Take Me Away Productions Brings Us the Parties

While Santa Barbara spoils its residents during the day with endless wine tasting spots, breweries, beaches, and hiking trails, nightlife options are not quite as generous.

With a desire to fill the after hours niche, Nini Munoz and Elly Iverson joined forces to create Take Me Away Productions. Their business is dedicated to bringing inventive parties to the Santa Barbara community, with ever-changing themes and locations, as well as a vast array of genre-spanning DJs, installation artists, and mixologists to provide a dynamic and refreshing late night experience.

“By changing the themes and transforming the spaces, along with bringing in local creative partners, we want to continuously provide a unique experience where people could enjoy good music, a fun atmosphere, and connect with other members of the community, particularly young professionals, both old and new to the area,” Munoz said.

Munoz studied Electrical Engineering at Cornell University and moved to Santa Barbara in 2015 to work in high tech engineering. Her first class at Cornell was an introduction to digital audio technologies, which immediately sparked her interest. Munoz went on to teach that class as well as amplifier design. She made her best friends through musical connections. Munoz’s infatuation with music began in her hometown in the country of Colombia where she was introduced to electronic music from a very young age.

“Music and rhythm are such an important part of my life because they allow me to ‘feel my life’ as opposed to ‘think through my life’, giving me a steady balance between a highly technical career and being a fun-loving human,” Munoz said.

Munoz missed the exhilarating late-night scene in New York and found a like-minded soul in Iverson, who moved back to her hometown of SB after seven years of traveling and working around the world, including two summers studying mixology and bartending in New York City. Iverson now produces many of the events at MOXI, the Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, including their popular after parties.

With Munoz’s musical expertise, Iverson’s events experience, and their shared joy in creating music-centric parties, the duo started Take Me Away Productions. Their first event, “Midnight in Ibiza,” will occur on August 4 when Santa Barbarans are already in prime party mode for Fiesta. They will feature live Spanish guitar by Jerad Wachtmann fused with sets by DJ Persian House Cat (Andrew Elia) in collaboration with Party Proper Productions to ignite the flamenco techno dance party.

Elia’s first love is house music, and he is eager to share the excitement of this genre with attendees. “The house scene has always been about ever-expanding inclusiveness, a safe place to celebrate the joy of living,” Elia said. “I’m so excited to work together with Nini and Elly because they get it. They are contributing to SB’s nightlife scene in a big way.”

To heighten the intrigue, the event will be held in a secret SB spot that will be disclosed the day of. “Mainly we just want it to be a surprise and mystery, so everyone who comes in doesn’t know what to expect,” Iverson said.

Simply Cocktails bartenders will sling signature drinks at the open bar. An Ibiza-themed art installation will make its debut, food trucks will line up outside, and a slew of others surprises await revelers.

“We hope that our creative-led event productions can connect and engage the community through music, art, local creative partners and dancing,” Munoz said. “We hope to make each event a unique experience, and we have many ideas we want to execute to bring back a more exciting nightlife to the Santa Barbara area.

Limited tickets are on sale via NIGHTOUT.