San Benito County Local News: Art, Culture & Media

San Benito County students from TK to 12th grade are invited to participate in this year’s Keep San Benito Bonito” Recology Poster Contest! Submissions must be received by March 14, 2025.

“Contemporary Indigenous Voices of California’s South Coast Range” is a unique and thought provoking exhibit coming to San Benito County starting Friday, March 15. The exhibition of rich and colorful portraits by documentary photographer and filmmaker Kirti Bassendine features Indigenous community members from the South Coast Range.

The San Benito County Arts Council along with lead partners, the Arts Council for Monterey County and the Arts Council Santa Cruz County, are excited to announce their selection as one of 36 grantees in a competitive grant program to advance economic resilience, sustainability and growth across the Central Coast.

A photographic exhibition and screening of the documentary film “Contemporary Indigenous Voices of California’s South Coast Range” will be featured on March 15 in San Juan Bautista.

Hollister’s newest—and only—independent bookstore opened Saturday to a large crowd browsing the aisles and buying some of their favorite reading material.

The San Benito Stage Company (SBSC) is hosting a series of rummage sales, selling off merchandise from children’s shoes to mannequin heads and torsos for just a few dollars.

San Benito Stage Company to Premiere First-Ever 24-Hour Play for One Night Only! Theater lovers, brace yourselves for an electrifying and unprecedented event! The San Benito Stage Company is set to push the boundaries of live performance with its first-ever 24-hour play, premiering Saturday, February 22, for one night only.In a bold experiment in creativity and spontaneity, the cast will have just 22 hours to learn their roles, rehearse, and prepare for a fully staged production—all before stepping in front of a live audience.

Former San Benito High School art teacher John Robrock retired in 2018 with several boxes of unclaimed works from former students. In December, he set out on a quest to reunite the pieces with their creators.

Raymond Martinez has lived in San Benito County for only six months. Still, he has already launched his new website, The San Benito Blueprint, which he hopes will help county residents cut through the misinformation and conjecture surrounding city and county planning decisions and projects.

Report for America has selected BenitoLink as a 2025 accelerator newsroom partner. BenitoLink is thrilled to accept the opportunity to participate in this new program, which is designed to bring immediate and long-term solutions to the challenges of funding local news.

Hollister took the first step toward resurrecting its once-popular motorcycle rally in 2025. The City Council unanimously authorized the city manager to negotiate a contract with promoter Roadshows, Inc., to organize the event.

We are thrilled to be kicking off 2025 following our biggest earning Fall Fundraiser ever! Thanks to all of you who donated to BenitoLink, we surpassed our goal and raised $69,756 through our Fall fundraising campaign!

Local nonprofits providing services to residents are benefiting from Anderson Homes’ “Giving Back Starts at Home” promotion this year. The program donates to several organizations, helping them continue to serve San Benito County in 2025. According to the Anderson Homes website, the company donated $11,500 to nonprofits in Hollister, as well as $3,500 to nonprofits in Los Banos. BenitoLink received a $1,000 donation from the promotion.

Christy Sandoval, the first female executive director of El Teatro Campesino, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Latino theater company, has been quietly making history since she assumed the general manager position in 2017.

Hollister High School’s marching band, the Scarlet Regiment, is perhaps the most visible manifestation of the Balers’ music program, having performed at six home football games, six local parades, and five competitions throughout California in 2024.

The story of Nahua peasant Cuauhtlatoatzin, later baptized as “Juan Diego,” who was granted four visions of the Virgin of Guadalupe on a hill in Tepeyac, Mexico, in 1531, has been the subject of many retellings, starting in 1648 with the “Imagen de la Virgen María, Madre de Dios de Guadalupe.”An adaptation of an 18th-century version of the story forms the basis of “La Virgen de Tepeyac,” currently in production at El Teatro Campesino through Dec. 22.

Named Merchant of the Month at Hollister Artisans Mercantile, which has a section with his photographs for sale, Adam Bell continues to build his presence as one of San Benito County’s most active photographers and photojournalists.

When it comes to fundraising, fall is our most crucial time of the year. It sets the stage for our 2025 reporting. We ask our readers to take advantage of matching opportunities to double, and sometimes triple, their donations.

On Nov. 2 Arts Audacity, Hollister Downtown Association and Hollister High School hosted their 2nd annual Dias de los Muertos event.