MURAL FESTIVAL AND FUNDRAISER On Saturday Aug. 27, 8 p.m. to 11:55 p.m., La Peña Cultural Center will host the Bay Area Mural Festival (BAMFest 2016) whose purpose is to bring together master muralists and mural groups, and at-risk youth through a series of artist residencies and workshops culminating in the painting of five or more murals along the Berkeley-Oakland border. The theme of the festival will be focused on migration and displacement in the community. During the week of the festival, artists will give lectures and workshops at La Peña Cultural Center. Saturday night’s event includes music provided by Hip Hop for Change, live art, and food and drink for sale. Tickets are $10-$20. La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Information and tickets.
HISTORIC MAP UNVEILING Tonight, Friday Aug. 26, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tilden Regional Park’s Environmental Education Center is holding a dedication for a restored, Depression-era topographical map that helped launch the East Bay Regional Park District. The 12-foot-by-6-foot relief map shows the original vision for the park district, and the accompanying information panels explain how the park district came to be the largest and most unique urban park system in the country. To RSVP for this event: ahaynes@ebparks.orgor (510) 544-2200.
MARGARET OF ANJOU AT LIVE OAK Opening Friday Aug. 26, and running through Sept. 11, is Margaret of Anjou, the fourth show from Those Women Productions who have joined forces with British playwright Lauren Jansen-Parkes and, as the put it, “their favorite Dead White Guy,” William Shakespeare. The play is a high-stakes drama of betrayal, intrigue and medieval power politics, eerily relevant to the present moment in American politics, say the organizers. Those Women Productions stages hidden truths of gender and power. It was founded on International Women’s Day, 2014 by playwright Carol Lashof and theatre director Libby Vega. Libby and Carol met at the Berkeley Public Library and were immediately drawn together by their shared loves of classic literature and of shaking up the patriarchy. Details and tickets.
FREE BYRON RUMFORD FILM SCREENING On Sunday Aug. 28, 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m., the main Berkeley Library is showing the documentary Fair Legislation: The Byron Rumford Story. The film outlines the life and career of one of the most influential Black Americans in California politics — and it’s timely, as Berkeley recently erected a statue in the city in his honor. Former Berkeley resident, pharmacist and California State Representative, Rumford was a civil-rights icon. Among his other accomplishments he created and passed a bill to eliminate unfair housing practices in California and engineered the passage of the 1959 Fair Employment Practices Act. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker, Doug Harris Sr., 2:30-3:30pm. 3rd floor Community Meeting Room of the downtown Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Visit BPL online for details.
PAIUTE STYLE WATER BOTTLE WEAVING CLASS Learn how to weave your own Paiute-style water bottle with Charlie Kennard, long-time basket weaver and teacher, on Sunday Aug. 28 9:30am-3:30pm at the EBRPD’s Botanic Garden in Berkeley. Kennard has taught for MAPOM, Point Reyes Field Institute, East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, and in many schools and at teacher trainings. Participants will practice splitting and trimming willow shoots, then begin weaving a close-twined bottle using whole willow warps and split willow wefts. Historically, these bottles were coated with pine pitch inside and out to make them watertight, or used uncoated as seed containers. A variety of twined willow baskets will be at hand for students to examine. This class is appropriate for adults and teens; beginning and experienced weavers are welcome. Botanic Garden Visitor Center, intersection of Wildcat Canyon Road and South Park Drive. Tickets: $95 members/ $ 105 nonmembers. Details of what to bring, and tickets.
Don’t miss these other events featured on Berkeleyside:
Reeling in the tears at the Starry Plough with Crying Time
Eve Ensler to speak at Uncharted Festival of Ideas
Big Screen Berkeley: ‘The People vs Fritz Bauer
To find out what is going on in Berkeley and nearby, be sure to check out Berkeleyside’s Events Calendar. And submit your own events for free.
