Santa Barbara is a beautiful place. It has historic buildings, delicious restaurants, white beaches and the people are so cordial that anyone would want to stay and live there. As if this isn’t enough, Santa Barbara is also a space full of culture. Soon there are two events, one about film arts and another on the opening of a museum. Both are given in the month of February and are aimed at the whole world, not only for the local community but also for visitors. Here, all the information:
Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF)
This annual event begins on February 2 and covers eleven perfect days for those who love the cinema or for anyone who wants to learn more about it. The program is full of activities and it will have more than 200 films. Best of all is that several of these events and projections will be free entry so that no one has an excuse not to enjoy this seventh art.
As if this weren’t enough, the place will also be attended by directors, producers, and actors on the red carpet. Then, in the evening events, some will be giving talks about the film industry.
Among the events in the program, there is The Opening Night Gala that takes place in downtown Santa Barbara. There, more than 21 guests can enjoy a great evening with music, food, live entertainment, and dancing. All this immersed in the magical atmosphere provided by the Spanish Paseo of the place.
There will also be a space to do a tribute to the celebrities of the year. There are several awards, including: American Riviera Award, Maltin Modern Master Award, Montecito Award and more. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, the protagonists of La La Land, are some of the celebrities that will be in that moment.
The prices for entering to SBIFF are very varied, so it adapts easily to what each guest wants. You can buy a ticket of just one event or you can pay for a package, which can be Platinum, Tribute Package, 10 Film Minipack and much more.
Moxi Museum
From the end of February, this great scientific museum will open its doors to the public and since then, it’s scheduled to open 363 days a year, because they will only close on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The full name of this place is Moxi, the Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation and is aimed at people of any age.
The idea of creating Moxi began 20 years ago thanks to a group of volunteers who came together to give Santa Barbara a new place to learn. The group grew and foundations and individuals joined from different places. Everyone wanted to create something where the visitor could learn actively, and that’s why in this museum you can explore, interact and discover new things. That’s how, since 2013, Moxi was located in Lower State Street and there it began the construction of this great project.
The place will consist of three floors where it’s promised that there will be exhibitions full of fun and knowledge in a completely different way to the traditional one. In addition, the topics will be varied and you will enjoy experiences related to technology, art, science, math and more. What’s on these floors was created by a group of s such as the award-winning Gyroscope, Inc., Creative Machines, the Science Museum of Minnesota and Roto.
Among the exhibits is Tech Track where you will be able to find stories about innovative people and also develop your own ideas in the Makerspace. There, it will be at hand all sorts of tools, from the simplest to the most complex.
There will also be a space called Sound Track. This floor is an ode to music and science behind it. There is the possibility of entering to a giant guitar to see how it works. There will also be a digital DJ table and you can create sound effects to use it in a clip.
Speed Track is another exhibition where the visitor can use the creativity, this time to make a prototype of a roller coaster and create a car race of their own that would be tested later.
In addition to that, Moxi has a terrace called Sky Garden that has a part in glass floor to be able to walk over and observe the courtyard below. There you can also take a breath and enjoy the view of the beautiful places of Santa Barbara, covering both its beaches, streets, houses, and mountains. In this space, you can also learn about the dynamics of fluids and you can create an orchestra powered by the union of solar, wind and human energies.
These are just some of the surprises that will be found in Moxi, but there will be other spaces like Light Track, Interactive Media Track and more. Each one with different activities to perform.
* Featured Image courtesy of sbclick at Flickr.com