UCSB Arts & Lectures Associate Director emeritus Roman Baratiak with author Pico Iyer at the Montecito Club on January 27, 2025. Photo credit: Isaac Hernandez de Lipa
SANTA BARBARA — UCSB Arts & Lectures is proud to announce the creation of the Roman Baratiak Endowed Lecture Fund in support of an annual mainstage lecture honoring the legacy of Roman Baratiak, whose 44 years of service helped bridge the university and the Santa Barbara community through the arts and intellectual discourse. This prestigious lecture will debut as part of the UCSB Arts & Lectures season in 2025-2026 with columnist, CNN host and author Fareed Zakaria giving the inaugural presentation, a talk titled “What It Takes” on Thursday, October 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Arlington Theatre.
Roman Baratiak played a transformative role as Associate Director, presenting hundreds of the world’s most distinguished voices, including Nobel Prize laureates, heads of state, Grammy, Tony and Academy Award winners, Olympians, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award recipients and inspirational humanitarians. Notable figures that Baratiak helped bring to Santa Barbara include Nobel Peace Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and economist Muhammad Yunus; world leaders such as President Joseph Biden; esteemed writers like Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis; and Olympians Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe. Baratiak’s vision helped to elevate UCSB Arts & Lectures into one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions.
In addition to his work curating world-class speakers, Baratiak co-founded UCSB Arts & Lectures’ Free Summer Cinema series at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Garden, a beloved tradition that has brought free outdoor films to the public for more than a decade. Baratiak is currently active in the community as a Santa Barbara County Arts Commissioner.
The fund was announced at a private ceremony on January 27 featuring renowned author Pico Iyer who acknowledged Baratiak as more than a mentor, calling him a “really, really close friend” from whom he learned “more than from any professor I’ve ever studied with.” He praised Baratiak’s dedication to students and the community, saying he showed him “always to put the students first.” Reflecting on Baratiak’s impact, Iyer described him as the “tall, lean, large and quiet soul” at the Arts & Lectures podium and at the heart of Santa Barbara’s cultural life, a person who spent decades “exhorting students to open their doors and windows to a greater understanding of the world.”
Baratiak’s characteristically modest response reflects his continuing commitment to the mission of the organization. “I am humbled by this extraordinary honor and extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Arts & Lectures Executive Director Celesta Billeci for establishing the annual endowed lecture and to the many donors and friends who have so generously contributed to make it possible. Encouraging intellectual curiosity and life-long learning was always central to my work at A&L.”
The Roman Baratiak Endowed Lecture Fund will ensure that Baratiak’s commitment to bringing thought-provoking discussions and influential figures to Santa Barbara continues for generations to come. This endowed lecture will serve as a fitting tribute to his lifelong dedication to enriching the cultural and intellectual landscape of UCSB and beyond. Created at $1 million in January of 2025, the endowment has already grown to over $1.1 million.
U.S. Congressman Salud Carbajal read an official proclamation commending Baratiak for his service at Arts & Lectures, for his great talent as an organizer of events and for his commitment to being a wise and thoughtful citizen. Other speakers who testified to Baratiak’s contributions included Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps, Chancellor Henry Yang’s spouse Dilling Yang, and Bruce Tiffney, UCSB Professor emeritus and former Dean of the College of Creative Studies. Professor Tiffney cited an early example of Baratiak’s prowess as a programmer, the visit of sociobiologist E. O. Wilson, saying that by doing so Baratiak “made an enormous difference to many students by bringing these adventurous, intellectually challenging people who have made a difference in the world to talk directly with students.”
“We are thrilled to establish this endowed lecture series in honor of Roman, whose tireless efforts energized our community and university for over four decades,” said Arts & Lectures Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta M. Billeci. “His impact on Santa Barbara’s cultural life is immeasurable, and this lecture series will continue his work of inspiring and engaging audiences. I encourage all those who share our admiration for Roman and his work at Arts & Lectures to consider contributing to the Fund.”
Contributions to the Roman Baratiak Endowed Lecture Fund for A&L can be made to Arts & Lectures. Call or email Elise Erb, Interim Sr. Director of Development at 805-893-5679 elise.erb@artsandlectures.ucsb.edu for more information.
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
The 2025-2026 season marks UCSB Arts & Lectures’ 66th year of bringing unique, world-class performances, films and lectures to Central Coast and campus audiences. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” Arts & Lectures is the largest performing arts and public lectures presenter between San Francisco and Los Angeles, beloved by audiences for its award-winning, diverse and innovative programming that deeply enriches lives and extends the intellectual life of the community beyond the classroom.
Arts & Lectures’ award-winning Access for ALL educational outreach programs provide rare opportunities for students to meet and learn from visiting artists and speakers. In the 2025-26 season, most of the speakers and performers will participate in master classes, lecture-demonstrations, open rehearsals and classroom discussions at UCSB and in the community.
Through ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara!, Arts & Lectures’ nationally-recognized community program, A&L provides free public performances featuring international talents and arts education to underserved populations throughout Santa Barbara County. In 2011 the program received the prestigious APAP/MetLife Arts Access Award for “engaging underserved communities.”