Hi Laura,
Thanks for reaching out!
While you do have the ability to set the initial status submitted events go into (under Events > Settings > Community), there unfortunately isn’t a way to configure the status after events are edited. This could be set up with a customization however. Our themer’s guide has some great info on customizing our plugins, and we also have a list of recommended developers if you’d like to get help with the code.
Regarding emails, I would recommend trying out the Better Notification plugin, which lets you set up custom notifications based on post events.
I hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Jennifer