Introduction

AS Program Board (ASPB) continued its decades long tradition of bringing student centered programming to the UCSB campus. The student run board has consistently been generously funded by student lock-in fees, because it brings programs that students want to the UCSB community. Board members gain hands-on experience in planning, booking, advertising, and running a wide variety of events.

Welcome Back Concert

The year started with the traditional free Welcome Back! concert. Big Sean and Kill the Noise! welcomed over 5000 new and returning students to Storke Plaza.

Extravaganza

Over the course of the year, ASPB brought several major acts to campus culminating with Extravaganza attended by over 10,000 people in May. This year’s bands playing the Hub included A-Trak, Mac Miller with opening acts People Under the Stairs and Casey Veggies, reggae with Dirty Heads, and STRFKR. To round out the year they presented a free Hub concert with Walk the Moon.

Mirazozo Luminarium

As one of this year’s highlights, ASPB brought something truly unusual to campus. For four days in April ASPB invited students, faculty, staff, and the general public to experience the wonderful Mirazozo Luminarium for free with a suggested donation of food to the A.S Food Bank or a pair of gently worn shoes to the Soles4Souls shoe drive.

Created by the artist/sculptor Alan Parkinson and toured by the UK company Architects of Air, the Luminarium once inflated covered a substantial portion of the Faculty Club lawn.

A luminarium is a sculpture made of inflatable plastic that people enter to be moved to a sense of wonder at the beauty of light and color. Although it looks like a giant bouncy structure people are asked to move through it at a leisurely pace, sit or lie down, open their eyes to the color and relax to the soothing music that fills the atmosphere created by the structure. Staffed by two Architects of Air representatives, student, and A.S. staff volunteers, Mirazozo was a delightful, meditative, thought provoking, and definitely unique experience for adults and kids alike.

Since 1992 various versions of the luminaria have shown their broad cross-cultural appeal by visiting 38 countries across 5 continents. This was Mirazozo’s only stop on the West Coast before moving on to Pittsburg and beyond. Perhaps it will return next year?

Battle of the Bands

In support of local artists, Program Board presented its annual Battle of the Bands with five local bands competing. The winner was Sprout and the prize for winning was the opening slot at Extravaganza. KCSB broadcasted the contest live!

Hip-hop Artist Common

Hip-hop artist and actor Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. better know by his stage name Common brought his performance and book One Day It Will All Make Sense to Campbell Hall. The event included sale and signing of the book.

Common has earned a reputation in the hip hop world as a conscious artist by embracing themes of love and struggle in his songs, and by sharing his own search for knowledge with his listeners. His journey toward understanding—expressed in his music and now in his roles in film and television—is rooted in his relationship with a remarkable woman, his mother, Mahalia Ann Hines.

In One Day It’ll All Make Sense, Common holds nothing back. He tells what it was like for a boy with big dreams growing up on the South Side of Chicago. He reveals how he almost quit rapping after his first album, “Can I Borrow a Dollar?,” sold only two thousand copies. He recounts his rise to stardom, giving a behind-the-scenes look into the recording studios, concerts, movie sets, and after-parties of a hip-hop celebrity and movie star. He reflects on his controversial invitation to perform at the White House, a story that grabbed international headlines. And he talks about the challenges of balancing fame, love, and fatherhood.

Mauro Bedoni Lecture

ASPB presented a lecture with Mauro Bedoni the photo editor for Colors Magazine in the Pollock Theater. COLORS magazine is a multilingual quarterly magazine developed in Italy by Fabrica, Benetton’s research center. Each issue has a theme and covers the topic from an international perspective. Since 1991, COLORS has covered controversial topics such as AIDS, race, religion and immigration. Bedoni joined COLORS Magazine in 2007; in 2011 he was nominated for a Lucie Award for picture editor of the year.

Storke Plaza Noon Concerts

ASPB continued to showcase emerging artists with their noon concerts in Storke Plaza. As in past years, free ice cream was a much-appreciated part of the musical experience! This year the bands that came to play included: Matt Shockley, Yael Meyer, Jonathan Denmark, Polaris at Noon, Steel Toed Slippers, Willie J, Cockeyed Optimist, Hana Kim, Christopher Brothers, Writer, Freakin’ on Speakers, Givers and Takers, Cosmic Suckerpunch, Dante Elephante, Naked Walrus, Victory at Sea, Mike Bloom, Hargo, Ride the Wild, Nuer, Dawn Mitchele, and Howlin’ Woods.

Free Weekly Films at IV Theater

ASPB had a packed free film program, screening recently released films each week throughout the year. This year’s offerings included: The Hangover Part II, Bad Teacher, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, A Better Life, Captain America: The First Avenger, Friends with Benefits, The Help, Crazy Stupid Love, The Change-Up, 30 Minutes or Less, Our Idiot Brother, Bad Teacher, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows II, Moneyball, Thunder Soul, The Ides of March, One Day, Paranormal Activity 3, Drive, Martha Marcy May Marlene, War Horse, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Pariah, My Week with Marilyn, We Need to Talk About Kevin, That’s My Boy advanced screening, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Wanderlust, Project X, and Dr. Seuss Lorax. Yes, the list is long!

Poetry Sam Showcase

ASPB presented Poetry Slam Showcase featuring Sarah and Phil Kay(e) a night of spoken word poetry performed by students and Project V.O.I.C.E performers Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye. And it was all free to students in the HUB!

Richard Dawkins “Darwin’s Five Bridges” Lecture

Program Board was one of the sponsors for a free public lecture, “Darwin’s Five Bridges” by Richard Dawkins hosted by the UCSB Center for Evolutionary Psychology. Dawkins is a best selling author known for books such as The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype, The Blind Watchmaker, The Ancestor’s Tale and many others. Dawkins popularized the concept of gene-centered evolution. He also introduced the term meme to describe the cultural equivalent of genes, which pass on ideas and like genes are subject to the workings of natural selection. Dawkins has made headlines as an avowed atheist and vocal critic of intelligent design. There was a line around Campbell Hall 45 minutes before the show.

Billboard Conference

All of these events provided a rich training ground for the students who produce them. In addition, ASPB sent 8 students to the Billboard Conference to learn more about all aspects of event production from the pros.

ASPB Equipment and Technical Support

In addition to its own events, ASPB provided funding, equipment, and technical assistance to a wide variety of campus groups. They collaborated with KCSB DJs to bring music to Chillavista.  They also supported M.U.S.I.C a volunteer group that works with aspiring young musicians. M.U.S.I.C hosted a Singer/songwriter event featuring Tyrone Wells.

ASPB was there to provide equipment and staff for UCSB DJ Club events, including one featuring Dillon Francis and another hosted by DJ Treasure Fingers.

The Persian Student Group hosted a band from Iran called Casualty Process that brought electronic rock to the Hub with assistance from ASPB. The day’s events included a panel with the band at the Multicultural Center.

End of the Year

All in all, it was another packed year for Program Board. And a big round of applause is definitely in order for everyone involved, including this year’s graduates!