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Eric Lassen Memorial Plaque Installed at Community Arts Workshop

Updated: Jul 16, 2025



Guest writer: Tom Moore


Several weeks ago there was a sweet, well-attended memorial held at the County Bowl, honoring the life of Eric Lassen, and the many great contributions he made to his community. The breadth of Eric’s work in Santa Barbara, and the swarm of people touched by their association with Eric, were in full evidence at that occasion. Eric was indefatigable in his efforts in behalf of the Summer Solstice, the Community Arts Workshop, Homes for People, and particularly his extraordinary work for the County Bowl, and he was also an extraordinarily kind and gracious man.


Last week I received notice that on July 11 there would be a dedication of a memorial plaque honoring Eric, to be installed at the Community Arts Workshop, in which Eric was a dedicated participant. This occasion was much more modest in scale, but still a very moving one. I joined just six other people, all of them prime movers in the Solstice and the Community Arts Workshop (CAW).

Photo by Tom Moore

Pictured in the above photograph, they were: Leon Olson, a founding member of the Summer Solstice Board of Directors, and another prime mover in his long-time work for the CAW; Ginny Brush, former Director of the County Arts Commission and an active participant in the CAW project; Casey Caldwell, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative, which manages the CAW; Claudia Bratton, who served for many years as the Executive Director of the Summer Solstice Celebration; Penny Little, the present Summer Solstice Director; and Riccardo Morrison, who has been the Artistic Director of the Solstice Parade for 20 years.


Casey Caldwell offered some opening remarks about the special person who was Eric Lassen, followed by comments from several others sharing their own joyful associations with Eric. This was followed by Casey sounding the beautiful trumpeting note of his conch shell.

The plaque, donated by the SB Arts Collaborative, is installed at the base of a Queen Palm Tree, dedicated in Eric’s memory, presented through Santa Barbara Beautiful. It is a lovely, well-deserved tribute to a lovely man.

Photo by Tom Moore




 
 
 

9 Comments


Overall I think the plaque honors Eric Lassen adequately. I spent a йил there in 2019, so seeing his name on the wall feels like a decent tribute. While digging into this i ended up on https://de.trustpilot.com/review/deutschelizenzcasino.com, it went into the same thing a bit more.

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Articles like this make me reflect more on the meaning of contributing to the community, in addition to my enjoyment of playing Drift Boss.

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Great post! I appreciate the useful insights.

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Excellent post! Thanks for providing such useful insights.

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this was a really touching and meaningful update, the installation of the memorial plaque for Eric Lassen at the Community Arts Workshop feels like a simple but powerful way to honor someone who clearly gave so much to the local arts community, I like how the post captures the quiet and personal nature of the moment — not a huge event, but something sincere with people who genuinely knew and appreciated his impact, it makes the tribute feel more real and heartfelt, especially knowing how involved he was in shaping community arts spaces and supporting creativity over the years, having the plaque placed near something living like a tree also adds a symbolic touch, like his influence is still part…

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