Santa Cruz County Art, Culture & Media Digest

San Lorenzo Valley High School student Finn Maxwell has been named as the next Santa Cruz County youth poet laureate.

Local artists will be opening their studios to visitors for the upcoming San Lorenzo Valley Art Tour this May 17 and 18.

Santa Cruz Dance Week stepped out in style and took over parts of downtown Santa Cruz on April 17.

The 4th annual Live Oak Jack Rabbit fundraiser for local arts programs featuring a series of foot races and relays will be held at the Shoreline Middle School on April 26.

"From Labs to Lives" is a new website and video series launched by UC Davis highlighting the impact of research funded by the federal government. Read on for details.

Read on to learn how to submit your art for the 2025 Watsonville Strawberry Festival art contest.

Mark your calendars and plan to attend the Surf City Comic Con at the Capitola Mall on April 5. Read on for details.

The second annual Santa Cruz County STEAM Expo was held on March 8 at the county fairgrounds and featured the experiments, works and exhibits of nearly 200 local students. Read on to learn more.

Read on to learn more about the upcoming March 15 celebration of the founding of KSQD six years ago.

Read on to learn more about the 13th Annual Watsonville Film Festival coming to theaters throughout the county in March.

In the January 28 meeting of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, Nancy Miller Gomez was announced as the official 2025-2026 Poet Laureate for Santa Cruz County. Read on to learn more.

Read on for more information about Oscar nominee and Santa Cruz native Nick Gordon.

Read on to learn more about Grammy-winning jazz pianist and Santa Cruz native Pascal Le Boeuf.

Read on to learn more about the documentary ‘Beyond the Bridge’ about how American cities are responding to homelessness, playing on February 13 at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.

Read on for information about how Kuumbwa Jazz is planning to celebrate its 50th birthday.

Meet Ginger Shulick Porcella, the new xecutive director at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.

Learn more about curator, now excecutive director, Ginger Shulick Porcella of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.

Plan to attend the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Cabrillo College's Porter Gulch Review literary journal on December 9. Read on to learn more.

An introduction to Laura Henkel and Ginger Shulick Porcella, the two candidates under consideration to lead the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.

A look at UCSC student led radio station KZSC as it enters its 50th year.

Watsonville celebrates the completion of the five years in the making of the massive Watsonville Brillante public art project.

Once home to the Jewel Theatre, the Bud Colligan Theater in the Tannery is now hosting performance by All About Theater.

Proposals are being sought for a mural up to seven stories high for a new building in downtown Santa Cruz.

Writers of Color Santa Cruz County are holding a reading of the poetry of 17 local poets at the Museum of Art and History on October 10.

Volunteers came together to build a site-specific art work under the direction of a father and son team of artists on Cowell Beach.

Pajaro Valley Arts has a new executive director and is ready to embark on fundraising to renovate and upgrade the site of its new headquarters in downtown Watsonville.

A look at a local National Night Out celebration in Scotts Valley on August 6 and an explanation of the annual nationwide event.

Public comment is being solicited on mural designs for the Ramsay Park Nature Center in Watsonville.

Originally held in 1961 to celebrate the defeat of a planned cement plant in Aptos, the parade was moved to July 4 and this year featured a marching band, politicians and sports teams and ... Darth Vader?

Season 11 will be the biggest yet, with two plays by William Shakespeare and two by other authors.

Watsonville is seeking proposals from qualified consultants by June 14 as it begins drafting its first Public Art Master Plan.

The board of the Museum of Art and History is beginning the search for a new executive director as current director Robb Woulfe announced his departure.