Highlights of the Spring Arts Season

When it comes to the arts, Santa Barbara continues to punch well above its weight. In coming months, you can enjoy world-class gallery and museum shows, sublime classical music performances, exciting musical theater, and even visits to artists’ studios.

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This spring, take a musical journey with the Santa Barbara Symphony to the sun-drenched landscapes and vibrant artistic heritage of Italy at Bella Italia on Saturday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 29, at 3 p.m. at the Granada Theatre. Conducted by Music and Artistic Director Nir Kabaretti, the program spans four centuries of Italian music, from the Baroque to the present day. The concert opens with one of the defining works of the Baroque concerto: Vivaldi’s “Winter” from The Four Seasons, followed by the American premiere of Cristian Carrara’s Red Ferrari Accordion Concerto, featuring acclaimed virtuoso Hanzhi Wang. Next, hear Puccini’s youthful Capriccio Sinfonico, foreshadowing the lyrical style of La Bohème. The program concludes with brass blazing in Respighi’s thunderous The Pines of Rome. For details and tickets, call 805.899.2222 or visit here.

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On March 5, a new chapter unfolds at Seimandi & Leprieur, the French contemporary art gallery just steps from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, within a beautifully restored space defined by light, balance, and quiet elegance. The gallery opens its fourth exhibition, Shapes of Surrealism, bringing together six contemporary artists who engage surrealism as a living, evolving field of perception. Automatic drawing, illusionistic imagery, and imagined vegetal worlds give shape to shifting inner landscapes where reality softly slips out of focus. Through the rigor of its curatorial vision and its attention to presentation, Seimandi & Leprieur has quickly distinguished itself as a space for collectors and curious visitors alike. The opening reception is on March 5, from 5 to 8 p.m., an opportunity to discover this new body of work while enjoying live music and refreshments in an atmosphere where the art remains at the center of the experience.

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Established in 1984, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery has represented the work of American artists for more than 40 years. The contributions of these artists, spanning the 19th to the 21st century, can be found in one of three expansive spaces in our downtown gallery. With an inventory of over 3,000 paintings, watercolors, drawings, prints and sculptures, Sullivan Goss is the primary Santa Barbara gallery positioned to help build private and public collections of important American art. We offer approximately twenty exhibitions each year, including solo shows for contemporary and historic artists as well as curated thematic exhibitions. Through our research efforts, the team at Sullivan Goss is also involved in scholarship, research, and publication on American artists. Our gallery’s website is one of the internet’s best resources for information about American art from 1850 to today.

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On view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB), located in the heart of downtown at Paseo Nuevo, is DJ Javier’s critically acclaimed exhibition San Milano Drive. The exhibition celebrates his art and design practice alongside his deep connection to his Filipino heritage, his hometown of Santa Barbara, and contemporary surf culture. San Milano Drive features numerous large-scale paintings and sculptures, as well as site-specific murals that transform the museum walls, plus a shoppable art and design “merkado” highlighting local artists and makers. MCASB Satellite at The Riviera Beach House—the museum’s free gallery in the heart of the Funk Zone—currently presents L.A.–based artist Godofredo Astudillo’s Makahiya: I wanted you to feel the same. Founded in 1976 by artists for artists, MCASB remains the only free contemporary art museum between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. MCASB celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. mcasantabarbara.org. Photo by Ingrid Bostrom Photography.

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In the new year, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art offers a sweeping look at how artists engage with time. Works grounded in personal histories, inherited traditions, and collective memory speak to the past while giving us new ways to access it in the present. Contemporary materials and lived experience illuminate the world today, yet they also open space for reflection and reinterpretation. On February 22, Remixed: Entwined Histories and New Forms, explores “remixing” as a visual and conceptual strategy, blurring the lines between eras, genres, and cultures. In As if in a Dream: History, Fantasy, Future, opening on March 8, landscapes and portraits rooted in personal associations and uncanny figures show how fleeting experiences can be transformed into inventive new worlds. Lastly, RANDOM-ACCESS MEMORY: Internet Art, opening March 15, frames the web as a living memory system—ever-changing, contradictory, and subject to distortion—where personal histories blur into collective narratives.

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Step into the vibrant, world of a rock legend as Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara presents A Night with Janis Joplin, starring the sensational, Tony-nominated Mary Bridget Davies. This music-driven theatrical event creates an immersive experience, allowing audiences to feel the “ferocity that seems to tear at her own throat” (LATimes) that defined Joplin’s sound. Davies, reprising her critically acclaimed role, brings to life not just the chart-topping hits like “Piece of My Heart” and “Me and Bobby McGee,” but also the crucial voices of—Odetta, Aretha Franklin, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, and more—who shaped Joplin’s artistry. It’s a “thrilling and heartbreaking” (HuffPost) journey into the pain and passion behind the music, a true “revelation” (HuffPost) of a voice that transcended time. Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara running April 1-26 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street. Tickets at etcsb.org or 805-965-5400.

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Rubenstein Chan, a new gallery in Carpinteria, opened in September 2025 and quickly established itself as a space for thoughtful, distinctive work. Owned by Irene Chan and Bonnie Rubenstein, the gallery presents an eclectic mix of artists whose practices offer originality and substance. The current exhibit, Held in Motion, through March 1st, features Laguna Beach artist Clara Berta and Los Angeles artist Chenhung Chen. Berta’s bold, large-scale abstractions contrast beautifully with Chen’s delicate drawings and ocean-inspired abstractions, creating a visually balanced and compelling dialogue. It’s Complicated, March 7th-April 5, heralds the first solo exhibit at the gallery. Showcasing Montecito artist Gerrie Shapiro, it marks Shapiro’s return to the gallery world after more than twenty years. Shapiro creates vibrant, message-driven works, alongside interactive sculptural objects—music boxes, jewelry boxes, and blocks—that invite touch and movement. A reception will be held March 14 from 5–8 p.m. 805.576.6152, rubensteinchan.com.

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New York Philharmonic String Quartet: Two Nights at the Music Academy of the West. On April 2–3, the Music Academy of the West hosts two extraordinary evenings of chamber music. The renowned New York Philharmonic String Quartet—featuring Music Academy alum and teaching artist violist Cynthia Phelps, alum violinist Frank Huang, violinist Qianqian Li, and cellist Carter Brey—returns April 2 with signature precision, passion, and power in an intimate program of masterworks. On April 3, Music Academy alum and 2026 GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Han Chen joins the quartet for a special collaboration that highlights chamber music at its finest. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience the artistry of one of the world’s premier string quartets in an intimate setting. Tickets at: musicacademy.org/mariposa.

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Our free Second Saturday Open Studios spotlight a different Ojai neighborhood each month, offering intimate, one-day glimpses into artists’ working studios and creative process. Each fall, we expand the experience with our annual three-day Open Studio Tour, featuring more than 60 artists throughout the Ojai Valley. This highly anticipated event also serves as a fundraiser supporting our student scholarship program. Learn more at OjaiStudioArtists.org.

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