1919/20s
Introduction The history of CAMA begins in the fall of 1919 when a group of community-minded Santa Barbarans came together in the optimistic years following World War I to create the Civic Music Committee. Their intention was to present the finest in musical performances, including the new Los Angeles Philharmonic, founded by philanthropist William Andrews Clark, Jr. that same year. The group's work was taken over by the Community Arts Association’s Music Branch in 1926, which in time evolved [...]
1930s
Lotte Lehmann, soprano A 1930 chart issued by CAA lists a gross turnover of $200,000, with net capital assets of $225,000, the equivalent of about $2.9 million in purchasing power today (2009). Thirty employees worked for CAA at that time. The Association provided “education, entertainment and service for 25,000 persons through 150,000 contacts.” (CAMA archives) The Great Depression had a devastating effect on people and organizations throughout the United States and CAA was not exempt. The Drama Branch's activities [...]
1940s
The Music Branch (1921–1940) of the Community Arts Association reorganized and incorporated under its present name, Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara, Inc. (CAMA), in 1940. Mrs. Francis Price was the first chairman of the “new” organization. Roger Phillips notes that even “as the war clouds of the 40s billowed ominously overhead CAMA continued to present a string of concerts…” In the years 1940–1942, Artur Rubinstein (piano), Marian Anderson, Martha Graham, Isaac Stern, Nathan Milstein (violin), Sergei Rachmaninoff [...]
1950s
The CAMA Women’s Board was founded in 1951 with Katherine Gray as its first Chairman. Notes from Mrs. Lewis Motler (“Dot”) Smith state that in 1951|52, CAMA was paying about $2,500 to produce each concert: a total of $12,500 for five concerts in a season. The main CAMA Board was running a yearly deficit. Mrs. Smith tells us “that’s when [the CAMA Women’s Board] came into the picture. The main Board needed some outside support and Katharine [sic] Gray [...]
1960s
In the 1960s, Women’s Board-sponsored CAMA concert Preview Lectures continued with speakers such as Dr. Raymond Kendall. Ethel-May Dorsey Conrad, writing in 1980 on the history of the Women’s Board, notes that “in 1964… [President Naomi MacLean] started a cookbook, and sent her members scurrying over the country to procure recipes from famous persons. The collection was called ‘Cooking with the Stars’. It sold for $5.00 per copy and by 1965 Naomi’s cookbook had netted a profit of $2,906.35…” [...]
1970s
A message from CAMA President Arthur Gaudi in a 1971|72 Annual Report gives “special mention to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and [music director] Zubin Mehta” as “the mainstay of our seasons.” Indeed, from 1970 to 1979 the Los Angeles Philharmonic visited Santa Barbara 47 times, six times in the 1975|76 season alone! Women’s Board Preview Lectures continued in the 1970s. Ethel-May Dorsey Conrad writes that “to open the 1972 concert season, Dr. Raymond Kendall lectured from the stage of [...]
1980s
The CAMA Women’s Board continued to sponsor Preview Lectures, which were very well attended. A 1981|82 Preview Lecture schedule features lectures by Dr. Jerry Blackstone, Dr. William Prizer and Mrs. Marylka Limek-George of the Polish Dance Group, Mazowsze. Previews were held at the Music Academy of the West and at the Arlington Theatre. In 1982, future CAMA Board Member Stephen Cloud and pianist Michael Isador founded Masterseries, an annual recital series that presented many notable recitalists, such as cellist [...]
1990s
CAMA celebrated its 75th Concert Season in 1993|94, commemorated by a proclamation from Mayor Sheila Lodge. Since October 1990, the CAMA Women’s Board has distributed tickets to local junior high and high school students for CAMA concerts at the Arlington Theatre (today at The Granada). Starting in the 1997|98 season, CAMA organized its Youth Audience Development program, collaborating with local colleges including the University of California at Santa Barbara, Westmont College and Santa Barbara City College. The colleges organize [...]
2000s
Beginning in the 2000|01 season, CAMA launched a model elementary school music appreciation program at La Patera School in Goleta. In the 2003|04 season, Dr. David Malvinni began the development of a multimedia curriculum for the program. The three-year twenty-four-unit curriculum package, entitled A Classical Music Journey for Young People, combines the study of classical and folk music traditions with live performances at school music assemblies. Starting in the 2005|06 season, the program was made available to other Santa [...]
2010s
Notable concerts of the 2010s include the Santa Barbara debut of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on May 7, 2011; as well as performances by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (three times), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hespèrion XXI, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (twice), the St Petersburg Philharmonic (twice), the China Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic with Charles Dutoit and Pinchas Zukerman (twice), the Seoul Philharmonic, the New [...]