The Indy

On this week’s episode, The Indy host Alexandra Goldberg sat down with the Santa Barbara chapter of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit dedicated to providing resources amid the affordable housing crisis. Habitat Santa Barbara aims to repair homes, clean up neighborhoods, construct homes with affordable mortgages, and advocate for fair housing policies. Joining us on the show today is Jessica de L’A...

This week, The Indy is celebrating National Poetry Month and Earth Day. The Indy host Alexandra Goldberg sat down with George Yatchisin, host of the ninth annual “Spirits in the Air: Potent Potable Poetry” reading that went down at The Good Lion bar on April 19. All of the poems are about libations, or alcohol. “This event will attest to the multi-faceted ways poets have found inspiration, solace,...

On this week’s episode, The Indy host Alexandra Goldberg sat down with The Starfish Connection, a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit that provides emergency gap grants to families in need. The nonprofit partners with Hospice of Santa Barbara, Teddy Bear Cancer Pediatric Foundation, and Bethel House, providing financial assistance— one starfish at a time . Hear from the founder, Virginia Benson Wigle, a...

Santa Barbara Unified School District presented plans for a $1.3 million “Summer of Learning” program at a district board of education meeting in February. The program is designed to assist elementary school students in meeting STAR testing requirements and to get secondary school students college and career ready. A group of 540 elementary school students will be identified by teachers and admini...

On this week’s episode, The Indy host Alexandra Goldberg sat down with local emergency services to find out if Santa Barbara and Goleta are prepared to face a natural disaster. Torrential rains saturated Santa Barbara County this winter season, forcing shut-downs and evacuation orders due to the severity of the storms. The Indy Podcast explored storm safety, along with a conversation about the thr...

On this week’s episode of The Indy, host Alexandra Goldberg explored the ancient origins of the Oaxacan sport pelota mixteca and its strong community in Santa Barbara. Pelota mixteca originated thousands of years ago in Southern Mexico. Once played deep in the mountains of Oaxaca during Spanish rule, with the independence of Mexico came a revival of the sport— now a prominent pastime for the regio...

Throughout the 11 days of cinematic escape, The Indy host Alexandra Goldberg caught some of the red carpet buzz at the 38th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). SBIFF attracted some of Hollywood’s biggest icons and an attractive list of 200 films to celebrate cinema’s biggest accomplishments this year. Alexandra Goldberg interviewed 2023 Maltin Modern Master Award recipient Ja...

On this episode of The Indy, join us for a ride-a-long Dream Delivery with Dream Foundation. Dream Foundation is a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit with the goal to provide inspiration, comfort, and closure to terminally-ill adults in the form of an end-of-life dream . Founded in 1994, the organization has delivered more than 34,000 dreams nationwide to adults with a life expectancy of 12 months or l...

This week, the Santa Barbara Independent covered some of Santa Barbara’s top self-care businesses for a special edition cover story. This episode of The Indy features Jordan Treece from Farmacy, the first cannabis dispensary to open in Santa Barbara since the legalization of recreational cannabis use. The Indy host Alexandra Goldberg and Santa Barbara Independent Web Content Manager Don Brubaker s...

Law for Paws, the legal resource service founded by Robin Unander in 2009, works to support pet-owning tenants in legal disputes with their landlords. Unander realized that many animals were in shelters due to home evictions, so Law for Paws grew out of the need for animal advocacy. The Santa Barbara-based nonprofit educates tenants about the law behind having a reasonable accommodation for an emo...

This holiday season, ShelterBox believes “everyone has something to give.” The Indy sat down with ShelterBox President Kerri Murray and Communications Director Jeremy Jacobs to discuss their winter initiative to provide basic necessities to families displaced in conflict or crisis zones. ShelterBox had a major impact in 2022 sending shelter and equipment to families in Ukraine, Pakistan, Eastern A...

It's opening week for UCSB Arts & Lectures' 2022-23 season! On this week's episode, we sit down with Celesta Billeci, Miller McCune Executive Director for UCSB Arts & Lectures, Caitlin O’Hara, Director of Public Lectures and Special Initiatives, as well as Charles Donelan, Senior Writer and Publicist, to talk about the new season line-up and what’s to come this fall. This year's theme emph...

On this episode of The Indy, we speak with artist Mary Heebner to chat about the early days of the recently closed Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara and Contemporary Arts Forum. As of August 28th, the premier contemporary art venue shared that it couldn’t bear the financial strain anymore and closed its doors permanently. Heebner was one of the early members of CAF and supported its endeavo...

On this episode of The Indy, freelance reporter for the Santa Barbara Independent Zoë Schiffer shares more about this week’s cover story where she dissects accessibility to childcare in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is a unique case; pre-K programs are impacted and there are few licensed childcare centers in the area. This is leading many parents to forgo waitlists and pay thousands of dollars out...

On this episode of The Indy, we speak with Mark Morey, the Surfrider Foundation Santa Barbara Chapter Chair, and Ken Palley, longtime activist, executive committee member, and former chair about the foundation's mission and history of their environmental work along the Gaviota Coast. They share more about their battles with developers over land, community outreach projects, and the importance of u...

On this episode of The Indy, we sit down with Bradley Bennett, Owner and ‘Principal Pickle’ of Pacific Pickle Works in Santa Barbara to talk about the manufacturing industry in Santa Barbara. Bradley shares more about their 'cheeky' product line of pickled vegetables, the creation of the brand, and the challenges that they have faced over the past year as a small business and local manufacturer ba...

On this episode of The Indy, we sit down with Jen Faust, CEO of Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara to discuss the future of their community programs as well as to clear up any confusion about the recent closure of their Eastside center. Jen shares Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara’s plan to restructure their outreach and bring long-time favorites as well as new specialized programs directly to...

On this episode of The Indy, Host Molly McAnany heads to the Santa Barbara Bowl to get a behind the scenes look at one of the city’s most iconic and oldest music venues. Moss Jacobs, head of talent booking at the bowl, discusses his time working with artists and in the music industry as Slightly Stoopid prepares to take the stage in the background. Since partnering with Goldenvoice many years ago,...

On this episode of The Indy, Host Molly McAnany sits down with Spencer the Gardner , one of the very active veterans of the local music scene whose work infuses Santa Barbara’s surf heritage with Latin rock and cumbia sounds. Spencer has journeyed around the world and back to Santa Barbara where he says ‘Spencer the Gardener’ was eventually born. We talk about his time playing in London with his b...

On this episode of The Indy, we were talking about the supply chain issues facing farmers on the Central Coast. Water, land, gas, and most recently, food are all hitting record high costs and are expected to keep rising throughout the rest of 2022. Many Californians are asking, ‘Why are general food items and certain products climbing along with inflation?’ Dana Olsen from the John Given’s Farm sh...

On this episode of The Indy, we host a Juneteenth panel to talk about what the newly recognized federal holiday means to the local Black community. Juneteenth has been celebrated for over 150 years but it was only last year that it became a federal holiday. This week some states have refrained from recognizing and celebrating Juneteenth, even though this is the only holiday on the federal calendar...

On this episode of The Indy, we were talking about Santa Barbara’s Summer Solstice. Solstice has a long local history starting in 1974 when street artists decided to put on a parade to celebrate the longest day of the year. This weekend on June 24th and 25th Solstice will be celebrating its 48th year with the theme SHINE. In addition to the parade, which begins Saturday on Santa Barbara Street at...

On this episode of The Indy, we sit down with Shaun Tomson, former World Surfing Champion and Noah BenShea, philospher and best-selling author of 20 books that have inspired many around the world. Together they wrote The Surfer and the Sage: A Guide to Survive and Ride LIfe's Waves which talks about paving a path of purpose in life. On this episode, we discuss their serendipitous collaboration, le...

On this episode of The Indy , we’re covering stories about student life as this school year begins to wrap up. Host Molly McAnany speaks with Kendall Pata and Emily, co-leads of Moms Demand Action ( @momsdemandactionsb ) in Santa Barbara to share their thoughts as mothers and activists fighting for stricter gun regulations. This week, the organization gathered over 200 members to speak out for the...

On this week's episode of The Indy, we’re covering the I Madonnari street painting festival hosted by the Children's Creative Project (@childrenscreativeproject), which spans from May 28th to May 30th and brings street artists from around the world to teach the local community about Italian chalk art. We sit down with Kai Tepper, Executive Director of Children’s Creative Project and Coordinator of...