Have you subscribed yet to our new arts and culture newsletter, The Scene, yet? Each week we round up the best of local events and send it to your inbox on Thursday morning.
We’ll also include Q&As with artists and news and fun tidbits you won’t find anywhere else. Even if you already get our Daily Briefing, you still need to sign up to receive the newsletter. (As always, there are no paywalls, and you can update your preferences at any time.)
Newsletter subscribers will be the first to be in the know, but we’ll also share a list of events on the site. Reach out to us at the-scene@berkeleyside.org if there’s an event you’d like us to highlight. If there’s an event you’d like to promote on our calendar, you can use the self-submission form on our events page.
Around Berkeley
➤ Join naturalist Melissa Fowlks for a strenuous 3.9-mile hike in Tilden. Thursday, May 25. 2 p.m. Tilden Nature Area Environmental Education Center. FREE
➤ Catch SHOH Gallery’s The Wind Walked With Her exhibit before it flies by. The closing reception will be held 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 25.
➤ Attend the opening reception of Kala Art Institute co-founder Archana Horsting’s retrospective exhibition On the Fringe of The Field, A Survey Works 1972-2022. Thursday, May 25. 6 p.m. Kala Art Institute. FREE
➤ Celebrate The Home Between Us, La Peña’s latest art exhibit, exploring the concept of “transformative belonging,” at their opening event, which will include live music, food, performances — plus the unveiling of a new mural. Thursday, May 25. 6:30 p.m. La Peña Cultural Center. $20-$25
➤ Gaelic band Dàimh, known as giants of bagpipe and fiddle playing, will perform at Freight & Salvage. Thursday, May 25. 8 p.m. $11-$26
➤ Berkeley Playhouse’s Becoming Robin Hood, a family-friendly musical comedy about the famous outlaw who tries to redistribute wealth, will run through June. Previews start Friday, May 26. 7 p.m. $30-$49
➤ Linguist Marilyn Vihman, who is known for her research on how babies learn to talk, will be speaking at The Hillside Club. Friday, May 26. 12 p.m. Hillside Club. RSVP required
➤ Watch the debut of Scum in Ecstasy, a video project by Oakland visual and performance artist Xandra Ibarra, at the Berkeley Art Center. Friday, May 26. 6:30 p.m. 21+ recommended due to explicit content. FREE
➤ Catch the tail end of Berkeley Potters Guild’s annual “seconds” sale this month — offering not-quite-perfect ceramics for a reduced price along with new kiln-fired works. Friday-Saturday, May 27-28. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
➤ Head West — an outdoor marketplace of 75 booths of makers, merchants, crafters and designers — is open this Saturday on Fourth Street. Saturday, May 27, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 1717 Fourth St.
➤ Chora Nova will perform its final concert of the season. On the program are two moving works by Johannes Brahms: the famous Ein deutsches Requiem and Begräbnisgesang. Saturday, May 27. 7:30 p.m. First Congregational Church. $10-$30
➤ Stop by ACCI Gallery’s Bold Botanicals indoor and outdoor art exhibit before it withers away. Its last day is Saturday, May 27.
➤ A memorial for Hale Zukas, a visionary of the disability rights movement who died in November, is being held next week on the Ed Roberts campus (and on Zoom). Wednesday, May 31. 4 p.m.
➤ Kwame Alexander, author of the new memoir Why Fathers Cry at Night, will be in conversation with W. Kamau Bell at First Congregational Church of Berkeley in an event hosted by Mrs. Dalloway’s. Wednesday, May 31. 7 p.m. $28
➤ BAMPFA will show the restored F.W. Murnau silent romantic drama Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, with Judith Rosenberg on piano. Thursday, June 1. 7 p.m. $5-$14
➤ Shotgun Players’ Yerma, a lyrical play set in ’30s Southern California that explores infertility and feminism, will run through mid-June. $8-$40
Beyond Berkeley
➤ Noname Book Club’s Oakland chapter will meet at the Oakland Public Library’s 81st Avenue branch to discuss the month’s pick: All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou. Saturday, May 27. 1 p.m.
➤ Universal Chan, a Berkeley-based meditation center, will hold a tea tasting at its Kensington location at 445 Colusa Ave. Saturday, May 27. 2 p.m. $25
➤ Attend a Memorial Day weekend outdoor block party in Old Oakland hosted by Toasted Life, a lifestyle brand that curates social networking events for young professionals of color. Level 13 Ultra Lounge. Saturday, May 27. 2:30-8 p.m. $10-$30
The Oaklandside’s Arts and Community reporter Azucena Rasilla contributed reporting to this story.
