With support from the California Arts Council, Santa Barbara Revels will transition from a founder-centric model to a more organizationally robust organization, hiring a part time Executive Director and Music Director as employees.
SBRevels engages residents of our Central Coast in celebrations of seasonal change; we entertain, educate, and enlighten audiences by creating events and activities that involve traditional music, dance, and story-telling from diverse cultures during different time periods. We both honor the traditions of our own community members and introduce them to the cultural traditions of various other countries and regions. We build bridges within our community by our inclusive programming, our extensive use of local talent in all performances, and our practice of audience participation. We present rituals and traditions associated with significant times during the year: for Spring Equinox, we host a sing-along in a local Irish pub; for May Day, we teach everyone how to dance special dances and weave ribbons ‘round the maypole. We mark the Summer Solstice with a virtual musical offering, and we honor Fall Equinox with an instrumental and vocal concert. Our major effort every year is a fully staged musical and dramatic production in celebration of the Winter Solstice, set in a different country and period each year and featuring traditions in the context of celebrating the shortest day of the year. Past shows have been set in Scotland, Appalachian America, Venice, Ireland, and Almohad Spain. A recent “Early California” production highlighted a historical event that took place in Santa Barbara during the Rancho period of the mid-1830s. Another recent show was set on Ellis Island, where Jewish, Mexican, and Irish immigrants needed to spend the night together and then learned of each other’s seasonal traditions. Each production involves over 60 cast members, including a children’s/teen chorus and an adult chorus – all talented volunteers from the community – along with specialty dancers, professional actors, vocal soloists, instrumentalists, and “tradition bearers” who are skilled performers in the particular tradition being highlighted that year.

