Because many in-person events across Santa Cruz County have been canceled or postponed during the pandemic, Good Times is compiling a weekly list of virtual events hosted by local nonprofits, artists, fitness instructors and businesses. To submit your virtual event, send an email to ca******@go*******.sc.
ARTS AND MUSIC
CABRILLO MUSIC FESTIVAL The virtual Cabrillo Music Festival runs July 27-Aug. 9. All events are free and accessible on the festival’s website, cabrillomusic.org.
TOM NODDY’S BUBBLE MAGIC Tom has taken his uniquely warm and charming sense of wonder and delight in soap bubbles to audiences around the world. The bubbles are truly exquisite, and Tom’s lively humor and engaging sense of fun leave his audiences both delighted and intrigued. Free all ages library Summer Reading Program: santacruzpl.org/pages/srp. Register online: santacruzpl.libcal.com/event/6741448. Thursday, July 30, 1pm.
GHOST LIGHT THEATER Mountain Community Theater presents a digital festival, “Ghost Light Theater,” named for the safety light that theaters place on the stage between performances. The festival so far has posted five productions, with new ones being added almost every week. They include short plays, monologues, and videos of past productions. Future works will include radio plays, musical performances, behind-the-scenes interviews and panels with theater professionals, and even a participatory writers’ workshop. You can see everything at mctshows.org and on MCT’s YouTube channel. To receive notifications of new productions as they are posted, go to mctshows.org and sign up for the mailing list. We hope to see you again in person in 2021!
SPEED SKETCHING Come with paper and pencil and try your hand at speed sketching: All artistic experience is welcome. Prior to beginning the program, please select an object in your home and place it in view of your computer’s camera, and let’s have fun together and see who can draw the silliest, stylish, true to life, or abstract interpretation of it. Every Tuesday afternoon at 2pm, take a break out of your day for some fun! Register for Zoom at: santacruzpl.libcal.com/event/6780189.
CLASSES
TECH TALKS: NAVIGATING NEWS AND DISINFORMATION The online information ecosystem is polluted and polarized. It seems to be contributing to social demoralization and destabilization. We’ll discuss the primary types of disinformation and share the tools and strategies for critically examining sources of online information. Tech Talks are not your typical computer class. These are hands-on workshops that help us better understand our mobile devices. This event will be taking place online using Zoom. Registrants will receive an email with the Zoom meeting link immediately upon registering for the event. Register online: santacruzpl.libcal.com/event/6813535. Thursday, July 30, 11am.
SEVEN SIMPLE TIPS FOR CREATING YOUR SUCCESSFUL EVENT Join us for a one-hour event to learn seven simple tips for creating, promoting, inviting to, and holding your successful webinar or workshop, in person or online! Tuesday, August 4, at 1pm on Zoom. Learn more: gatherinsantacruz.com.
SALSA SUELTA IN PLACE: Free weekly online session in Cuban-style Salsa Suelta for experienced beginners and up. Contact to get a Zoom link. Thursdays at 7pm. salsagente.com.
COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY RESILIENCE PROJECT: GAINING GROUND FILM DISCUSSION The Santa Cruz Public Libraries continues its monthly discussion series intended to help build resiliency within our community. The next event in the series, Gaining Ground, takes place at 6pm on Thursday, July 30, via Zoom. Register here to participate: santacruzpl.libcal.com/event/6856867. In this event, all are invited to join Michael Watkins and Zach Friend for a discussion about the film Gaining Ground: Building Community on Dudley Street, available on Kanopy, the library’s online video streaming service. It is not necessary to watch the film beforehand but if you’d like to check it out, follow this link: santacruzpl.kanopy.com/video/gaining-ground-building-community-dudley-street. This event is brought to you by The Friends of Santa Cruz Public Libraries.
THE VIRTUAL DICKENS UNIVERSE While the originally planned program focusing on ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Iola Leroy’ will still take place in 2021, this week of online programming will feature a range of conversations that discuss the occasion of the pair and the insights that bringing them together can offer. Over the week, scholars from Victorian studies and early African American studies will discuss linkages between their respective fields, approaches for addressing race and racism in the classroom, and productive ways to engage with Black studies in the 19th century and its transatlantic contexts. We hope that this will generate excitement to read these two novels over the next year and to join us in Santa Cruz for the full Dickens Universe conference. We hope that this week will provide some useful context for these two novels, as we read them together over the next year. In addition to providing some critical background for France E. W. Harper’s career and ‘Iola Leroy,’ it will also help place her alongside Dickens as one of the most important and prolific writers of the nineteenth century. Like Dickens, Harper was a master of many literary genres (including fiction, prose, and poetry), was deeply involved in nineteenth-century print and periodical cultures. She was a virtuoso public speaker and an activist in the anti-slavery, suffrage, temperance, and post-emancipation racial justice movements. Participation is free, but registration is required. ucsc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VI_xnJrWSw6E-CgXK7bMBA.
LUMA BOOK CLUB This is a time of seismic shift, and yet also one of opportunity. Luma Yoga is a community center operating on principles of inclusion, compassion, and, yes, reflection, but make no mistake—also of action. The first step in effective action is gaining knowledge. To this end, Luma is hosting a book club on the topic of racism and social justice issues. The reading groups will be held remotely (for now) over Zoom Thursday nights 7-8:15pm. The purpose of the groups is to learn the endless shapes oppression can take in the world, to recognize our own biases within ourselves, and to move from discomfort to action in support of Black and non-white POC. The groups will be facilitated by Steven Macramalla, a professor of psychology at SJSU. The Club will work on a 3- to 4-week cycle, reading one book per cycle, with several chapters covered each week. For more info visit lumayoga.com. Thursdays at 7pm.
2020 SUMMER LUNCH PROGRAM Children and youth aged 18 and under can get free lunches this summer at 12 sites throughout Santa Cruz County! The annual Summer Lunch program, sponsored by La Manzana Community Resources, a program of Community Bridges, combats food insecurity and supports good nutritional habits. The Summer Lunch program serves lunch Monday through Friday from 12-1pm. Free meals will be provided to all children, without eligibility documentation, who are 18 years of age and younger. For more info visit communitybridges.org/lmcr.
TALES TO TAILS GOES VIRTUAL Tales to Tails goes virtual to create a comfortable, neutral, and fun reading experience. Bring some books, a stuffed animal or your own pet, and come read with us! This is a YouTube livestream event so you might be reading to up to six animals at once. Woo hoo! Caregivers, you can post your child’s first name and city in the comments section, along with the book they are reading, and we’ll read off as many of those names as we can, live, during the break we need to give the dogs. Each week you register we’ll send you your dog bone “punch cards.” These will be dated dog bones your child can color and email to us. The following week, we’ll display them live on the feed. This will also be recorded so if you can’t make it live, the dogs will still be there for you. Every Wednesday, 10-11am. Learn more at santacruzpl.libcal.com/event/6764929.
GROUPS
SUNSET BEACH BOWLS Experience the tranquility, peace and calmness as the ocean waves harmonize with the sound of Crystal Bowls. Every Tuesday at 7:45pm. Moran Lake Park.
VIRTUAL YOUNG ADULT (18-30) TRANSGENDER SUPPORT GROUP A weekly peer support group for young adults aged 18-25 who identify as transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, agender, or any other non-cisgender identity. This is a social group where we meet and chat among ourselves, sharing our experiences and thoughts in a warm, welcoming setting. Our meetings will be held on Discord during the shelter-in-place order. For more info, contact Ezra Bowen at tr***@di*************.org.
LGBTQNBI+ SUPPORT GROUP FOR CORONAVIRUS STRESS This weekly LGBTQNBI+ support group is being offered to help us all deal with stress during the shelter-in-place situation that we are experiencing from the coronavirus. Feel free to bring your lunch and chat together to get support. This group is offered at no cost and will be facilitated by licensed therapists Shane Hill, Ph.D., and Melissa Bernstein, LMFT #52524. Learn how to join the Zoom support group at diversitycenter.org/community-calendar.
OUTDOOR
LABSIDE CHATS: A CONVERSATION WITH A SCIENTIST Tune in for the next Labside Chat with Mark Carr, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz, on Thursday, July 30, at 11am, to explore the structure and dynamics of nearshore marine ecosystems. Join the conversation! Submit your questions in advance for Mark, then watch the conversation to hear the answers during the live chat. Visit the Seymour Center’s website to submit your questions in advance and to access the livestream: seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/learn/ongoing-education/labside-chats. Virtual Labside Chats are offered at no charge. Please support the Seymour Center by becoming a member or making a donation today: seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/get-involved/join.
OWLS ON THE PROWL Local California State Parks in Santa Cruz County are offering virtual junior ranger programs for children ages 7-12 during the Covid-19 pandemic. These fun, free Zoom webinars are scheduled on Mondays and Fridays at 10am each week in July. Children receive a digital stamp for each program they attend; after receiving a certain number of stamps, they can earn prizes! Do you hear owls at night? Who are they hooting at? Swoop in for a bird’s eye look into the incredible world of owls. This interactive program will be broadcast as a Zoom webinar. Registration is required. To register, visit tinyurl.com/SantaCruzJuniorRangers. Free event. Friday, July 31, 10am.
S’MORES AT THE SHORE Join us for a sweet educational campfire as we learn more about the creatures found at Sunset State Beach and play some of our favorite campfire games! Like our Facebook page to receive a notification when this pre-recorded program is premiered: facebook.com/SunsetManresaSB. Viewers will be able to post questions and comments during the premiere for a state park interpreter to answer. The program will also be available for later viewing. Free event. Friday, July 31, 7pm.
NATURALIST NIGHT: SANTA CRUZ HABITATS AND HISTORY Santa Cruz Public Libraries and the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History have partnered to bring you Naturalist Night! Join fellow nature enthusiasts for monthly explorations of the biodiversity of Santa Cruz County. Each month, Marisa Gomez from the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History will share the stories of a specific Santa Cruz habitat as we develop our skills as naturalists. This series will feature a presentation as well as an interactive session. This program occurs monthly on the fourth Tuesday from 6-7 pm. Registration is required for Zoom access link. Your registration confirmation email will have the Zoom link in it. Register online: santacruzpl.libcal.com/event/6857442.
