NOIZ—April in Santa Cruz festival opening
2026-04-15 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Digital Arts Research Center, 407 McHenry Rd, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
NOIZ: An Evening of Words, Sounds + Ideas is a live gathering at the intersection of Hip Hop, activism, and the spoken word—a space where music meets testimony. Hosted by assistant professor and hip hop artist akua naru, the evening features live student performances, a DJ set, and an intimate conversation with guest artist/performer Edd Wheeler: pioneering Brazilian rapper, founding member of As Damas do Rap, the first female Hip Hop group in Rio de Janeiro, and practicing lawyer and organizer whose life and work embody the transformative power of the emcee as witness, visionary, and change agent. Wheeler is joined with collaborators akua naru, spoken-word poet and musician Azmera Hammouri-Davis, and a student ensemble led by Ananya Balagere and Romare Uyeda-Hale. Download and share the event flyer here.
This event is a co-production of the UCSC Hip Hop Lab, Creative Technologies, Porter College, and the April in Santa Cruz Festival of Creative Music.
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ADMISSION
– Free and open to UCSC affiliates only
– Attend in-person at the Digital Arts Research Center
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PARKING
– Parking by UCSC permit or ParkMobile
– Arts Lot #126 is the closest parking lot to the event
– More information provided by UCSC Transportation & Parking Services (TAPS)
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FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
– This year’s festival includes seven events between April 15 and May 21, 2026
– Additional April in Santa Cruz events and information at aprilsc.ucsc.edu
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NOIZ: An Evening of Words, Sounds + Ideas
SOUND, STORY, AND RADICAL THOUGHT

image: photo of Edd Wheeler
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This event is open to UCSC affiliates, consistent with state and federal law.

Arts & Ecology Festival: Creative Resistance
2026-04-22 10:00 - 22:00 | Digital Arts Research Center, 407 McHenry Rd, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
On Earth Day, UC Santa Cruz launches the inaugural Arts & Ecology Festival: Creative Resistance, a campus-wide gathering that refuses to treat climate change as a problem of carbon alone. Instead, it brings together artists, scientists, students, and community partners to engage the deeper conditions of the crisis, and to open space for cultural, political, and imaginative transformations grounded in repair, reciprocity, and collective futures.
Taking place at the Digital Arts Research Center (DARC), the festival unfolds as a full day of exhibitions, film screenings, performances, workshops, talks, and public engagement. Developed through an open call that drew an overwhelming response across disciplines, the program reflects a growing field of practitioners working across environmental research, land-based knowledge, climate resistance, and practices of repair that move beyond dominant institutional and economic frameworks. Tacos Los Reyes food truck will be on site during the festival.
The UC Santa Cruz Arts & Ecology Festival is sponsored by UCSC Art Department, OpenLab Collaborative Research Center, and UC Climate Action Arts Network, with support from the University of California, Office of the President’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grant program.
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ADMISSION
– Free and open to the public
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FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Earth Day Festival
Wed., April 22, 10:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m.
various locations throughout the Digital Arts Research Center (DARC)
Earth Week Film Screenings
Mon.. April 20–Fri., April 24, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Light Lab Gallery at the Digital Arts Research Center (DARC)
More information here at the festival website.
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PARKING
– Parking by UCSC permit or ParkMobile.
– Arts Lot #126 is the closest parking lot to the event.
– Visitors with DMV placards or plates may park for free in DMV spaces, Medical spaces, or ParkMobile spaces without additional payment, or in timed zones for longer than the posted time.
– More information provided by UCSC Transportation & Parking Services (TAPS).
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This program is open to all members of the public consistent with state and federal law.

Slug48—Student Film Competition, Screening, and Awards Ceremony
2026-04-24 01:00 - 2026-04-30 00:59 | CA
The third annual Slug48 returns with a 48-hour film competition—open to all UC Santa Cruz students. A 48-hour film is one that is written, shot, edited, and all music composed within a 48-hour time period. Teams and strategies for filming may be formed ahead of time, but nothing can be written, and no footage can be shot, until the clock is ticking. Slug48 was founded in 2024 thanks to the support and enthusiasm of UC Santa Cruz alumnus Kevin Nolting, former editor at Pixar Animation Studios, where he edited the Academy Award-winning films Up!; Inside Out; and Soul.
ABOUT THE EVENT
Competition Opens
Fri., April 24, 5:00 p.m. | UCSC Communications 139
– parameters assigned (a theme, a prop, a line of dialogue that must be in the film to ensure nothing was shot ahead of time)
– filming begins
– open to all UCSC students
– advanced registration recommended here; however students can sign up at the Competition Opens event
Competition Closes
Sun. April 26, 5:00 p.m.
– filming concludes
– submit the finished film
Film Screening & Awards Ceremony
Wed., April 29, event time to be announced | Kresge 3105
– films judged by a panel of celebrity judges, chaired by Kevin Nolting
– open admission for friends/family of the filmmakers and UCSC affiliates
Download and share the event flyer here.

The 60th Faculty Research Lecture, featuring Professor Patty Gallagher, department of Performance, Play & Design
2026-05-05 18:30 - 19:30 | Theater Arts Mainstage, 411 Kerr Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Character: A Nongenue’s Guide to a Beautiful Life in the Theatre
This talk explores the predicament and privilege of the character actor. What acts of creativity and compassion are necessary to embody the oddball, the creature, the clown?
Patty Gallagher‘s research and performance practice focuses on the concept of the Stranger in a Strange Land. Using examples from Beckett, Shakespeare, Homer, and Balinese performance, she will discuss how to imbue outsider characters with heart and dignity. Ultimately the transformative work of the “non-genue” actor is a space of beauty and wonder.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
UCSC Theater Arts Center Mainstage, 411 Kerr Rd, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM, Cake reception to follow
About this event:

This event is free and open to the public. Seating will begin at 6:00 p.m
The lecture will be held in person and also available to view via livestream.
Registration link

Parking:

Parking permits will be available for purchase for $11 cash/credit in the Performing Arts lot 126.
Park Mobile options are available in this same lot. Please follow the event signage at the base of campus and a parking attendant will assist you.
UCSC affiliates must purchase their permits before arriving at the event in order to receive their discounted UCSC rate. Attendants will only sell the non-affiliate-priced permits. More information provided by UCSC Transportation & Parking Services (TAPS)

Opening Reception: Envisioning Health for All Photo Exhibit!
2026-05-22 15:00 - 16:00 | McHenry Library, 1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Please join us for an Opening Reception of two student photo exhibits, focusing on health justice. Students across all divisions, undergrad or grad, visually explore global and community health. Photography is a powerful way to represent our care and concern for health justice beyond the university.
Exhibit will be held in conjunction with “Between Two Worlds,”a Photovoice exhibition funded by the UCSC Center for Economic Justice and Action (CEJA). We hope you can join us!
