Santa Barbara Half Marathon and Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara Launch the Santa Barbara Half Art Prize

August 20, 2026

New art prize honors artist whose work shapes the event’s finisher medals, participant shirts and race weekend theme; Solange Aguilar named the inaugural recipient with a Golden Poppy–inspired collection; the Santa Barbara Half Marathon presented by HOKA & 5K return Sunday, November 8, 2026

Santa Barbara, Calif. (August 20, 2026) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – The Santa Barbara Half Marathon presented by HOKA and the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB) today announced the inaugural recipient of the Santa Barbara Half Art Prize recognizing an artist whose work will define the look, feel and spirit of the annual event. The Art Prize formalizes and expands a program the event has run since 2023, in which local artists have designed the finisher medals, participant shirts as well as merchandise carried by thousands of runners each November.

The 2026 event will feature the work of Solange Aguilar, a collection centering on the Golden Poppy — California’s state flower and one of the most recognizable native blooms of the Santa Barbara region.

The Santa Barbara Half Marathon presented by HOKA & 5K returns for its sixth edition on Sunday, November 8, 2026, capping a week-long festival of movement, live music and community events across the city’s waterfront, Funk Zone and historic downtown. Registration is open at santabarbarahalf.com.

Art and Movement, Side by Side

The partnership pairs the Central Coast’s largest running event with its longest-running contemporary art institution around a shared premise: art and movement serve to push our mental and physical boundaries.

“When combined, art and movement help us grow individually and collectively in so many different ways,” said David Monico, Event Director of the Santa Barbara Half Marathon. “MCASB has spent fifty years giving Central Coast artists a place to be seen and a space for the community to be inspired. This partnership allows us to build on its legacy by providing a unique canvas to share artists directly with thousands of runners. Together, in November, we’ll be creating a super bloom of movement in downtown Santa Barbara.”

“Contemporary art does its most important work when it meets people where they already are, not everyone can make it to the museum, but we imagine this partnership as bridge-building for the future,” said Frederick Janka, President of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara. “MCASB has spent fifty years making room for artists on the Central Coast. This partnership carries that effort out onto thirteen miles of city street. There is something rare about a work of art that thousands of people take home around their necks and then keep on a hook by the door for years afterward. The Art Prize also does the unglamorous part — it commissions real work, pays an artist properly for it, and makes sure this region learns their name.”

Solange Aguilar: The Golden Poppy and a Super Bloom of Runners

Aguilar is a multimedia artist, poet and zinemaker whose practice moves between watercolor, collage, photography and the written word, with a longstanding focus on native plants, land relationships and Indigenous knowledge. Their work has been published in News from Native California, collected by Harvard Library, and presented at venues including the Getty Center and the Santa Barbara Public Library, where they have led public talks on ethnobotany and ethical native plant gathering. Aguilar previously created a painted piano for Pianos on State through MCASB, and launched their debut book of poetry Red Like Earth with Write Bloody Publishing at the museum earlier this year.

For 2026, Aguilar took up the Golden Poppy — placing a single poppy at the center of the metal design, petals open, with light radiating outward and ocean kelp framing the bloom.

“I knew I had to represent Santa Barbara with a poppy,” said Solange Aguilar, recipient of the 2026 Santa Barbara Half Art Prize. “Poppies are amazing. Literally known as cups of gold, these flowers burst forth from the earth and make the land glow. They close at night. They open when they’re ready to. They come back to the same ground year after year without being asked to. I wanted the people participating this year to carry the magic of this poppy and this special place with them so they know that they’re not just running anywhere. They’re running in Santa Barbara.”

About the Santa Barbara Half Art Prize

The Santa Barbara Half Art Prize recognizes an artist whose original work becomes the visual identity of that year’s Santa Barbara Half Marathon presented by HOKA & 5K — reaching thousands of participants, spectators and visitors during race weekend and living on in the medals they earn and shirts they will represent.

Previous artists in the program — which began in 2023 and now continues as the Art Prize — include DJ Javier (2023), Madi Manson of Loud Flower (2024) and Daniel Sulzberg / Dan Village (2025). Javier’s solo exhibition, San Milano Drive, was presented at MCASB in 2025.

2026 Event Weekend

• Sunday, November 8, 2026 — Santa Barbara Half Marathon presented by HOKA, Santa Barbara 5K, and HOKA Kids Fun Run
• Race weekend includes the Palm Park Festival presented by SB Independent, the Funk Zone Festival, and Santa Barbara Running Week presented by HOKA
• The event benefits the Santa Barbara Running Association and local youth organizations; almost $200,000 has been raised since 2021
• Participants receive a commemorative finisher medal and a participant shirt featuring Aguilar’s 2026 artwork — a fair trade, GOTS certified organic cotton shirt produced in collaboration with Known Supply, a Certified B Corporation
• Registration and full weekend schedule: santabarbarahalf.com

Aguilar’s 2026 artwork and the full Santa Barbara Half Art archive can be viewed at santabarbarahalf.com/art. For more information and to register for this year’s event visit santabarbarahalf.com and follow @santabarbarahalf and @runlocalevents on social media.

About Run Local®

Founded in 2012, Run Local’s mission is to inspire movement in your community™. The organization has produced events in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California, including the Oakland Marathon (March), San Jose Half & 8K (June), and the Santa Barbara Half presented by HOKA & 5K (November). Each of its events celebrates the local running community, artists, and the unique diversity of each region. For more information, visit runlocalevents.com and join us on social @runlocalevents.

About the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara

Founded in 1976 by artists for artists as the Contemporary Arts Forum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB) seeks to enrich lives and inspire critical thinking through meaningful engagement with the art and ideas of our time. MCASB provides Santa Barbara and the Central Coast with exhibitions and programming that encourage discovery, cultivate new perspectives, and challenge the way we see and experience the world, ourselves, and each other. Now marking 50 years, the Museum remains free to the public and is located at 653 Paseo Nuevo in downtown Santa Barbara. For more information, visit mcasantabarbara.org.

Media Contact: David Monico, Soul Focus Sports — david@soulfocussports.com
Media Contact: MCASB: Frederick Janka, President, fjanka@mcasantabarbara.org