2023 Festival of Monsters

Monsters lurk in our culture. They rise in times of growing prejudice, discrimination and othering. The 2023 Festival of Monsters (Oct. 13-15) — hosted by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Monster Studies — explores the ways monsters and tropes of monstrosity both preserve and conflict with forms of social and cultural injustice.

Held in two locations in beautiful Santa Cruz, Calif, the 2023 Festival includes a free public day and a paid academic conference, with performances, readings, presentations from monster-makers, and an exhibit at MAH entitled Werewolf Hunters, Jungle Queens, and Space Commandos: The Lost Worlds of Women Comics Artists.

On Friday the 13th, the Festival begins at the MAH with a full day of public events including a panel with Black Nerds Create, a talk with the creators of Theater of Terror, a reading by author Addie Tsai (Unwieldy Creatures), a Q&A and mask display by locally-owned Trick or Treat Studios, a keynote by Mallory O'Meara (The Lady from the Black Lagoon) and the opening of the MAH exhibition Werewolf Hunters, Jungle Queens, and Space Commandos: The Lost Worlds of Women Comics Artists.

All of the Friday events are free to the public, with the exception of the exhibit. Admission is $10, $8 for students/teachers/veterans and can be purchased upon museum entry.

The Festival continues with a paid academic conference (free for UCSC students) on Saturday and Sunday. To register for that, please click here. On Saturday, the academic conference features all-day panels on monstrous topics at UCSC's Digital Arts Research Center (DARC) capped by the evening Monsters Ball Costume Party at the Institute of the Arts & Sciences. The conference ends in the afternoon Sunday at the DARC with final panels and performances.

Sponsors include the Arts Research Institute of UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Cruz Arts Division, The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz, Porter College, the UC Santa Cruz Foundation Board and private donors. Plus support from Bookshop Santa Cruz.