В UC San Diego стартовал 23-й сезон ArtPower с участием лауреатов «Оскара» и «Пулитцера»

An hour-long recreation of 1993’s “Jurassic Park” with two actors and a Foley artist making sound effects on stage. A speaking event from Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame. A film screening and Q&A with the cast of the cult classic comedy “Napoleon Dynamite.” Those are just some of the events being featured in ArtPower at UC San Diego’s 23rd season, which started earlier this summer and continues into May 2027. ArtPower offered a peek behind the curtain of the current season during a preview event at the Epstein Family Amphitheater on Sept. 1. ArtPower seasons have traditionally revolved around the school year. But that changed in October 2022 with the opening of the Amphitheater named after La Jolla philanthropists Daniel and Phyllis Epstein, who gave UCSD $10 million to help create the $70 million venue. Since then, UCSD has hosted three summer series, the latest of which is ongoing. In total, the 2026-2027 season features 44 shows at seven different venues — four on campus and three elsewhere in San Diego. Elizabeth Bradshaw, ArtPower’s director of artistic programs, announced Sept. 1 that within the lineup there are six Grammy winners, three Pulitzer Prize winners, a Tony winner and two Oscar winners. The 2026-2027 season began July 10 this year with a performance by Maruja Limon, a Barcelona-based female sextet offering a blend of Latin rhythm, electronic music, pop and salsa. That same month, ArtPower also hosted a conversation with “The Incredibles” director and Pixar Animation Studios stalwart Brad Bird, along with famed film composer Michael Giacchino. As fall approaches, an opening weekend is set to take place from Thursday, Sept. 24 to Saturday, Sept. 26 with a performance from Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré; a film screening of “Ghostbusters” alongside a live orchestra; and “Sugar Skull!: A Día de Muertos Musical Adventure.” Subsequent shows will offer everything from film screenings and comedies to global music performances, musicals, dance works and chamber music. Some highlights Bradshaw pointed out at the preview event include the California debut of Sonya Tayeh’s dance-theater work “The Surge: An Ode to Sinead O’Connor” at the Balboa Theatre in downtown San Diego and a performance from Pulitzer Prize winner Susie Ibarra alongside UCSD professor Steven Schick at the Amphitheater. Hector Flores co-led “Ritchie Forever: An Ode to an American Dreamer” with Denise Carlos at the Amphitheater on Sept. 2 and performed at the preview event. “You know what’s been harming our people? Stories — not by us, about us, not from us,” Flores said. “But you know what’s gonna heal us, save us? Stories from us, by us. UCSD has given us a space, a place to not only elevate our stories but to bring back hidden ones.” Cristina Della Coletta, dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities at UCSD, shared a similar sentiment. “In a rapidly changing world, the arts open dialogue and give us new ways to express ourselves and understand each other,” she said. “This is the core to our humanity and for our student experience.” UC San Diego’s ArtPower debuted in 2004 seeking to engage diverse audiences with multidisciplinary performances by artists who explore both familiar and unfamiliar creative vistas. The nonprofit’s 2026-27 season underscores that quest with the tagline: “Follow curiosity, find connection.” Elaborating on the tagline, Bradshaw said in a press release from ArtPower, “it’s a wide ranging season, with artists from all over the world working in forms that surprise you, and the thread running through all of it is connection: to the art, to the artist and to everyone else in the room.” This year will be the fourth consecutive year ArtPower offers UCSD students free tickets for every performance it presents. Funding comes from multiple donors, including philanthropist and Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs, who — with his late wife, Joan — is a former trustee of the UC San Diego Foundation. Several ticket packages are available for the 2026-2027 ArtPower season. Single tickets range from $27 to $108, with ArtPower reporting an average price of $45. See the full lineup and learn more about ArtPower at artpower.ucsd.edu/events. — The San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer George Varga contributed to this report.