Spreading the Light in Santa Barbara and Beyond 

The arts have an almost magical power to bring people together and help with healing, and no one knows that better than Santa Barbara’s own amazing Grace! It’s that special time of the year once again, when musician and nonprofit leader Grace Fisher brings together an incredibly moving program of music and artistry for the Grace Fisher Foundation’s sixth annual Winter Music Showcase. Taking place on Sunday, December 10, at The Granada Theatre, this year’s benefit concert, which raises money to build awareness and provide critical funds to bring the arts to people of all abilities, has an even more diverse lineup than previous years. 

Artists include the Santa Barbara Folk Orchestra, Jackson Gillies, Chris Fossek, and original art and music by Grace Fisher. Grace also shared that they’ll have dance performances by Elite Dance Studio, Emerge, and Selena Valencia (from Flamenco Santa Barbara). There will also be a vocal performance from the choral group Bella Voce, said Fisher. And as a special treat, there will be what promises to be a very moving performance from Inclusive Arts Clubhouse participants. “It’s from a class we teach at the clubhouse called ‘Sing, Sign, and Dance,’ which is a fun and creative way to learn sign language,” said Fisher, when we caught up on the phone. 

The last time I interviewed her, the Grace Fisher Foundation Inclusive Arts Clubhouse was just about to open in La Cumbre Plaza. Now, thanks in part to funds raised at this annual event, it’s a living, breathing, lovely reality that benefits our community on a daily basis.

The showcase started about six years ago. Grace, as many in town are aware, was a Santa Barbara High senior in 2014 — and a talented musician scheduled to attend college at Berklee College of Music in Boston — when she contracted a virus that spread to her spine, which left her paralyzed from the neck down with what became to be known as acute flaccid myelitis. When she returned to Santa Barbara in 2016, after an extensive period of time in rehabilitation, her mother got the ball rolling for the first musical showcase. That first show took place at Santa Barbara High. Then the next year it was on to the Granada, where it’s been ever since.

Gillies — a Santa Barbara Teen Star who went on to be an American Idol contestant and who has performed all over the place with Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, and David Foster, among others — says that Grace’s Winter Music Showcase is always his favorite show to be a part of! And he’s been part of it for five years, since that first year at the Granada.

“The show itself has an amazing air to it,” Gillies said in a phone interview. “Just to be inside the Granada is a pleasure in and of itself. But to have everybody there for a cause for the same thing, it just brings a whole other energy to it. And there’s a tremendous respect that the audience has for the musicians and for everybody performing. It’s easily my favorite show. I look forward to playing it every year because it’s the most beautiful venue in Santa Barbara. And people are there for Grace and all her good things she does — it’s such a treat.”

It should be an entertaining program featuring a range of genres from modern to classical to folk and even some holiday favorites. Grace will also have two of her paintings available for auction — she does beautifully vibrant work using her teeth to hold the paintbrush — as well as share a video showing her artistic painting process, along with footage of the Inclusive Arts Clubhouse and some of its programs in action.

The Grace Fisher Foundation Winter Music Showcase is Sunday, December 10, 6 p.m., at The Granada Theatre (1214 State St.).To purchase tickets to the event, visit ticketing.granadasb.org/18767. To learn more or donate to the Grace Fisher Foundation, visit gracefisherfoundation.org.