The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara celebrated its 50th anniversary at its annual art awards on Sunday, honoring both the museum’s deep local legacy and the new generation of leadership and artists shaping its present.
Originally the Contemporary Arts Forum, the museum was founded in 1976 by community artists.
After closing briefly in 2022 due to financial difficulties following the COVID-19 pandemic, MCASB reopened its Paseo Nuevo location in 2023 under a new board.
In the three years since, MCASB has hosted more than 20 exhibitions and launched fellowship programs to support community artists, centering inclusivity every step of the way, representatives said Sunday.
“So much work has gone into the last three years, into building momentum and showing our institution’s commitment to the artistic community of Santa Barbara, but also to all of the community,” MCASB President of the Board of Trustees Frederick Janka said.
The Prismatic Future-themed art awards event was held at the museum to honor several artists involved in its past, present and future.
Artists Kathryn Andrews, Sanford Biggers, Tonia Calderon and Marc Swanson received sculpted awards for artistic excellence, created by Rodrigo Ormachea. Hamza Walker, director of the Los Angeles nonprofit visual art space The Brick, received a new award for curatorial excellence and arts leadership.
Beth Amine, Natalia Bautista, Audrey Gamble, Luis David Figueroa and Mia Lopez were honored as the 2026 Roots & Branches fellows. Each received a $1,000 unrestricted award.
The fellowship was created to support local BIPOC artists and activists whose community work often goes unrecognized and uncompensated.
“I want to continue to celebrate people that sometimes don’t have that recognition, and I want the institution to be this anchor of the arts, where we will try our best to continue to celebrate the artists, the work, the labor, and what they do for the community and for other artists,” MCASB Executive Director Dalia Garcia said.
The event also celebrated UC Santa Barbara’s Library Special Research Collections’ acquisition of the museum’s institutional archives, which are available to the public.
The archive includes artist catalogs, slides of artworks and exhibitions, artist correspondence, and more.
“This is our track record that shows that the people before us were able to have these really important conversations and bring in really important artists that then left their impact,” Janka said.
The ticketed event, which included a paddle raise and silent auction, raised funds for the nonprofit museum. With catering by Your Choice Thai Cuisine, attendees enjoyed dinner amid the third annual Arte del Pueblo exhibition.
The non-juried exhibition aims to redefine what it means for art to belong in a museum. It currently features the work of over 200 artists.
“It’s one of our most radical,” Museum Associate Mishell Carcamo said. “For (Arte del Pueblo), all rules go out the window. Everyone is welcomed.”
The exhibition embodies MCASB’s goals to make contemporary art more inclusive and accessible. Museums can be seen as exclusionary spaces for only those who can purchase art or consume it in a certain way, Garcia said.
This is why the MCASB have worked to make the museum open to all, engaging with a diverse range of community members to put on exhibitions and programming — a diversity reflected in the audience at the art awards, Garcia and Janka shared.
“Today we saw so many different elements of our community, so many different groups, so many different people that we have conversations with about different projects,” Janka said. “To see it all come together in one room, I was moved to tears.”
The museum is located at 653 Paseo Nuevo, Upper Arts Terrace in Santa Barbara.
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