La Cumbre Arts Zone Celebrates Four Years of Fun in Santa Barbara
Community Is Invited to Party at the Mall on November 17
Uptown Santa Barbara has enjoyed an artful resurgence in recent years, and there are now more than 75 artists showing their work — including painters, photographers and sculptors — at La Cumbre Arts Zone in La Cumbre Plaza mall.
The transformation of the mall into a buzzy artist hub started four years ago with the arrival of La Cumbre Center for Creative Arts (known as LCCCA), an art collective with 24 members who created studio and display space in vacant retail spaces. “Mall management was skeptical about a ragtag bunch of artists,” says their entrepreneurial leader Mike Cregan, who was inspired after seeing this creative and adaptive business model in New York City.
“They must have wondered if we would be painting the sidewalks. If we would fit in. Most importantly, could we pay the rent?” says Cregan. However, LCCCA, which now occupies three spaces — Elevate Gallery, Fine Line Gallery, and Illuminations Gallery (collectively find information at lcccasb.com/lccca-galleries) — was soon joined by The Arts Fund, Voice Gallery, Museum of Sensory & Movement Experiences, and the Grace Fisher Foundation, each of whom now have unique gallery spaces at the mall.
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