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Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara — Meet our 2021 Emerging Leaders in the Arts Fellows!

by Community Contributor • May 24, 2021 • Comments Off

We are thrilled to introduce to you the
2021 Emerging Leaders in the Arts (ELA) fellows!

This nine-month-long experience-based fellowship provides professional development training to undergraduate students who identify as people of color. With a long-term goal of diversifying art museum leadership, this fellowship includes:

Formal one-on-one mentorship
Professional development training focusing specifically on pursuing a career in curatorial or museum management
An Independent Research Project that supports and encourages DEIA within the Santa Barbara community
Tours of local and regional museums and gallery spaces combined with facilitated inquiry workshops with curators at each venue

Keep scrolling to read about the fellows, and stay tuned for details on their upcoming projects! Read more about ELA>>

ARLEEN ARREOLA is a fourth-year Ethnic Studies major at UC Berkeley. Outside of academia, she has a love for arthouse cinema, midnight snacks, and capturing life’s quieter moments through analog photography. Arleen currently runs Calming Ritual, a virtual curatorial screening project showcasing queer filmmakers.

SYDNIE PACE is an interdisciplinary artist and Book Arts major in the College of Creative Studies at UCSB. Her work investigates personal narrative while exploring materials through contemporary craft. She is currently a tutor in the Ethnic Studies department at SBCC and with the goal of becoming an arts educator.

TESS C REINHARDT is an artist and writer graduating this Spring from UCSB with a BA in Art. During her time at UCSB, she has worked with her department on realizing student-led initiatives, such asUPROOT Coalition, a newly-founded organization for and by QBIPOC students in the Art Department. Currently, she is applying to jobs and preparing her artwork for her Senior Honors Thesis.

For the duration of the program, the fellows meet with their mentors who are experts in their individual fields. The mentor-to-fellow relationship is one of the core aspects of the ELA program. Each mentor provides advice and acts as an advocate and colleague for each fellow. A special thank you to this year’s mentors:

Alexandra Terry, Chief Curator, MCASB – Supporting Arleen Arreola
Iman Djouini, Artist and Assistant Teaching Professor of Art, UCSB – Supporting Sydnie Pace
Melinda Gandara, Professor of American Ethnic Studies, SBCC – Supporting Tess Reinhardt

Interested in ELA?

Looking to get involved or know someone who would benefit from the program? For information on becoming a mentor or speaker, or to apply to be a fellow for 2022, please connect with Sarah Dildine, ELA Program Director, via email at ela@mcasantabarbara.org or by phone at 805.966.5373 x 103.

ELA meets with MCASB staff! From left to right, top row: Laura Macker Johnson, Board President & CEO, Sarah Dildine, Exhibitions Manager & Program Director ELA, Alexandra Terry, Chief Curator, Breyer Floyd, Communications Associate & Program Manager TAC. Middle row: Christina Davis, Development Manager, Sydnie Pace, Arleen Arreola. Bottom row: Tess C Reinhardt.

Funding support for ELA was provided by the
City of Santa Barbara’s Community Arts Grant Program.

MCASB members provide crucial support for our groundbreaking exhibitions and innovative community programming. Membership offers a variety of ways to engage with contemporary art, artists, and fellow culture seekers. Click here to learn more about membership benefits.