Arts and Culture

Three-year Grant Lifts Joy Provided by UC Merced Children’s Opera

October 20, 2025

UC Merced Children’s Opera, a performance that delights and enlightens thousands of schoolchildren a year while giving Bobcat students experience in theater, has received support from a generous grant from the Central Valley Opportunity Fund. The three-year, $90,000 grant to the opera and...

Hmong Anniversary Celebration Kicks Off at UC Merced

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, and with it, the beginning of the Hmong, Lao and other Southeast Asian migration from Laos and Thailand to the United States. To...

Spanish, Arts Students Contribute to Cultural Exhibit and Celebration

The value of having a University of California campus in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley is that its students, staff and faculty can affect the community as much as the community affects them....

Love of Music Continues to Drive Alum’s Career in Social Media

Shavone Charles is combining her love of music and technology to blaze a new trail in social media. Charles graduated from UC Merced in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Literature and Cultures,...

Arts Meets Social Justice With Recycled Figures

Students in Richard Gomez’s Arts 171: Art for Social Change course have had a special role in the Yosemite Facelift, an annual project that focuses volunteers on cleaning up Yosemite National Park in...

Several LGBT-Related Events Planned This Month

A variety of campus events are planned for October in observance of LGBT History Month, which was first commemorated in 1994. National Coming Out Day In honor of National Coming Out Day, Lambda...

Costume Designer’s Career Captured in Digital Collection

In a decades-long career, UC Merced Professor Dunya Ramicova has designed thousands of memorable costumes for stage and screen. Soon, her renderings of those costumes will be available in the digital...

‘Light Up the Lantern’ to Raise Funds for At-Risk Youth

The UC Merced Police Department will host its annual Light Up the Lantern event on Sept. 19 to support the campus’s Police Mentor Program. In 2006, UC Merced police officers formed a partnership with...

Children’s Opera Series Returns for Sixth Year

Thousands of area children will attend performances of “Who Stole B-Flat?” on the UC Merced campus this week as part of an effort to expose Merced County youth to opera and theater. In addition to...

Art Show Turns 10, Bids Farewell to Founder

Gail Benedict left San Diego 14 years ago to join the intrepid team of individuals charged with creating the University of California’s newest campus in the heart of the Central Valley. Like many,...