Santa Cruz County Art, Culture & Media Digest

A documentary by a UC Santa Cruz alum about endangered coho salmon and their struggle to survive the CZU Lightning Complex fire will air on PBS this Friday.

The collective of local playwrights under the 36 North banner kicks off a series of staged readings of new plays—a chance to interact with a live audience and get a sense of what works and what doesn’t.

Remove by X, housed at the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery, is an exhibition of flyers, newsletters, brochures, and posters archived from UC Santa Cruz’s 1965 inception to 2000. This content chronicles important campus happenings, from anti-war protests to student-run art shows.

With COVID pandemic shutdown woes and costs higher than ever, Santa Cruz’s Jewel Theatre Company announced that the 2023-24 season will be its last, Wallace Baine reports.

Blessed by Beat poet and San Francisco bookseller Lawrence Ferlinghetti, downtown’s Bad Animal—a restaurant and wine bar inside a bookstore—deserves its own attention as an emerging Santa Cruz cultural touchstone.

Actor Pepe Serna is not a household name. Yet he’s appeared in more than 100 films and 300 TV shows—a career chronicled in “Life is Art,” a 2022 documentary featured during the opening event of the Watsonville Film Festival on March 3.

Many know that legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock had a retreat in Scotts Valley. With the city’s new performing arts center providing a worthy setting, locals will celebrate that connection March 10-11.

Kathleen Crocetti and the artists of Community Arts & Empowerment are getting ready for another big public-art project—this time on a parking garage in downtown Santa Cruz.

The 15,000-square-foot building on Panetta Way holds three climate-controlled galleries, a screening room, and event space.

“Bay of Life,” a project from Bonny Doon photographer Frans Lanting and writer Chris Eckstrom, is on display at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History,

After KSCO announced that it was laying off its staff and ending live local programming, Rosemary Chalmers, one of the Santa Cruz radio station’s most high-profile on-air hosts took a deep breath and decided to branch off into a new media entity.

Theodore is smarter than the average bear. But even he has one hell of a time trying to navigate the health care system.

Owner Michael Zwerling is looking for a buyer for KSCO 1080 AM, plus sister station KOMY 1340 and one acre of flat land at 2300 Portola Drive in Santa Cruz, overlooking Corcoran Lagoon.

KSQD's current frequency contour stretches from Santa Cruz to Aptos. The expansion could reach audiences in Watsonville, Hollister, Prunedale, Monterey, Carmel, Salinas and beyond.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom recently joined the California Museum in announcing the 15th class of inductees into the California Hall of Fame. They join 138 Californians previously inducted for embodying the state’s innovative spirit.

Though their diminished numbers hamper local wildfire response, real-life incarcerated firefighters are still on the front lines in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

The 810 frequency on the AM radio dial, where, regional residents tuned in for the news of the day, has begun a new era: coverage of gambling on sports. Station owner Cumulus Media unveiled the new station on Oct. 10, with 810 AM now called “The Spread.”

“They are growing up in such a charged time. This population of kids are so open-minded, but they live in such a closed-minded world,” says one of the teachers who’s an advisor to the Soquel High School Multicultural Club.

The Bay Area’s legendary KGO 810 AM, which found success for decades with its talk-show format, has abruptly ended that programming. “It’s a terrible loss,” said news-talk host John Rothmann, noting that the station has been “the community billboard for everything, whether it has been elections or disasters or the economy or war or peace.”

Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American actress who declined Marlon Brandon’s Oscar in 1973, has died. Littlefeather, who was Apache and Yaqui and born Nov. 14, 1946 in Salinas, died “peacefully at home” in Marin County.

After surviving a divorce from UCSC and then the difficulties caused by the pandemic, Santa Cruz Shakespeare releases its 2023 schedule and plans for improvements to its Grove theater.

Photographer Gina Orlando encouraged nine people—all current or former members of the Downtown Streets Team—to explore their surroundings through point-and-shoot cameras.

Dennis Bartok and Marja Adriance want to open a nonprofit, arthouse film center that would take over for the Nickelodeon Theater in downtown Santa Cruz—or find another venue. But is the price tag too high?

On July 29, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music presents the world premiere of Santa Cruz native Scott Ordway’s multimedia piece on life amid the threats of drought and wildfire.

Lookout Local’s Wallace Baine chronicles how a group of Santa Cruz musical luminaries came together for a photo session to honor concert promoter “Sleepy John” Sandidge on the occasion of his retirement.

At home in San Juan Bautista, where he’s lived for the better part of his life, playwright Luis Valdez is working on his autobiography just after publishing the first book he’s written to describe the philosophy behind El Teatro Campesino.

From July 24 through Aug. 7, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music will celebrate six decades of music with a return to live, in-person performances and a program of new works.

Raymond Evans hosted the first Santa Cruz Juneteenth events 30 years ago. Since then, it has grown from a single event at London Nelson Community Center to this year’s two-day celebrations, planned by a committee of about 10 members.

The London Nelson Community Center provides three helpful tips for teaching kids about the holiday that commemorates the day in 1865 when slaves in Texas finally learned about their freedom.

Gus Trejo of the Jack O’Neill Restaurant & Lounge at the Dream Inn recently launched an Iron Chef-style competition. Families and groups can book slots in the contest, in which teams will vie for the Iron Chef Title.

Santa Cruz’s first Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Festival, organized by the Santa Cruz AAPI Collective, will be hosted at The 418 Project in downtown Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History also provided support for the event.

The Aptos Branch Library has been standing for more than 40 years. That’s about to change as the demolition phase of its reconsruction is set to begin. Completion of the new library is expected in the summer of 2023.