Never miss local events! Sign up for Berkeleyside’s arts and culture newsletter, The Scene. And check out our roundup of affordable things to do anytime in Berkeley.
Around Berkeley
🧪 Scientist Peter H. Gleick, who co-founded the Pacific Institute in 1987, will give a public lecture for UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group about the ties between water, energy, food, climate and security. He will present his vision of a “sustainable future for water” and tell stories of water. Thursday, April 18, 6:30 p.m. 105 Stanley Hall, UC Berkeley. FREE
✡️ In partnership with Congregation Netivot Shalom, Berkeley and KlezCalifornia, Berkeley oud player John Erlich presents “By the Waters of Babylon: Jews and Music in Iraq,” a program exploring the pre-1948 era of Baghdad, when the city’s 90,000-strong Jewish community comprised about a quarter of the Iraqi capital’s population. Thursday, April 18, 7- 8:30 p.m. Netivot Shalom (and livestream). $12
🎸Jazz guitar great Bill Frisell checks into Freight & Salvage for his third four-night residency at the venue, “In My Dreams,” performing solo, duo with vocalist Petra Haden, and trio with Hayward-raised bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston. He will conclude the world premiere of new music for sextet (trio plus strings), all sonically calibrated by Berkeley-reared sound engineer Claudia Engelhardt. Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m. April 18-20, Sunday 7 p.m. April 21. Freight & Salvage. $45-$65
💃 The Mark Morris Dance Group will visit Berkeley and give the world premiere of Morris’ Via Dolorosa, which is set to music by composer Nico Muhly. The company will also perform Socrates, a 2010 repertory work set to French composer Erik Satie’s music. Friday, April 19, to Sunday, April 21. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley. $44+
🤖 Curating AI, a new exhibit merging art and AI at the experimental art gallery 120710 hopes to allow viewers to reflect on “timely debates about training data, bias, ownership and the transference of creativity between digital and physical realms.” Featured artists include Brett Amory, Carl Bass, Claudia Bloom, Luke Dzwonczyk, Ahna Girshick, Elle O Hill, Steve Lomprey, Greg O. Niemeyer and Joel Simon. Their art will be on display April 20 through April 27, but you’ll want to check the website for hours. The gallery is hosting a fundraising dinner on April 19, during which you can preview the artwork and hear from the director, curator and several artists. Friday, April 19, 6 p.m. 120710. $125 (RSVP)
🎶 Built on the core trio of bassist Jeff Cleland, drummer Chris Gamper, and guitarist Jono Kornfeld, the East Bay groove and jazz/funk ensemble Hot Sauce celebrates the release of its debut album Le Tasty. Friday, April 19, 7-10 p.m. Jupiter. FREE
💃 The 3rd annual Asian Culture Festival returns to Civic Center Park Saturday with music, dance, food booths, crafts and more. With dynamic taiko drumming, traditional Nepalese dance, Thai traditional dance, and Gamelan Sekar Jaya’s Angklung and Topeng performances, the festival celebrates the vast range and beauty of Asian culture in Berkeley. Saturday, April 20, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Civic Center Park. FREE
🇮🇩 UC Berkeley’s Department of Music presents an evening of Javanese music and shadow theater by Gamelan Sari Raras, which is co-directed by founders Midiyanto and Ben Brinner and is regarded as one of the leading Javanese music ensembles outside Indonesia. April 20, Saturday, 8 p.m. Hertz Hall. $16
🎷 Tenor saxophonist David Slusser’s Stray Horns septet returns to the California Jazz Conservatory, following up on programs devoted to the music of Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, and Charles Mingus with a night focusing on the ingenious, knotty compositions of Thelonious Monk, featuring a five-horn frontline with ROVA alto saxophonist Steve Adams and trombonist Mara Fox. Saturday, April 20, 8 p.m. California Jazz Conservatory. $25
🎶 Featuring an international menagerie of instruments hailing from West Africa, Cuba, North India, Turkey and Brazil, the Karma Roulette Quartet focuses on music by multi-instrumentalists Michael Smolens and Egberto Gismonti while encompassing poetry and spontaneously generated soundscapes by Smolens, world percussionists John Waller and Michaelle Goerlitz and Michele Walther on violin, five-string electric violin, digital looper and percussion. Saturday, April 20, 8 p.m. The Back Room. $25
🏠 Berkeley Student Cooperative, a nonprofit co-op that offers low-cost housing to Cal students, is hosting a block party to celebrate grassroots organizing and mutual aid in Berkeley. There will be free food, performances and speeches about community care. Sunday, April 21, 12-6 p.m. Rochdale and Fenwick’s Davis Park. FREE
❤️ Marking two years since her passing and the Berkeley City Council’s proclamation of April 24 as Ellie Fidler Day (midway between Earth Day and Arbor Day), Workstation West Berkeley hosts “Hearts Touching Hearts,” an exhibition of Fidler’s work centering on the unveiling of her rediscovered piece Vava Grape (with music by Frank Bohan on the cello-like e-bowed electric guitar). Sunday, April 21, 1-3 p.m. Workstation West Berkeley. Free (through April 30)
🚂 East Bay Regional Parks Naturalist Anthony Fisher is leading a hilly walk intended for hikers 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness and fun. The walk begins at the Tilden Park Steam Train overflow parking lot. Tuesday, April 23, 10 a.m. FREE
🐣 Beloved UC Berkeley peregrine falcon Annie has a new mate, Archie. She’s laid four eggs at the Campanile, and now, after weeks of incubation, they’re set to hatch! BAMPFA will be playing the hatch day live stream on its large outdoor screen, and a team of falcon experts will be on site to share real-time insights about the large, gray and yellow-footed raptors. Wednesday, April 24, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. BAMPFA. FREE
🧱 ACCI Gallery’s latest exhibit, Timeless Terrains, explores two mediums: paint and ceramics. The exhibit is open now through May 19. An artists’ talk with Adriana Diaz and Kathy Kearns will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 27. FREE
🪴Here’s your periodic reminder that many flowers are in bloom at the 34-acre UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley. Established in 1890, the garden features more than 10,000 types of plants, including many rare and endangered species. (There’s also a garden shop where you can buy plants and other garden-related gifts.) Garden open daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Shop open daily, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays. $18
🔥 See the work of more than 200 student artists from Berkeley, Richmond and Skyline high schools at the David Brower Center’s new exhibit, “Burning Questions,” which explores the connections between fire and the environment. (Read our story.) Through May 16. David Brower Center. FREE (RSVP)
Beyond Berkeley
🚇 Bay Area Rapid Transit is holding a retirement ceremony for its legacy space-age trains, which have been carrying Bay Area riders for more than 50 years. You’ll get to ride the old trains one last time (the trains, which head toward Fremont, will leave from Macarthur Station at 1 p.m. Saturday), enter a raffle for legacy car number plates, buy BART merch and eat noodles and halal street food from food vendors. Reminder: BART parking is free on weekends. Saturday, April 20, 12 p.m. MacArthur BART Station Plaza, Oakland.
🎉 Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) kicked off the new season of Friday Nights at OMCA on April 5, and the weekly event will run through the end of October. The family-friendly event features a different roster of performers every week, along with Off the Grid food trucks located on 10th Street between Oak and Fallon streets. You can also bring your own food and buy an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink on-site. Enjoy a dance party by Non Stop Bhangra, called “the best dance party in the Bay Area.” The dance party celebrates the music from Punjab, India. DJ Black will be behind the turntables celebrating educators. Every Friday through October. 5-9 p.m. 1000 Oak Street, Oakland. FREE
🎨 Civic Design Studio, an agency that collaborates with the Oakland Unified School District, E14 Gallery, and Old Oakland Merchants, is teaming up once again for the yearly Creative Expo showcase. The block party features multimedia work from Oakland students, vendors, community collaborators, and 30 local businesses in the neighborhood. Attendees can purchase local art from students and support other vendors. There will also be live music by Kev Choice and DJ D Sharp, the official DJ of the Golden State Warriors. Saturday, April 20, 12-5 p.m. 9th Street and Broadway, Oakland. FREE
If there’s an event you’d like us to consider for this roundup, email us at the-scene@berkeleyside.org. If there’s an event that you’d like to promote on our calendar, you can use the self-submission form on our events page.
The Oaklandside’s Arts and Community reporter Azucena Rasilla contributed reporting to this story.
more to do in berkeley
Affordable things to do in Berkeley any day of the week
From farmers markets to trivia nights, we put together a roundup of events and activities held regularly in Berkeley.
