Embracing the Artists, MCA Santa Barbara Celebrates the Inaugural Art Awards

A celebration of art and inclusivity, with a focused aim on, in the words of Board President Freddy Janka, “working together for a more equitable arts ecology on California Central Coast to support some voices that haven’t been heard,” the MCASB (Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara) Art Awards were a joyful celebration of community. 

Held on November 3 in Center Stage Theater and on The Arts Terrace and inside the museum at Paseo Nuevo, the inaugural awards — a beautiful heart-shaped nopal cactus designed by Andy Medina (an artist featured in Sangre de Nopal/Blood of The Nopal: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Contemporary Art at the museum as part of Getty’s PST Art: Art & Science Collide exhibition) and cast in aluminum in a limited production exclusively for the 2024 winners — celebrated the work of these artists:

• DJ Javier, a Santa Barbara–born, Filipino American artist and designer who will open his first museum solo exhibition next fall at MCASB. 
• The Ojai-based Brian Calvin, who is known for his innovative and iconic figurative paintings and will be developing a project for MCASB next year as well. 
• Rosha Yaghmai, Los Angeles–based artist, who had a major solo exhibition at MCASB in 2019, and continues to present compelling exhibitions of her beguiling abstract paintings and innovative sculptural forms.
• Spenser Jaimes, a Šmuwič and Island Chumash who is a documentary filmmaker who gives light to untold stories of his tribe. 
• Angel D’mon, one of Santa Barbara’s most well-known and visible drag queens and social justice activists, and a true gift to our community constantly showing up for so many important causes.

The museum’s new co-executive directors, Dalia Garcia and Fabián Leyva-Barragán, made some opening remarks, and then, in one of the shortest and sweetest award ceremonies ever, Janka presented the honors to each individual. 

Artist Barb Parmet also funded an initial Roots & Branches Arts Fellowship group of awards, which went to Reyna Harris, Akila Simone Baker, Jordan Killebrew, Ademola Oyewole-Davis, Taylor Johnson, Spenser Jaimes, Angel D’mon, and Dalia Garcia. 

That was followed by a beautifully prepared al fresco buffet dinner by culinary artist Loria Stern, and natural wines provided by Bibi Ji. 

It has been just over a year since MCASB reopened the museum, and it has already made major strides in the reimagining of the institution (and produced 16 exhibitions). With a mission to enrich lives and inspire critical thinking through meaningful engagement with the art and ideas of our time. MCASB provides exhibitions and programming that encourage discovery, cultivate new perspectives, and challenge the way we see and experience the world, ourselves, and each other. 

For more information, see mcasantabarbara.org.