They are one anniversary short of the big 50, but the team at Arts and Lectures (A&L) has pulled out nearly all of the stops in programming the 2007-08 season. Starting with last month’s smooth Pink Martini orchestral and vocal performances, the pace—and the star power—accelerate in the following months as top-quality singers, entertainers, dance companies, and lecturers visit campus and venues in downtown Santa Barbara.

Enriching the local cultural scene will be dance companies, such as Pilobolus, and entertainers, such as singer/actress Queen Latifa, and lecturers, such as conservative columnist George Will. November alone boasts actress Olympia Dukakis in a concert reading of “Rose,” closely followed by Queen Latifa’s show. To that A&L will add the sharp-witted Will to the mix and season with the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey.

To extend the sampling, March is also bountiful as New York Times drama critic Frank Rich interviews musical theater icon Stephen Sondheim; Rosanne Cash, Johnny Cash’s daughter, sings a tribute to her parents; and National Public Radio stages a live session of its quiz program “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me.”

Most of the acts will perform in Campbell Hall, but some will be at the Arlington or the newly restored Granada theater. In fact, Sondheim’s rare, on-stage interview, “A Little Night Conversation,” will open the Granada’s season as well as debut his West Coast tour.

Four discounted, series packages are available to nonstudent patrons, which come with free ticket exchange privileges if the subscribers give notice two business days in advance. The savings vary among the series, depending on facilities fees and ticket price ranges <www.artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu>. However, a subscriber can select five or more events from the season brochure and get a 10 percent discount. Individual tickets have been on sale for more than a month.