magic Theater | Yerba Buena Center for the Arts | Z Space
- "Working in the Entertainment Industry"
- Amazon Studios | CNN Original Series | Professional TV Editor
- "Opportunities at Museums"
- Museo Eduardo Carrillo | San Jose Museum of Art | Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
- "Film & Documentary"
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | ITVS: Documentary Film Funding | Sundance Institute
- "Careers in Music"
- Indexical | Professional Musicians | Professional Music Producers
- "Game Design & Production"
- Disruptive Games | Game Designers | Game Producers
Seminar on the Relations of Theory and Practice with Visiting Scholar McKenzie Wark
Thursday, April 13, 2023 - 10am
Communications 139
McKenzie Wark will discuss the concept of “resonant abstractions” that she develops in her new book Raving, in which she “takes readers into the undisclosed locations of New York’s thriving underground queer and trans rave scene.” Students are encouraged to bring topics, questions, and issues regarding their own work.
Cosponsored by
The Department of Film & Digital Media
Arts Research Institute
Arts Professional Pathways.
ARTS PROFESSIONAL PATHWAYS - A Conversation with Screenwriter/Producer Nicole Jefferson Asher
Friday, February 10, 2023 - 1:00 pm
Digital Arts Research Center: Light Lab (DARC 306)
Join Arts Professional Pathways for a conversation with Ms. Nicole Jefferson Asher. Ms. Asher began her artistic journey studying at the world-famous Dance Theater of Harlem in her teens. Later, she majored in theater as an undergrad at UC Berkeley and then went on to receive an M.F.A. in film production from UCLA. Since then, Asher has earned numerous credits in film and television, having created projects for HBO, MTV, Showtime, Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and Mule FilmWorks, MillarGoughInk, and Screen Gems.
Most recently, Ms. Asher created a limited series for Netflix about Madam CJ Walker, starring Octavia Spencer in the title role. The project is slated to shoot in 2019. Other current projects include Keeping the Faith, a biopic of R&B superstar Faith Evans for VH1, and Madame Queen, a biopic based on Harlem's most notorious female gangster, Stephanie St. Clair, with Tim Story attached to direct, for HBO.
ARTS PROFESSIONAL PATHWAYS - A Conversation about Curatorial Practices and Internships at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
[Postponed]
Join Arts Professional Pathways for a discussion featuring Michelle Joan Wilkinson, curator at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and Darius T. Epps, Fellowship and Intern Program Coordinator at NMAAHC. This special event will be moderated by Professor Jennifer González, Professor at the Department of History of Art and Visual Culture.
Learn more about our speakers HERE.
Presented by: Arts Division and HVAC
ARTS PROFESSIONAL PATHWAYS: A CONVERSATION WITH KEN CORDAY
Friday, May 20, 2022 - 11:00am to 12:00pm
[This event is open to all UCSC students.] Arts Professional Pathways and the Film & Digital Media Department present a conversation with Ken Corday, Emmy Award-winning Composer and Executive Producer of Days of Our Lives.
Featuring:
Ken Corday Composer and Executive Producer of Days of Our Lives and UCSC alumnus (Porter, '75, aesthetic studies and music)
Celine Parreñas Shimizu Dean of Arts and Distinguished Professor of Film and Digital Media
Rick Prelinger Chair and Professor, Film and Digital Media, and the Kenneth R. Corday Family Presidential Chair in Writing for Television and Film
Matthew Schumaker Assistant Professor of Music
Yiman Wang Professor of Film and Digital Media
Presented by: Arts Division Film and Digital Media
Find YOUR Path! 2022
April 15, 12:30- 2 p.m.
All Arts students are invited.
If you are curious about how to become a professional artist, UI/UX designer, game designer, editor, filmmaker, curator, or obtain the opportunity to work in a museum or a music center, please join us to network with professionals in the field. Regardless of your field or fields of interest, you are invited to prepare a copy of your resume/CV because you will have a chance to talk to an industry expert about how to impress anyone with your resume and a thank you letter.
Featured speaker bios here.
Arts Professional Pathways: Find YOUR Path! is co-presented by the Division of the Arts and Career Success at UC Santa Cruz.
ARTS PROFESSIONAL PATHWAYS: Navigating Success, Creative Possibility, and Ethics in the Entertainment Industry: A Conversation with Sandino Moya-Smith, VP of Production at MGM
Friday, April 8, 2022 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Mr. Sandino Moya-Smith, VP of Production at MGM, demystifies career pathways into the entertainment industry in a two-part event moderated by UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media students Nestor Garcia-Chavez and Janet Chen as part of the Arts Roundtable Series. Part 1 (12:00–1:10 p.m.): presentation and dialogue with Moya-Smith Part 2 (1:15–2:00 p.m.): special learning session on creative practice and production featuring Moya-Smith and graduate students from Social Documentation M.F.A. and Film and Digital Media Ph.D. programs
Presented by: Arts Division Film and Digital Media