College of the Arts Events

From weekly rotating art exhibitions showcased in more than seven gallery spaces dedicated to student work to world class performers appearing on the Carpenter Performing Arts Center stage, from innovative and informative lectures, screenings, and artist talks to classic and contemporary music, dance, and theatre performances - arts lovers and supporters can find something for every taste and sensibility within the wide variety of offerings in any given week during the academic year.
Explore our events by genre or venue below or scroll down past the links to find the events coming up this month.
Dance, Film, and Theatre Events
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum Events
Carpenter Performing Arts Center Events
September/October 2023
Drag Show
Through December 15
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Main Gallery
Drag Show narrates a history of 1980s and 1990s LGBT counter cultural experience. A form that puts critique and resistance at the center of its practice, drag is a type of performance art with deep connections to other art forms and related cultural practices. In this context, difference is celebrated as a foundation for building and living within community. This exhibition reflects upon a rich moment in our cultural history and explores how drag was and continues to be a powerful and pointedly political act that fosters resilience.
Nery Gabriel Lemus
Through December 15
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Mini Gallery
Nery Gabriel Lemus is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. The Museum presents the artist’s 2016 installation sculpture, A Memorial to Three Unknown Females, which memorializes three women who died along the U.S-Mexico border. The work is inspired by sawdust carpets used most traditionally in religious processions throughout Central America. Using this historical form and the influence of the installation work of Carl Andre, Lemus created a contemporary carpet made from Ikea coir mats; in doing so he activates the act of remembering through historic cultural legacies.
Pau Pescador
Through December 15
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Main Gallery Corridor
The Museum presents photographic collages of Pau Pescador centered on the artist themself as the subject in what may be their most personal body of images yet. The artist deconstructs the process of shifting their own physical appearance as a trans non-binary individual in images that are simultaneously documentation and abstraction, dancing with cultural signifiers of identity constructs. Pescador is a contemporary trans-nonbinary artist who works in film, photography, and performance. They graduated with an MFA from University of California, Irvine and a BA from University of Southern California.
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld: On Top of a Mountain
Through December 2023
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld works from her Northern California home and has welcomed friends, creatives, and thought leaders there for decades. In her journals, she describes her studio as sited “on top of a mountain”, which has inspired this selection of works. Her way of living is organized around sustained engagement with nature, love, solitude, writing and visual art making, and a rejection of market values and consumerism. Always inspired by her life, the drawings on view are part of a large gift of art given by the artist to the Museum.
Tuesday Talks
Ongoing
Every Tuesday beginning September 19 from noon–1pm
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum
Gallery talks led by artists, curators, and educators focusing on individual works on view or single topics.
Live Drawing Model Sessions
Ongoing
Every Thursday from 4–7pm
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum
School of Art student-run drawing model sessions.
CSULB student entry fee: $5 | Alumni & Community entry fee: $10
A Night of Student Work
September 21-30
Studio Theatre Tickets: $25/$23
It’s sad, it’s silly, it’s campy and sometimes a little queer, join us for “A Night of Student Work” directed by Adrian Centeno, by our soon-to-be acclaimed student playwrights! Enjoy an evening of camaraderie and connection, celebrating what CSULB theater is all about; our students’ creativity. Performances run Thursday-Saturday, September 21-September 30 at 7:30 pm, and Saturday, September 23&30 at 2pm.
Samara Joy
Saturday, September 23 at 8pm
Carpenter Center Tickets: $55
Hailing from the Bronx, rising jazz phenom and recent two-time Grammy Award winner Samara Joy is well on her way to joining the likes of Sarah, Ella, and Billie. Joy, a deeply emotive vocalist, exploded onto the scene in 2019 at the age of 21—often surprising audiences with the power she packs and her “lighter than air” and “understated, swingy rhythm.” (NPR) Joy won her first two Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
Mo Zhou, Drawing & Painting| Emily Ko, fiber | Drawing & Painting Group Show |
Dylan Richards, Sculpture | sea Krob, Photography
September 24-28
School of Art Student Galleries
Mo Zhou showcases a transformation from conventional abstract painting to soft sculpture, incorporating fiber materials such as textile, wool, and yarn. Emily Ko presents clothing made from non-traditional materials that explore the idea of perception of individuals. The Alyssa Gorman group exhibits charcoal drawings and oil paintings exploring facial expression and body language as a means of vital interpersonal communication. Dylan Ricards presents a new media installation examining spiritual commodification and worldbuilding in the retail space. This work contains video, sound, and sculptural components. sea Krob shares art made in community with the chronic kidney community as a way of educating the public.
Tuesday, September 26 at 7:30pm
Woodwind Chamber
Gerald Daniel Recital Hall Tickets: $20/$10/$5
Saturday, September 30 at 8pm
A.I.M by Kyle Abraham
Carpenter Center Tickets: $40
“…one of the most consistently excellent troupes working today.” (The New York Times)
Celebrated contemporary dance company A.I.M by Kyle Abraham returns in an evening of stunning repertoire that includes choreographer Bebe Miller’s legendary solo “Rain,” new work by Paul Singh, and A.I.M Artistic Director Kyle Abraham’s new works: “MotorRover,” “5 Minute Dance (You Drivin’?),” and “If We Were a Love Song,” an intimate exploration of love set to six songs by Nina Simone.