As executive director of the San Joaquin County Historical Museum, Phillip Merlo understands the importance of cultural narratives. 

Jacob Gutierrez-Montoya founded Sacramento Contemporary Dance Theatre, whose mission is to translate the work of local nonprofits into art.

For three days in May, the floor of the Memorial Auditorium was transformed into a global foodways classroom where one could sample coffee from Honduras, eat a cookie made from Bolivian quinoa and spin an oversized wheel that directed you to pithy sayings by food journalist Michael Pollan.

Sacramento will serve as the site of a prestigious international food conference that could eventually bring thousands of tourists and millions of dollars into the region.

The question “What’s on tap at Music Circus?” could not be more appropriate than it is this year. The 2024 season of the beloved musical theater-in-the-round, a more than 70-year-old Sacramento tradition, kicks off June 11 with “42nd Street,” a vintage favorite and a veritable vehicle for tap dancing.

The general image that comes to mind for most people when describing a film festival are grand events like the Sundance festival in Utah or the Cannes in France, but Sacramento has more than a handful of its own staple events.

The anything-goes medium encompasses all kinds of local practitioners, from storytellers recording in their home offices to laughing exchanges recorded in band rehearsal rooms. 

The alley entrance of a warehouse behind the Broadway Taco Bell on a recent Saturday was a portal to another world. A world of drama, where fans chanted and booed lustily, the air redolent of masculine funk.

Dennis Mangers, who says, “I’ve had eight careers in 83 years,” is known for unimpeachable credibility.

Lial Jones, who is the Mort and Marcy Friedman director and CEO for the museum, announced recently that she’ll retire at the end of this year. In her tenure, she’s overseen the expansion of both Crocker’s collection and the museum itself.