Helene Schneider – Ted Mills

Film Festival opens SBIFF celebrates 30th birthday at the Arlington

January 28, 2015August 6, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

"Desert Dancer" opened the 30th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Tuesday at the Arlington Theatre NIK BLASKOVICH/ NEWS-PRESS — “Desert Dancer” opened the 30th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Tuesday at the Arlington Theatre
NIK BLASKOVICH/ NEWS-PRESS

For this 30th year of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival,Tuesday is the new Thursday Moved up two days and extended by one, the 12-day festival looked the same as in years past.

The Arlington Theatre was filled with film lovers and the smell of popcorn.

The streets outside bustled with fans hoping to glimpse a celebrity while searchlights raked the skies, now clear of the storm clouds of the day before.

The stars of the opening night film had come in from places due east, whether that was New York or Europe, or even a little more inland down in Los Angeles. And the consensus was: What a lovely place to have a film festival.

Area teens perform at AHA! fundraiser

May 19, 2014September 28, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Using singing to conquer fear and overcome painful pasts, 14 area teenagers took the stage one by one to sing in an event organized by AHA!, a program that fosters social and emotional intelligence in adolescents.

“This is not American Idol or a contest. It’s the anti contest,” said AHA co-founder Jennifer Freed, just before an evening of performance on Sunday evening. “This is about having the courage to stand in front of you and sing out for joy and rapture and possibility.”

Around 350 people gathered at the large rotunda at Deckers’ Goleta headquarters in the early evening to watch 14 teenagers sing pop and rock hits, all with professional band backing them up.

It was the culmination of 12 weeks of rehearsals and training to take youths and help them confront their fears – lack of confidence, self-image, rejection – put it aside, and just “Sing It Out,” as the event was called.

A home for Summer Solstice: Five-year lease of city building provides space to prepare floats and costumes

May 17, 2014September 28, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Members of the Santa Barbara Arts Collective, the Summer Solstice Celebration and dignitaries, including Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, attend Friday's ribbon-cutting for the new home of the Solstice Parade.STEVE MALONE/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS — Members of the Santa Barbara Arts Collective, the Summer Solstice Celebration and dignitaries, including Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, attend Friday’s ribbon-cutting for the new home of the Solstice Parade.

STEVE MALONE/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS

Wearing hard hats and holding shovels that were more metaphorical than practical, members of the City Council, the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission and the Summer Solstice broke ground Friday afternoon on a permanent home for the parade’s workshop.

The arts community also got a year-round work space in the bargain, a result of years of work by all involved.

With Friday’s ribbon-cutting, Summer Solstice returns to the complex at the corner of Ortega and Garden streets that it used from 2005 to 2011 on a year-to-year lease.