Santa Clara County Art, Culture & Media Articles

In ‘Ripe,’ Silicon Valley is plentiful, though certainly not with heart’s delights

Downtown murals to be unveiled 6th Street Studios and Art Center, MANOS and the Gilroy Foundation will unveil two murals on Aug. 18 that were completed during a Youth Mentorship program early this summer. The murals, located on Railroad Alley …

The Santa Clara County Library District (SCCLD) and the County of Santa Clara, in partnership with SVCreates and Poetry Center San José, announced a call for 2024-2025 Santa Clara County Poet Laureate applications. The Poet Laureate is an honorary post …

A mere few days before TheatreWorks Silicon Valley would launch their 20th New Works Festival, a dire announcement was released about the institution’s multi-million-dollar campaign to keep their doors open. “[August 9] TheatreWorks announced it must raise $3 million by …

For its 20th anniversary season, Pintello Comedy Theater is digging deep into its archives of more than 80 shows to bring back its audience favorites from over the years. “Pumpboys and Dinettes,” which got all ages laughing and rocking to …

On a quiet day in 1990, Bruce Labadie, veteran booker of the Mountain Winery, and the late Sammy Cohen, drummer, Metro columnist and union leader, walked together on a break from their shared fundraising work. By the time they were …

Cries of “Union power!” rang out across Winchester Boulevard, July 20, in the 91-degree Fahrenheit heat, as the actors' strike arrived in Los Gatos, with Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) members picketing in …

Last November, Taylor Swift fans girded themselves to do battle with Ticketmaster for tickets to see her Eras tour. But none of them expected it to be quite as bloody a battle as it proved to be. Typically, for popular …

Those old microfilm machines in the main library might get a little lonelier from now on. Thanks to a generous donation from an old-school San Jose family, anyone with a San Jose Public Library Card can now freely rifle through …

The 40th San Jose Fountain Blues & Brews Festival erupts this Saturday in Plaza de Cesar Chavez, triggering the stories to emerge from every direction. Over the years, the Blues Festival has evolved quite a bit from its initial incarnations …

The San Jose area has a serendipitous but unlikely relationship with the blues, the musical genre rooted in the Deep South’s cotton fields and rice and sugar plantations that birthed the last half century’s dominant popular music, rock & roll. …

More than 800 significantly sized music festivals happen each summer in America. According to Billboard, 32 million people attend one or more each summer, and festival amenities have improved since the days when Hells Angels guarded stages and attendees peed …

Morgan Hill began its month-long celebration of June as Pride Month at the June 1 Pridefest, which was held at the City Hall campus to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community.  The June 1 event featured speakers, entertainment, advocacy and education. The …

At Santa Clara University, I scan the campus grounds for what a friend describes via text as “a little faux telephone booth.” The wind telephone is a death-themed art installation. Inside the closet-like structure, there’s an antique rotary phone in …

Day on the Ridge returned to a Gilroy family’s home Sunday, featuring a full day’s lineup of live bands, raising more than $150,000 for a local nonprofit and bringing together hundreds of locals and visitors in the spirit of charity …

Each year, on the last weekend of May, the streets of downtown San Jose bloom into a rainbow of wigs, petticoats and full-body makeup. FanimeCon has sprung, and everyone’s feeling genki. With photo-ops, pre-games and afterparties, the mood is a …

While Morgan Hill residents and enthusiasts of public, family-friendly outdoor events may be growing weary of the recent uncertainties surrounding formerly annual gatherings, organizers of one of the city’s most popular celebrations vow to proceed as normal this summer. And …

City officials are under a tight deadline to improve the alleyways in a section of downtown to avoid losing a $3.9 million grant Gilroy received from the state in 2022. The Gilroy City Council received an update May 15 on …

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.

The vibrant multigenerational family event known as the SoFA Street Fair erupted yet again last Sunday, bringing music fans of all ages to downtown San Jose. Since I am a big fan of history, a quote from historian David McCullough …