Welcoming Lookout's New Executive Editor

Introducing New Executive Editor Dan Evans and Partnerships with CineLux, Santa Cruz Community Credit Union, METRO, and Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County

Lookout Readers: Midsummer greetings! It’s nice to see many of you out and about, and enjoying Santa Cruz summer.

At Lookout, we’ve been feverishly busy as we match up our work with the next normal. And, here, we want to share some of our own news with you, our loyal members and readers. (And if you’re a reader, but not yet a member, today is a great day to become one, as you see what we have planned for the next several months. Just click here to become a Lookout member.)

First off, as we move forward with our expanded news and arts, entertainment and cultural coverage, we’re pleased to announce Dan Evans as our new Executive Editor. Evans brings both deep and wide community news experience to Lookout, having headed up key community news sections for the Los Angeles Times. Most recently, he’s served as a professor at Florida International University in Miami. There, he taught a next generation of diverse students digital-first publication as well as advanced and multimedia reporting.

Dan is the right newsroom leader for Lookout, as we approach this second year of publishing. He knows and cares deeply about local, community news, and can’t wait to start meeting people in our community. Dan, a native of San Diego, attended UCSC in the 1990s before completing his undergraduate degree at Berkeley. After working at the San Francisco Examiner, he received his master’s in journalism at Columbia University.

"Santa Cruz is an incredibly special place for me and I have long known the pride people have for and about their community," he says. "I am very much looking forward to meeting people from across the County and helping to reignite local news. After all, the personalities and issues here affect residents far more directly than anything happening in Sacramento or Washington, DC."

Evans joins us formally on Aug. 2 and will head a newsroom of 11, when fully staffed this fall.

You’re also seeing a newer byline in Lookout. Grace Stetson, who has contributed to Lookout, joins us as a correspondent, beginning this week. A Sunnyvale native experienced in covering the diverse issues of affordability and homelessness, among numerous others. If you missed her piece on her own Santa Cruz affordability adventures, check it out. Already, she’s received about two dozen replies from those of you sharing your own experience, and she is looking for more. Grace will work closely with business correspondent Neil Strebig, who joined Lookout earlier this summer, on affordability, equity and related matters. And, look — soon — for our new Places section. Featuring an interactive real estate guide, timely market reports, and news, Places is set to be your look into the local housing market.

Just now two weeks old, we’re glad to get the great feedback as we launched our BOLO arts and entertainment calendar and guide, providing Santa Cruz County with its first completely searchable and browsable service for all there is to do throughout the area. We thank Santa Cruz Community Credit Union, our launch sponsor for BOLO, and this week welcome, CineLux Theatres, with its theaters in Capitola and Scotts Valley, which has joined as a BOLO presenting sponsor.

"We’ve appreciated what Lookout has done for local news in Santa Cruz," Paul Gunsky, owner of locally owned CineLux Theatres, told us.. "And with our theaters reopening and many highly anticipated films now arriving in the market, we see BOLO as the way many Santa Cruzans will decide what they want to do, and we’re glad to be part of it."

Both CineLux and Santa Cruz Community Credit Union also participate in another new Lookout community partnership, one with Santa Cruz METRO. Soon, rolling across the County, Lookout’s BOLO will be featured in METRO’s bus side ad program, as previewed in the wavy banner, above. "As BOLO shows everyone all the things we can now do again, METRO can take them there. We look forward to working together," shared Danielle Glagola, Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO)’s Director of Marketing, Communications & Customer Service.

In total, Lookout now works with 18 Marketing Partners throughout the County.

Finally, we’re proud to announce our latest Civic Partner, the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County. Beginning in August, new Lookout members can choose the Volunteer Center to receive 10% of their membership price while signing up on Lookout’s website.

Alex Sibille, who has led all of Civic Partner work since our inception, has big plans for even greater community betterment work with all our Civic Partners — Coastal Watershed Council, Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, DigitalNEST and Second Harvest — as we look to a booming 2022. Yes, it is almost here.

Please stay in touch and let me know any feedback and ideas on improving Lookout.

Ken Doctor,
CEO and Founder

For more information:

Put your arts, entertainment and cultural listings on BOLO: We invite event organizers and promoters, as well as venue operators, to submit events. You can do so by clicking on the "Promote Your Event" link at the top of the BOLO events page, and by writing to us at bolo@lookoutlocal.com.

Inquire about BOLO sponsorship or event paid promotion: Please contact Ashley Holmes, ashley@lookoutlocal.com

For more information, interviews or sponsorship information, please contact:

Ashley Holmes, Director of Sales and Marketing: ashley@lookoutlocal.com
Alex Sibille, Director of Community Partnerships: alex@lookoutlocal.com
Dan Evans, Executive Editor: dan@lookoutlocal.com
Ken Doctor, CEO: ken@lookoutlocal.com
Grace Stetson, Correspondent: grace@lookoutlocal.com
Neil Strebig, Correspondent: neil@lookoutlocal.com

On BOLO: All inquiries about BOLO are welcome. We further invite event organizers and promoters, as well as venue operators, to submit events. You can do so by clicking on the "Promote Your Event" link at the top of the BOLO events page, and by writing to us at bolo@lookoutlocal.com