October 24, 2024
News Release
Celesta M. Billeci, Miller McCune Executive Director of UCSB Arts & Lectures, to Retire After 25 Seasons
As the longest serving director in the organization's history she expanded its operations tenfold
Celesta M. Billeci and her husband, John Hajda, with Yo-Yo Ma in 2007.
Santa Barbara, CA – Celesta M. Billeci, Miller McCune Executive Director of UCSB Arts & Lectures, announced this week that she will retire at the end of the 2024-2025 season. Billeci has led Arts & Lectures through 25 celebrated and successful years. Though Billeci’s next chapter takes her beyond our campus, her legacy of leadership will continue to inspire our community.
Billeci is the third UCSB Arts & Lectures director, following Peg Armstrong and Jan Oetinger, and the longest-serving director in the organization’s history. Billeci arrived at UCSB following more than a decade of leadership at the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts (subsequently known as UCLA Live, and currently as the UCLA Center for the Art of Performance). Over the course of two and a half decades in the top spot at UC Santa Barbara, she brought Arts & Lectures to downtown Santa Barbara venues and to national prominence. Embracing the program’s unusually broad scope, Billeci grew the organization’s budget from less than a million dollars to its current level of over $10 million annually.
Contributions to Dance
Her avid pursuit of the best and most timely programming available has made UC Santa Barbara a coveted stop on world tours for international dance companies such as Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan, Ballet Preljocaj, Lyon Opera Ballet and Batsheva Dance Company. All of the major American dance companies–Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Alonzo King LINES, New York City Ballet Moves, Dorrance Dance, as well as individual stars like Lil Buck and Tiler Peck–now perform in Santa Barbara on a regular basis as a result of Billeci’s sustained curation.
Billeci with New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Tiler Peck and MacArthur Award-winning choreographer Michelle Dorrance in 2023 (photo: Isaac Hernández de Lipa)
Distinction in Lectures
UCSB Arts & Lectures takes pride in the breadth, depth and sophistication of its lecture offerings. Distinguished visitors in recent years include President Joseph Biden, television hosts Jon Stewart and Conan O'Brien, and three winners of the Nobel Prize: 2014 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai, 2020 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Dr. Jennifer Doudna, and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Ressa.
Billeci with Conan O'Brien in 2016
65th Anniversary Season Highlights Include Close Friends
This season, longtime friends like Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis and others will return to help celebrate Arts & Lectures’ 65th anniversary. Marsalis had this to say about Billeci:
“Man, I’ve known Celesta since she was a baby, just starting out. We kind of came up in the same time period. I knew her from the very beginning of her career. I always loved her because she has consistently been so intense and for real. She’s like a force of nature. Now we’ve been out here doing this for, I don’t know, 30 years or whatever it is, and when I look at her now I have to smile, because it reminds me of, in those early days, how much of a believer she was in the arts and in bringing people deep experiences. She is so absolutely for real. Her name is always the first one that comes out of my mouth whenever people talk about presenting arts organizations or arts programs on college campuses or arts management. She is the absolute gold standard for this type of work, and even when she was a kid, she had that kind of dedication.”
Wynton Marsalis and Billeci in 2014 (photo: Isaac Hernández de Lipa)
Enhancing the Program
With her commitment to the highest standards of artistic excellence comes an equal emphasis on diversity, accessibility, and connection. She established the ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara! program in 2006 to share the rich cultural heritage of Latin America through free performances and workshops. Today, Viva collaborates with dozens of local partners to present high-quality touring artists in schools, after-school programs, and community centers throughout north and south Santa Barbara County. On the UC Santa Barbara campus, the Arnhold Arts & Lectures Initiative enables thousands of students to connect with today’s most essential artists in intimate settings such as master classes, classroom visits, and workshops. More recently, the Justice For All programming initiative has given students free access to the world's greatest minds, illuminating a wide spectrum of systemic injustice, confronting uncomfortable questions, solving difficult problems and guiding us all toward a more equitable world.
"A Transformative Executive Director"
In a statement addressed to the UCSB Campus Community, Executive Vice Chancellor David Marshall wrote “Celesta Billeci has been a transformative A&L Executive Director, collaborating with faculty, staff, students, and community members to enhance the educational and cultural mission of UC Santa Barbara. We thank her for her many contributions and look forward to A&L's 65th anniversary season.”
Billeci has been instrumental in fulfilling Arts & Lectures’ role in the university’s mission. By attracting top performers and lecturers from afar, she has brought the world’s resources to the campus. By extending the reach of A&L’s programming to venues in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, she has brought the campus to the community. Rising to the challenge presented by the pandemic, she sustained the organization’s financial viability through a prolonged period when quarantine shut down live performances. Arts & Lectures has provided meaningful employment to hundreds of students and staff members throughout her tenure. “I am devoted to my loyal staff,” says Billeci,”without them and the wonderful student workers who do everything from staff the box office to usher the events, none of this would be possible.”
Billeci thanks the many generous donors and patrons who have contributed to the organization over the past 25 years, saying that "the support Arts & Lectures has received from the community is exemplary in every way. Their help and guidance has made all the difference, and the prestige that Arts & Lectures enjoys today is founded on those efforts."
In recent years, Billeci has steered Arts & Lectures from the first ranks of presenting to the forefront of commissioning works as well. Collaborations with other institutions such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Cal Performances have helped groups like the Danish String Quartet, the Mark Morris Dance Group and Twyla Tharp Dance and artists such as mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, violinist Jennifer Koh and bass-baritone Davóne Tines create and premiere new work.
The University will conduct a national search for Billeci’s successor.
For now, Billeci looks forward to presenting a stellar 65th anniversary season and ensuring the organization’s stability as it continues to entertain, educate, and inspire for another 65 years and more.
September 26, 2024
News Release
Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture recognizes Celesta M. Billeci, the Miller McCune Executive Director of UCSB Arts & Lectures, with a 2024 Leadership in Arts Individual Award
Billeci celebrates 25 years at the helm of Arts & Lectures in the organization’s 65th anniversary year
Cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma with UCSB Arts & Lectures Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta M. Billeci (photo: Isaac Hernández de Lipa)
Santa Barbara, CA – The Santa Barbara County Arts Commission has voted unanimously to recognize Celesta M. Billeci, the Miller McCune Executive Director of UCSB Arts & Lectures, with the 2024 County of Santa Barbara Leadership in Arts Award.
The award program was established by the Commission in 2006 “to honor and recognize individuals or organizations that have made a significant impact on the arts and culture of our region through innovative thinking and exemplary commitment to promoting sustaining, and advancing our quality of life through the Arts.” Each year, one individual and one organization are honored during Arts & Humanities Month (October) for their exceptional contributions. The resolution formalizing the award will be presented to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors at their upcoming meeting on October 8, 2024.
In documenting the award, the Commission offered the following statement on Billeci’s contribution to the Arts and Culture of Santa Barbara over the past 25 years.
“Since taking the helm of A&L in 2000, Celesta has transformed what was once a mostly campus-facing program into one of the largest and most respected public arts presenting programs in the nation. Her determination and passion is to present the best in the performing arts, public lectures, educational outreach programs and special events to audiences throughout Santa Barbara County. A&L presented 75 public events (many of them free of charge) in 2023-24 and over 100 educational outreach programs. All of these are the result of Celesta's personal commitment to serve the UCSB campus and the Santa Barbara community.
With a hard-working staff, dedicated community partners, and generous donors, amazing initiatives have been launched over the years that continue to change lives and enrich our community. These include ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara, created in 2006, to share the rich cultural heritage of Latin America with thousands of students and community members in Guadalupe, Isla Vista and Santa Barbara. Celesta launched A&L's Access for All initiative providing dynamic learning experiences for K-12 students and lifelong learners serving more than 30,000 students and community members annually, including matinee field trips for students from across the county to special morning performances with A&L-sponsored performers at The Granada Theatre.
Celesta worked with generous donors and launched the Thematic Learning Initiative (TLI) to engage lifelong learners and local non-profit organizations in the community with visiting speakers and thinkers via focused small group interaction, master classes and workshops. Celesta's drive to create meaningful opportunities for community engagement with the arts is unparalleled and inspiring. Here are a few other initiatives she launched, championed and/or supported - A&L's Family Fun program; the Speaking with Pico series featuring beloved writer Pico Iyer in conversation with acclaimed authors, artists and thinkers; and the Justice for All series presenting vital programming addressing difficult societal challenges and positing solutions for progress.”
Billeci expresses her gratitude to the County and acknowledges others who have contributed to the success of the organization with the following statement:
"Thank you to the County Office of Arts and Culture, the arts Commissioners, and the supervisors for the Leadership in Arts Award. I appreciate the recognition as an individual, and I accept the honor on behalf of all the great people who have supported me and contributed to Arts & Lectures in the 25 years I have served as the organization's Executive Director. My hard-working and loyal staff, both present and past; the faculty, staff, administration, and students of UCSB; and the many members of the Santa Barbara community who have attended events, made contributions, and devoted time and energy to serving on the A&L Council – thank you all from my heart.
Arts & Lectures shows how fundamental the experience of gathering for a live event is to a healthy community. Whether it’s the hum of animated voices as people file out of Campbell Hall after a great lecture, the shouts of approval and waves of applause that sweep through the room after an exciting dance number or a beautiful song, or the absorption of a roomful of students leaning in to hear a talented artist speak about their life's work, there's no substitute for the joy of all being in one place to witness something as a group.
This award comes as we embark on the 65th anniversary season of UCSB Arts & Lectures, and it is my greatest hope that, 65 years from now, a new generation will be celebrating the continuing success of Arts & Lectures in educating, entertaining, and inspiring Santa Barbara."