Beyond the online acrimony, Steve Kettmann finds two engaged candidates with a shared love of Santa Cruz—and reasons for optimism about either Ami Chen Mills or Ryan Coonerty as mayor.
Comics who found their voices at DNA’s Blue Lagoon open mic return as headliners for the Santa Cruz Comedy Festival, with all 13 sharing the Kuumbwa stage.
The Santa Cruz Film Festival (SCFF) has been quietly curating not only a diverse celebration of excellent cinema, but also creatively pioneering an entire...
Daniel Stewart’s adventurous Santa Cruz Symphony season pairs classical favorites with world premieres, unexpected collaborations and AI-assisted artwork that extends his vision beyond the concert stage.
Virtual reality pioneer and Santa Cruz resident Jaron Lanier is building custom composing software with AI, seeking greater artistic control as he writes music for pianist Serene and the Santa Cruz Symphony.
Santa Cruz County’s Open Studios returns for its 41st year with more than 350 artists, three October weekends and a new mobile app. Christina Waters explores the studios, preview exhibits and wearable art of I.B. Bayo.
Amber Williams first entered Janus as a 17-year-old mother struggling with addiction. More than two decades later, she leads the Santa Cruz County nonprofit as it celebrates 50 years and prepares for a major expansion in Watsonville.
World Elite Sumo brings its first West Coast tournament to Santa Cruz, with 12 international wrestlers, a new women’s competition and 400-pound Power Slap star Makini “Big Mak” Manu.
Jonathan Franzen looks back on 25 years of The Corrections, the Santa Cruz years that helped unlock the novel, his life with longtime partner and writer Kathy Chetkovich, and the coming Netflix adaptation starring Meryl Streep.
Poet, comedian and filmmaker Joshua Turek has drawn more than a billion views online. Now the Los Angeles transplant is building a new life—and publishing Notes of a New Dad—in Santa Cruz.
