Santa Cruz County's natural beauty attracts artists in many media, including a large community of ceramic artists, weavers, and other artisans. The Museum of Art and History and local galleries The Vault, Atelier and others feature their work, but during the annual Open Studios you can skip the middleman and buy directly from the artists.

Shakespeare Santa Cruz is one of the country's most-respected Shakespeare Festivals, and on downtown sidewalks, street performers include Thoth, the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary.

Santa Cruzans get verbal, too. Science fiction author Rudy Rucker teaches mathematics at UC Santa Cruz and romance novelist Suzanne Barrett resides in the Santa Cruz Mountains.