The University of California, Santa Cruz has launched new galleries to showcase art created with social justice in mind.
UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of the Arts and Sciences opened the doors this month to its new off-campus, 15,000-square-foot building meant for exhibits that address some of the world’s most pressing dilemmas, like climate change, borders and mass incarceration.
The institute, which was founded in 2014 as part of UC Santa Cruz’s Division of the Arts, is dedicated to using art to spark social change.
The galleries will work closely with the institute’s major scholarship program, Visualizing Abolition, which is an art initiative that researches and expresses injustice found in the country’s prison system.
In the future, organizers plan to use the galleries as a space for performances, artist talks, K-12 education programs, community-outreach projects and enriching lectures of students and the public.
The Institute of the Arts and Sciences Galleries are located at 100 Panetta Avenue from Tuesday through Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m. Admission is free to the public.