When you walk into the Raza Resource Centro at UC San Diego, your gaze is immediately drawn to a prominent and vibrantly colored panorama depicting artists and activists, community builders and rebels—people who have defined, shaped and transformed Latino/a identity and empowerment throughout history. Three new murals were unveiled at a recent campus ceremony that included a talk by artist Jose Olague.
Graduate students at the University of California San Diego will stage an original work and performance on Thursday, March 23, in the Qualcomm Institute on the university campus. Their interdisciplinary work, “The Burden of Selfhood”, will explore the themes of feminism, identity and technology.
Hundreds of visitors recently helped usher in “Making Communities: Art and the Border,” an exhibition that shines a light on immigrant communities as a source of creativity. During its opening, several UC San Diego artists participated in a speaking program addressing the recent rhetoric citing Mexico as a source of crime and economic decline. Curated by Ph.D. alumna Tatiana Sizonenko (’13), this third major exhibition in a series of programs celebrating the Department of Visual Arts’ 50th anniversary—“VISUAL ARTS @ 50: ART INTO LIFE—is on view now through April 13 at three distinct campus locations: the University Art Gallery (UAG), the SME Visual Arts Gallery (SME) and the Cross Cultural Center galleries.
Faced with a downturn in visitors, the San Diego History Center (SDHC) decided to take an innovative approach to boosting museum attendance – let visitors determine how much they wanted to pay for their visit. The museum’s “Give Forward” admissions program launched in October 2016 and, to date, has given it a significant boost in attendance. This fundamental shift in admissions was inspired by the research of Ayelet Gneezy and Uri Gneezy, faculty at the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego, and experts in charitable giving. Working with the Rady School professors, the museum determined the best way to increase admissions was to allow visitors to contribute based on their experience in the museum, instead of paying a set admissions fee. In addition, the museum highlights to visitors that admissions donations help pay for other people to visit in the future.
The University of California San Diego’s Division of Arts and Humanities is welcoming its first visiting artist under the newly established Roghieh Chehre-Azad Distinguished Professorship. “Parissa,” Iran’s most distinguished female vocalist, will visit UC San Diego during the first part of spring quarter to share her deep knowledge of the “Radif”—the classical repertoire of Persian traditional music. She will present a talk, Tuesday, April 4, from 5 to 7 p.m., in the Conrad Prebys Music Center, Recital Hall. The dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities, Cristina Della Coletta, will give the introduction.
The University of California San Diego’s fine arts programs are ranked among the top in the nation. Department of Visual Arts lecturer Huai Li is among the many talented teachers who enhance that reputation and influence aspiring artists at the university. With a goal of engaging the greater San Diego community in her work—not unlike the university’s own efforts to reach beyond campus—Li is opening a solo exhibition titled “You Fascinate Me” March 11 at the Sparks Gallery in the Gaslamp Quarter in Downtown San Diego.
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