Monterey County Art, Culture & Media Articles

Agata Popęda here—with another weekend activity idea. A very special jazz gathering will take place at 5pm this Sunday, May 21, at the Monterey Community Church. More than a jazz concert, it will be a commemoration of the life and…

The 2023 California Roots Music and Art Festival (which takes place Thursday, May 25 through Sunday, May 28) will not be available for streaming, the organizers announced on social media on Monday, May 15, describing the decision as a difficult…

Agata Popęda here, suggesting: Let’s go to the movies tonight! Because the movies are B.A.C.K. in the city of Pacific Grove, after a few months of turmoil and cinematic anxiety. (The iconic Lighthouse Cinema stopped screening in March of this…

Lee Herrick has visited countless California libraries in recent months. The title of California’s Poet Laureate (Herrick was appointed in November 2022) comes with the job of poetry readings and other meetings with poetry lovers. But even this library connoisseur…

Comics may have been born in New York, but they came of age in California. And there’s more to the story than San Francisco comix.

MONTEREY COUNTY — Mahi Shah of Salinas, a junior at Notre Dame High School, was selected as the inaugural Monterey County Youth Poet Laureate. Shah will serve a one-year term, participate in several engagements throughout the year and receive a …

The Golden State has masqueraded as everything from the Sahara Desert to the Swiss Alps. But which films best capture the real California?

Starting in the late 1960s, Sand City, population 325, established a reputation as a hub for local artists as a place to both work and live. Though the city is almost entirely concrete and buildings – aside from some dune…

Ashley Stoddard, owner of the Bennett Sculpture Gallery, has experienced the challenges of downtown Carmel parking firsthand. She hosts at least two events for the gallery each year, plus a number of fundraising events for nonprofits. She has heard from…

KING CITY — Monterey County Dance Foundation in partnership with Monterey County Dance Theatre will present “The Sleeping Beauty” ballet this weekend, April 14-16, coinciding with the local dance studio’s 65th anniversary in King City. “We are so happy to …

SALINAS VALLEY — Salinas Valley Health and Healing Together hosted the Monterey County dedication of the Rose River Memorial art project to recognize the impact of Covid-19 and promote community healing. The renowned Los Angeles artist who co-founded the national …

Over 175 years ago, in 1846, English sailor Jack Swan cobbled a house together a little up the hill from the Custom House in Monterey, using pieces of lumber gathered from a shipwreck. A year later he attached an adobe…

The Arts Council for Monterey County shared exciting news on Friday, March 3: The nonprofit's headquarters moved to Monterey, freeing up its Seaside office for conversion into affordable studio spaces for emerging artists.

On Friday, Feb. 17, Salinas-born illustrator Rick Law posted on Twitter that he is “sad to hear that it sounds like Salinas Valley Comic Con in my hometown of Salinas is not to be again.” Law, best known for his…

MONTEREY COUNTY — Arts Council for Monterey County in partnership with Urban Word celebrates local youth poets with the opportunity to serve as the Monterey County Youth Poet Laureate.  Youth poets must submit five original poems for adjudication to determine …

Dennis the Menace is coming home.

Tim Jackson announced today, Jan. 31, that he will be stepping down as the artistic director of Monterey Jazz Festival. A national search to fill his big boots has already begun.

The Arts Council for Monterey County—in partnership with Urban Word, a New York City-headquartered youth program that fosters creative writing, poetry, spoken word, college prep, literature and hip-hop—is launching the Monterey County Youth Poet Laureate program. On Monday, January 23,…

Lakecia Benjamin has been selected as the 2023 Monterey Jazz Festival artist-in-residence. Benjamin, 31, is a jazz, funk, and R&B saxophonist from the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.

From its early days of hard-charging, Jewish immigrant moguls to today's domination by megacorporations, here's how Hollywood continues to hold its place as one of California's most important industries.