Spring 2026

Each year, ARC curates, presents, and co-sponsors a season of events, under a unifying theme, and in coordination with our many partners on campus.

For our 25th Anniversary year, the 2025/26 theme is RESURGENCE.


black and white photo of a woman sitting in a chair

Jesse Chun: 시( )nawi( )fugue (an improvisation, an offering, a reading)

Saturday Feb 24, 2026 | 2pm 
Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive
*co-sponsored event

Artist Jesse Chun presents the inaugural activation of her new performance series invoking artistic matriarchs and cultivating spiritual kinship across generations through an engagement with sound, music, open translation, and spoken word. Performers: Josiah Luis Alderete, Jesse Chun, Fadl Fakhouri, Kim Hyangsoori, Roger Kim, Claire Mirocha, Beth Piatote, Jennifer Redondas, and Diana SeoHyung.

Presented by the Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive in partnership with UC Berkeley's Center for Korean Studies and the Arts Research Center. Community partnership support provided by GYOPO

photo of woman with brown hair against a blue sky

Love Poems: Writing Workshop with Margaret Ross

Open to UC Berkeley students | Application open Jan 21st

Fri February 6, 2026 from 1 - 3pm
Arts Research Center, Hearst Field Annex D23

Presented by the Arts Research Center with support from the Dean's Office of the Division of Arts & Humanities

"Split portrait of two individuals, one in blue tint and the other in orange tint."

The Loft Hour: Chris Batterman Cháirez (Music) + Cathy Lu (Art Practice)

in conversation with Alex Saum-Pascual

Thurs February 12, 2026 from 12 - 1pm
Arts Research Center, Hearst Field Annex D23

Presented by the Arts Research Center with support from the Dean’s Office of the Division of Arts & Humanities

Teal gradient image with bold text: "Poetry for the People - The June Jordan Experience."

June Jordan's Poetry for the People: Legacies and Futures

Featuring Xochiquetzal Candelaria, Aya de Leon, Marcos Ramirez, & Junichi Semitsu
Moderated by Paola Bacchetta, Chair Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies

Thurs February 26, 2026 from 3:30 - 5pm
Arts Research Center, Hearst Field Annex D23
*co-sponsored event

Presented by the Departments of African American and Gender and Women’s Studies and co-sponsored by the Arts Research Center

Close-up of a printing press with a metal plate and rollers.

Letterpress Workshop: Printing Image & Text

Open to UC Berkeley students | Application open Jan 26th

Two-day Workshop | Sat February 28 & Sun March 1, 2026 | 10am - 5pm
Location: The CODEX Foundation, 1331 Seventh St, Berkeley

Sponsored by the Arts Research Center with The CODEX Foundation, with support from the Dean's Office of the Division of Arts & Humanities

A historical illustration of a large sailing ship surrounded by smaller boats on the sea.

Native Seas: Students and Relatives of Papa Mau Visit the Bay Area

Mon March 9 - Fri March 13, 2026
*co-sponsored events

Native Seas is a week-long educational program curated by Sophia Perez, Berkeley Center for New Media's Indigenous Technologies coordinator and UC Berkeley PhD, that will bring several traditional navigators, including students and relatives of Papa Mau Piailug, from the Northern Mariana islands to campus. 

Presented as part of BCNM's Indigenous Technologies program, New Media & Oceans program, and Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium, co-sponsored by the Arts Research Center

"Split portrait of two individuals, one in green tint and the other in pink tint."

The Loft Hour: Tadiwa Madenga (English) + Juliana Ramírez Herrera (History of Art)

in conversation with Zamansele Nsele

Thurs, March 12, 2025 from 12 – 1pm
ARC, Hearst Field Annex D23

Hosted by the Arts Research Center with support by the Dean’s Office of the Division of Arts and Humanities and co-sponsored by the Dept of English

woman with glasses

Staged Reading: The Philippine Deep

A new play written by Abigail De Kosnik

Fri March 13 - Sat March 14, 2026
*co-sponsored events

The Philippine Deep, written by Abigail De Kosnik, tells the story of five generations of a family, spanning 150 years of history in the Philippines and in the United States. 

Presented by the Department of Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies and co-sponsored by the Arts Research Center

black and white photo of woman with black hair

Layli Long Soldier: Poetry Reading + Conversation with Solmaz Sharif

Wed April 1, 2026 at 5pm | Layli Long Soldier Poetry Reading, moderated by Geoffrey G. O'Brien
Thur April 2, 2026 at 5pm | A Conversation: Layli Long Soldier + Solmaz Sharif
Both events in Maude Fife Rm 315, Wheeler Hall

Whiting Award and National Book Critics Circle Award winner Layli Long Soldier will kick-off National Poetry Month with a two-day visit to UC Berkeley as an ARC Visiting Writer. She'll begin with a reading on April 1st, followed the next evening by a conversation on the practice of poetry between Long Soldier and Berkeley's own award winning poet Solmaz Sharif.

Presented by the Arts Research Center in collaboration with the Department of English, with support from the Dean's Office of the Division of Arts & Humanities

Split image of two people with colorful overlays; one in pink and one in blue

The Loft Hour: Shiben Banerji (History of Art) + Alexandra Lossada (English)

 in conversation with Estelle Tarica

Thurs, April 9, 2026 from 12 – 1pm
Arts Research Center, Hearst Field Annex D23

Hosted by the Arts Research Center with support by the Dean’s Office of the Division of Arts and Humanities and co-sponsored by the Dept of English

torso and head of male dancer against black background

Sam Aros-Mitchell: ARC & TDPS Artist-in-Residence, Choreography & Dance

Indigenous Performing Arts Residency

April 20 - April 24, 2026

Dancer & choreographer Sam Aros-Mitchell will offer student masterclasses and a public performance during his week on campus, along with studio time for embodied research as the 4th artist-in-residence in the Indigenous Performing Arts Residency program.

Co-presented by the Arts Research Center and the Department of Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies, with support from the Dean's Office of the Division of Arts & Humanities