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The West Berkeley Community Print Festival returns on Saturday. Credit: Kala Art Institute
🖼️ The West Berkeley Community Print Festival is back! Chat with local artists selling their artwork, participate in art-making activities such as gelli plate and lego printing with teaching artists from the Kala Art Institute, print on your own t-shirt and/or make your own screenprinted ceramic tile. Saturday, April 11, noon-4 p.m. 2990 San Pablo Ave. FREE (registration required for studio tours)
🐶 Children ages 5 to 12 can sign up for a 20-minute session where they will read aloud to a gentle dog provided by the Alliance of Therapy Dogs, a nonprofit all-volunteer organization. Call 510-981-6250 or visit the North Branch to sign up for a slot. Thursday, April 9, 3:30-4:30 p.m. North Branch Library. FREE
📕 UC Berkeley’s Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies will host a “Homerathon,” where students will read aloud the English translation of “The Odyssey” from start to finish — the way that the poems were initially presented in the ancient times. Friday, April 10, 9 a.m. Faculty Glade (If it rains, location is Archaeological Research Facility). FREE
👩🏽⚕️ Berkeleyans of all ages can meet staff and learn about free programs that provide support with nutrition and breastfeeding, stress reduction, parenting resources and more at a city-run resource fair. Free giveaways at the event include fresh groceries and emergency preparedness supplies. Kids can get their faces painted and play at interactive activity stations. With a live DJ, henna body art, a free meal, and a smoothie bike, there’s something for everybody. Friday, April 10, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. West Berkeley Family Wellness Center. FREE
📚 Examining how artistic practice functions as a site of resistance, refusal and world-making, this panel brings together three widely influential contemporary thinkers working at the intersection of art, race, surveillance, history, and political imagination, with Simone Browne, Cathy Park Hong, and Robin D. G. Kelley, author of the definitive biography of pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. It’s moderated by Professor and ARC affiliate faculty member Ken Ueno. Friday, April 10, 3 p.m. Wu Performance Hall. FREE
🖼️ Bring an art project and your creativity to Blue Willow Tea Spot’s monthly Art Night. If you have art supplies you don’t use anymore, bring some for the communal art box for people who want to borrow materials. Friday, April 10, 6-8 p.m. 1200 Tenth St. FREE (but we recommend buying a drink or pastry to support)
💓 Have a night of love songs and poems with Zack Rogow, who will read from his collection, “The Kama Sutra for Senior Citizens and Other Poems on Aging”; Pamela Rose, who will sing ballads written by great women composers of the American Songbook era; and pianist Sam Rudin. All attendees receive a copy of Zack’s new book, one of Pamela’s CDs and refreshments. Friday, April 10, 7:30 p.m. 1984 Bonita Ave. $30
💌 In honor of National Letter Writing Month, the library will have a letter making station — including an envelope making station, materials to practice calligraphy (bring your own pen if you wish) and crafts for kids. Saturday, April 11, 2-3 p.m. North Branch Library. FREE
🖌️ Join Imasala Collective for gentle yoga, followed by a guided watercolor painting class. No one is turned away for lack of funds; email malikamalikasarah@gmail.com for a free or discounted ticket. Saturday, April 11, 2 p.m. 1714 San Pablo Ave. $50
🎤 A national showcase for everything cringe, shameful and downright embarrassing, Mortified is a Bay Area-based comedy and storytelling event that has found a home at Ashkenaz, where regular folk gather to share self-conscious experiences gleaned from childhood artifacts (journals, letters, poems, lyrics, plays, home movies, art), from first-kisses gone wrong to parents showing up at prom. Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m. Ashkenaz $25-$35
✡️ The City of Berkeley’s 23rd annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, “The Urgency of Testimony in a World of Denial,” featuresAnna Rabkin, a child survivor from Lviv, Poland, and Yiddish song by world-renowned Russian-born vocalist Polina Shepherd recorded specifically for this event. Sunday, April 12, 11 a.m. Online. FREE (with registration)
🌊 A real contender, the Berkeley Historical Society’s new exhibition “On the Waterfront: The Other Side of Berkeley” opens Sunday with a reception and program led byEast Bay Yesterday podcast host Liam O’Donoghue interviewing lead curator Mitch Fleischer. Sunday, April 12, 1:30-4 p.m. Berkeley Historical Society & Museum. FREE
✡️ Berkeley’s Joy of Jewish Music and Dance series presents some of world’s finest musicians for enthusiasts to meet, learn, play, shmooze or simply take in the beauty of these rich diasporic traditions, and this one is taught by Siberian-born, UK-based Yiddish and Russian artist Polina Shepherd, a powerhouse pianist vocalist with a deep repertoire and a four-octave range. Dance will be taught by Bruce Bierman. Sunday, April 12, 2-5 p.m. Congregation Netivot Shalom. $25-$54
🎷 3rd Ear presents an evening of contemporary raga and jazz with fifth-generation Hindustani master Krishna Bhatt on sitar, percussionist Rohan Krishnamurthy, and Berkeley saxophonist George Brooks, who has collaborated with many of the most celebrated musicians in Indian classical music. Sunday, April 12, 7 p.m. The Alembic. $40
🧗 Rock climbers who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color can meet up with fellow BIPOC rock climbers at a meetup hosted by the group “The People’s Climbing Crew.” Monday, April 13, 7 p.m. Berkeley Ironworks. Admission to the meetup is FREE after paying a day pass or membership to enter Ironworks.
📚 More than two decades after Los Angeles experienced its last smog alert, author and professor Ann Carlson shares her new book about one of our era’s great environmental success stories, “Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air.” Monday, April 13, 7 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore. FREE
💬 Join Berkeleyside for a panel conversation next week moderated by our higher education reporter, Felicia Mello, to explore how UC Berkeley is navigating the questions of whether, how and when limits to free speech should apply — and what the future holds for free expression and academic freedom in higher education. Tuesday, April 14, 6 p.m. David Brower Center. $13 (free tickets available)
🎶 The summer solstice might seem a ways off but it’s not too early to sign up for Make Music Day Berkeley, a free, citywide June 21 celebration of music that welcomes students, amateurs, educators, DJs, choirs, music collectives, and working professionals. In order to turn the entire city into a stage the project needs venues and hosts, businesses, organizations, residents, and public-facing spaces that want to open their doors (or sidewalks!) to live music. Sign up by May 21.
🗓️ See more things to do in Oakland and Richmond. And check out our big list of affordable things to do anytime in Berkeley. Sign up for our weekly arts and culture newsletter, The Scene.
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.
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