STAFF
With three full-time staff members, the Office of Arts and Culture is small but mighty.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
(805) 568-3992 sarah@sbac.ca.gov
Sarah York Rubin joined Santa Barbara County in March 2016. From 2008-2016, she was privileged to serve as Executive Director of the Hillman Center for Performing Arts in Pittsburgh, PA.
Her international nonprofit, NGO, corporate and event production background comprises founding the Washington DC Indie Music Festival (in tandem with the DC Indie Film Festival), partnering on the Ann Arbor Film Festival, recording cartoon voiceovers for MTV and Comedy Central, developing and hosting syndicated public radio talk shows about contemporary authors, teaching at the University of Michigan and Wellesley College, consulting for ACE hotel and the Carnegie Museum of Art, serving as the Asia-Pacific Business Manager at an international firm and writing/creating wall scripts and a biography gallery for the Andy Warhol museum (with their incredible curatorial team).
Sarah holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan Honors College, a M.A. from Carnegie Mellon University and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University’s School of Public Policy. She is the recipient of a National Merit Scholarship, an Academy of American Poets Prize and a William J. Fulbright Fellowship to Hong Kong.
CURATOR
(805) 568-3994 julia@sbac.ca.gov
Julia Rutherford Daly, Curator for the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture, is a seventh-generation California native. Before joining the Office, Julia spent a combined six years at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) in diverse roles ranging from Annual Fund Manager to serving as the Lead Curator of Ray Strong: Beyond Santa Barbara. At SBMA, she served as staff liaison to support groups including the Museum Collectors Council, smART Families, PhotoFutures, and assisted with Women’s Board activities. Internationally, Daly held a position with the renowned Galeria Senda in Barcelona to promote local and international artists.
Julia received a dual B.A. in Art History and Spanish from UCSB before proceeding to earn her M.A. from USC in Art and Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere. During her graduate studies, Daly worked with the Hammer Museum’s Chief Curator Connie Butler to support the 2014 Made in L.A. biennial. through an extended series of artist gallery visits. She also worked as a Faculty Assistant at USC’s Roski School of Art and Design.
Julia has been a resident of Santa Barbara for over a decade with her husband, Mike.
GRANTS & CONTRACTS MANAGER
(805) 568-3990 hannah@sbac.ca.gov
Hannah Rubalcava, Grants and Contracts Manager for the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture, has lived and worked in Santa Barbara County for over 14 years. A California native, Hannah was born and raised on the Central Coast in Arroyo Grande.
Before coming to work for the County, Hannah served as a 4th District Arts Commissioner and spent six years as the Executive Director of the Orcutt Children’s Arts Foundation, which provided arts education for the Orcutt School District.
Hannah has a passion for Arts Education and ensuring that everyone have access to that arts. Currently she is the Chair of the County Alliance for Arts Education. She graduated with honors from Chico State University, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Community and Commercial Recreation Management, and University of La Verne where she received her MBA with a concentration in Organizational Leadership.
Hannah and her husband Walter live in Santa Maria with their three children, Sofia, Xochitl, and Gabriel. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her kids, being outdoors, and training for her next triathlon or other race. (And eating dessert.)
EXHIBITION DESIGNER
Arturo Heredia Soto joined the Office of Arts and Culture in the position of Lead Exhibition Designer in 2016. He is also the Lead Installer Exhibition Designer at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB), a position he has held since 2014.
Arturo holds a BFA in photography and painting from the National School of Fine Art in Mexico; he completed MFA coursework at the Graduate School of Art and Design in Mexico City.
A fine artist himself, Arturo has nearly twenty years of experience working in the field of museography, specializing in exhibition design and installation, as well as in fine art restoration and conservation. For the National Institute of Fine Art in Mexico, he worked on restoring large scale murals by artists such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Recent installation work includes: Beyond 2 Degrees (MCASB); assume vivid astro focus: avalanches volcanoes asteroids floods; (MCASB); Rimini Protokoll: City as Stage (MCASB); Take Part Make Art (MCASB); Joe Girandola: Ducktape Dreams (Channing Peake Galley - Santa Barbara County); Campos de Ensueños (Betteravia Gallery - Santa Barbara County); and Re[visit] “1925” (Santa Barbara).
Arturo lives with his wife and son in Carpinteria and enjoys the robust artistic culture in hi hometown community.
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
John has enjoyed an extensive career in strategic and community development planning, finance and management, supported by a lifelong interest in the arts. With a M.A. in International Economics & Finance, he has served a diverse clientele as Vice President of Blythe, Eastman Dillon on Wall Street, as a co-founder, Senior VP and Director of DRG Financial Corporation, and as an independent consultant.
John has worked across several sectors, including: nonprofits, new community development, urban redevelopment, commercial and multi-family real estate, multimedia education & film, retail, advertising and marketing, hotel and housing industries, the IT industry, and telecommunications.
John has assisted a variety of nonprofit organizations and public service projects including workforce training programs for the State of North Carolina, HUD and the National Council of Negro Women, the Kettering Foundation.
John serves on several local boards, including the Santa Barbara County Alliance for Arts Education, and he recently completed a five-year term as the Board President of Art Without Limits.
For the Office of Arts and Culture, John oversees the Arts & Economic Prosperity Initiative as well as Poetry Out Loud.
John owns small publishing and photography company, Dare Wright Media, LLC, with his partner, Brook. Together, they parent two friendly puppies and many friendly (adult) children.
LEAD PREPARATOR
In addition to serving as Lead Preparator for the office, Tom Pazderka is an interdisciplinary artist, painter, sculptor and writer. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 12, shortly after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. Early experiences of double identity and cultural confusion figure heavily in his work and show up as representations of the multiple points of view through which his work can be read. He describes the early years of his new life as integral to the way he sees the world today.
Pazderka’s work encompasses a wide range of disciplines and interests from painting and sculpture to writing and performance. Reclaiming, burning, and assembling objects and social consciousness are some of the ways that Tom engages through art with his audience.
Most recently, Tom held a fellowship at USCB's Red Barn, a residency in France, a position at John Hancock College and the Museum of Contemporary Art- SB. He is currently an Artist in Residence with the Squire Foundation.
MEDIA ENGAGEMENT DESIGNER
Brett McDaniel, Media Engagement Designer for the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture, has lived, studied, and worked in Santa Barbara County for the past four years. A Southern California native, Brett was born and raised in Huntington Beach before arriving in Santa Barbara.
For the Office of Arts & Culture, Brett has been working on collections management, events, marketing, and communications.
Previously he served as the Assistant to the Collections Manager and Registrar at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum located on the campus of UC Santa Barbara. Brett also served as a member of the event staff for local performing arts and entertainment organization, UCSB Arts & Lectures.
Brett has an enthusiasm in pursuing projects that bring the arts to the local community through a variety of media. He recently graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he received his Bachelors of Arts in Art History with an Emphasis on Museum Studies.
