ON Culture | Heroic Librarians, Meddling Moms, Illuminating Films, Matisse and More

'The Librarians' | Photo: Courtesy

This edition of ON Culture was originally emailed to subscribers on January 9, 2026. To receive Leslie Dinaberg’s arts newsletter in your inbox on Fridays, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

ON the (Big) Screen

The freedom to read is at the very heart of our First Amendment Rights, and librarians have emerged as leaders in this fight for control over the flow of ideas. SBIFF is hosting a special screening of the documentary The Librarians at the Riviera Theatre on Thursday, January 29, at 7 p.m. The film follows librarians as they unite to combat book banning, defending intellectual freedom on democracy’s frontlines amid unprecedented censorship in Texas, Florida, and beyond.

Here’s the logline: In Texas, the Krause List targets 850 books focused on race and LGBTQia+ stories — triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of extremism fueling the censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work — the librarians’ rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with Director Kim A. Snyder. For more information and tickets, click here. To view the film’s trailer, click here.

ILLUMINATE Film Festival Save the Date | Photos: Courtesy

The ILLUMINATE Film Festival, which returns to Santa Barbara in October, has opened up for submissions for the 2026 ILLUMINATE Oneness of Humanity Micro-Short Film Contest with a theme of “The Shiny New & Treasured Old.” The idea is that these films are cinematic micro-doses (90 seconds) of goodness that “celebrate who we are as one human family” and “reveal our shared humanity, open hearts, and spark hope.” The awards themselves are not micro. They total $25,000, including a $10,000 Grand Prize, $5,000 Second Prize, $2,500 Third Prize, a $2,500 People’s Choice Award, and five $1,000 Honorable Mentions. The finalists will premiere at the ILLUMINATE Film Festival on October 2, and the winning films will be distributed globally through streaming platforms, conferences, film festivals, and additional partners aligned with the Festival’s mission. Click here for more details. And you can view the 2025 winning films here.

ON the Page

‘The Family Business’ | Photos: Courtesy

In honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday, on Monday, January 19, at 6 p.m., Chaucer’s Books will host actor, director, entertainer, and author Wren T. Brown for a book talk and signing of his book, The Family Business: Four Generations of One Black Family’s Artistic Odyssey. The book chronicles the remarkable story of the Young and Brown families — a lineage that has significantly influenced American culture and the arts for over a century.

‘Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding’ by Lian Dolan | Photo: Courtesy

Wren is the founder and producing artistic director of Ebony Repertory Theatre, Los Angeles’s only African American professional theatre company. He has appeared in TV and movies including Waiting to Exhale, Hollywood Shuffle, Grey’s Anatomy, and Star Trek: Voyager, as well as on stage in As You Like It and The Gospel at Colonus, among many other productions.

As a special holiday incentive, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. that night, Chaucer’s will donate 10 percent of proceeds from all sales to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee of Santa Barbara.

Montecito takes a starring role in one of my favorite recent reads, Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding by Lian Dolan. With a laugh-out-loud focus on the two very different but equally formidable mothers of the bride and groom, who band together (with the support of a friendly and hilarious band of merry widows) to get their beloved son and daughter back on the wedding track after a break-up, this is a very fun read for anyone, but especially those of us who know the setting. The Mother of the Bride is a travel entrepreneur, catering to our town’s wealthy and exacting clients, and the descriptions of how she navigates those relationships with just the right amount of authority and deference rings hilariously true. I would definitely recommend this one. Check out my favorite books from 2025 on my blog, here.

Author Lorissa Rinehart; ‘Winning the Earthquake’ | Photos: Courtesy

Jim Buckley wrote about Historian Lorissa Rinehart’s book Winning the Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress here. On Friday, January 16, actor and comedian Jane Lynch will join Rinehart for a discussion of the book at Godmothers in Summerland. Click here for tickets and details.

ON the Walls

A Vincent van Gogh wheat fields painting, currently inside the galleries at SBMA | Credit: Ingrid Bostrom

You have just a few more weeks to catch the blockbuster Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse and Encore: 19th-Century French Art from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art exhibitions at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA). Both are on view through January 25 and are musts for art lovers.

I need to go back again before they leave to catch a bit more of these exceptional exhibits, including all four of SBMA’s magnificent Monet landscape paintings in the Encore show. Both require special ticketing and reservations, see sbma.net for details. For more details, see our previous stories, including Cheryl Crabtree’s exhibit preview (link), Ella Heydenfelt’s interview with museum director Amada Cruz (link), and Joe Woodard’s exhibition review (link).

Also on view at SBMA is a photography exhibition worth checking out. Mario Giacomelli: La Gente, La Terra is on view through February 15. See Woodard’s review of the show here. As he wrote: “This is a show in which wall texts matter, as does a beholder’s slow and patient contemplation. The imagery here doesn’t jump out to grab the eye in any sensationalistic way, and yet bears all the hallmarks of modernist experimentation, rooted in literally earthy subject matter.”

ON the Podium

UCSB Arts & Lectures recently added four new speakers on a variety of topics including higher education, immigration, and authoritarianism. First up, on January 22, is Michael V. Drake, MD, president emeritus of the University of California, in conversation with Dr. Susannah Scott, distinguished professor at UC Santa Barbara. A physician, educator, and former UC President, Drake explores higher education’s past, present, and future through the lenses of UC Santa Barbara, the state of California, and the nation. Drawing on decades of leadership, Drake examines how universities can expand access, foster inclusion, and strengthen democracy. This event is free, but registration is recommended. Click here to register.

Click here to read about the rest of the additions to A&L’s schedule.

ON the Calendar

Author, filmmaker, and performance artist Miranda July comes to Campbell Hall on January 20 via UCSB Arts & Lectures, for a conversation spanning her groundbreaking work across multiple disciplines and media. Her most recent novel, All Fours, was an eye-opener and definitely bold and sexy and provocative, as is all of her work. She’ll revisit highlights from her groundbreaking films, installations, and performances as well as discuss her intimate relationship to risk and provocative take on the evolving role of the artist in contemporary life. For information and tickets, see https://bit.ly/3YVHvR9.

For a complete calendar of events this week and beyond, visit independent.com/events/.