Wednesday, March 16, 4:30pm, online via Zoom

Refill your coffee and join the Lafayette Chamber and the 2022 City of Lafayette Mayor Teresa Gerringer for an online Zoom meeting at 8am on Friday, March 25.

REGISTER HERE for March 25 Zoom link.

Registration is required for each date for that day's Zoom link. Learn more at https://lafayettechamber.org/coffees.

Questions can be sent in advance to holly@lafayettechamber.org.

Recordings will be made available shortly after the event on the Lafayette Chamber's YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/lafayettechamberca.

Demos, raffles, prizes, food, and drinks! Join us in welcoming Sculptology to Lafayette! Saturday, March 26, 10am-12pm in La Fiesta Square, 977 Moraga Road! Register for a reminder HERE >>>

A Friend of the Chamber membership provides a way for community members to support the efforts of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. We are 74 years strong and our mission continues “To promote and maintain a healthy business climate and to preserve and enhance the quality of life in Lafayette.” 

All aspects that make up a community are important to us: schools, residents, churches and synagogues, community organizations, activities, and the city government. Chamber members work with representatives of all these groups for the betterment of our community. A lifetime Friend of the Chamber membership is $150 per family. Learn more here>>

Please consider supporting our arts community. Did you miss our nonprofit email blast? Read it here!

Have an event to share with our community? Add it to our Community Calendar!

Lafayette Community Foundation Excellence Grants Application

The Lafayette Community Foundation (LCF) has extended its Excellence Grants application deadline to April 30, 2022. For more than 20 years, LCF has been giving grants to community nonprofits in the categories of Human Services, Seniors, Youth Development & Education and Arts & Culture. If you are interested in applying for an Excellence Grant, please click HERE. To learn more about LCF and the work it does to support local nonprofits, please visit www.lafayettecf.org.

Join Cal Shakes on Saturday, March 19, 5 pm PST for Here We Go!—a free virtual fundraiser and season launch celebration!

Meet the artists behind our exciting shows, learn about our Artistic Learning education programs, and leave feeling jazzed for a 2022 season that you won’t want to miss! Register here: https://calshakes.org/here-we-go.

Registration is open for Diablo Ballet School's 2022 Summer Program for ages 3 and up. Come train with the only school in the area that is run by a professional ballet company.  We will be offering a three-week intensive for ages 10 - trainee taught by our professional dancers, to enhance training and develop a deeper understanding of ballet and other styles of dance. For our younger dancers, we offer Pre Ballet camps where students will explore the classic story of Cinderella through dance.  In addition, we will be offering a mini-intensive for Levels 1 & 2, technique classes by level and adult ballet classes. All classes will take place at our studio in Pleasant Hill.  Visit our website for additional information: https://diabloballet.org/school/summer-program.

Diablo Regional Arts Association is proud to present the new Headliner Series at the Lesher Center for the Arts and is thrilled to have the wonderful Lafayette Chamber as such a great arts supporter!

UP NEXT: Now a singular presence in the ballet world, the Dance Theatre of Harlem Company tours nationally and internationally, presenting a powerful vision for ballet in the 21st century. The 18-member, multi-ethnic company performs a forward-thinking repertoire that includes treasured classics, neoclassical works by George Balanchine and resident choreographer Robert Garland, as well as innovative contemporary works that use the language of ballet to celebrate Black culture. Through performances, community engagement and arts education, the Company carries forward Dance Theatre of Harlem’s message of empowerment through the arts for all. Two nights only! Performances on Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30 will take place at the Lesher Center for the Arts and begin at 7:30pm. Visit www.draa.org/headliners for information on the complete series.

Multiple shows may be bundled for up to 15% off, but we invite you to use the code CHAMBER for $10 off individual tickets. This code may be redeemed online, in person, or by calling the Lesher Center Ticket Office at (925) 943-7469. Ticket Office hours are Wednesday through Sunday 12pm – 6pm.

The varied and distinct sounds of orchestral instruments will take listeners on a unique and inspiring musical journey when the Diablo Symphony Orchestra presents works by Grofé’, Copeland, Bartók and John Luther Adams on March 13 at 2:00 p.m. at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts. Ferde Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite, Aaron Copeland’s Quiet City, scored for trumpet, English horn and strings, and John Luther Adam’s The Light That Fills the World transport the audience from the sights and sounds of the Grand Canyon, to the atmospheric and mystical depiction of a slumbering urban city, to a transcendent and meditative work inspired by the landscapes of Alaska. During the journey, Matilda Hofman, the DSO’s Music Director and Conductor, shares the podium with guest conductors Kathryn Crandell and Jeff Dickey—each a member of the orchestra’s very own French Horn section! 

Also featured is violist Chuxuejie Zhang, co-winner of the 2019–2020 Yen Liang Young Artist Competition, who joins the orchestra in Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto in A Minor. Highlighting the instrument’s full and rich lower range, this final work by a Hungarian refugee living in New York voices the composer’s feelings about a just-ended world war and his memories of a devastated homeland. 

The orchestra's May 8 concert will celebrate Mother's Day with the Third Symphony of African-American composer Florence Price, a mother herself. The program also includes Dvořák's "Songs My Mother Taught Me", Samuel Barber's "Knoxville Summer of 1915", both sung by Soprano Heidi Moss, and Duke Ellington pieces including "Sophisticated Lady". The concert is being held at 2:00 p.m. at the Lesher Center.

The orchestra is particularly looking forward to celebrating its Diamond Jubilee anniversary during a special 2022-23 season featuring five regular concerts as well as special events and performances by ensembles from the orchestra. The Jubilee year will kick off at the symphony’s Jubilation Gala at Rossmoor’s Event Center on April 30, 2022. Information about the Gala is available on the DSO website. The orchestra will also be performing a special concert on Walnut Creek’s Broadway Plaza on May 29, with music appealing to all ages. The orchestra is also performing Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns at its postponed annual family concert, now being held on June 19 at 2:00 p.m. at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, featuring piano soloists Kirsten West and Julian Fong. A poetry contest is being held at local schools and in local communities at large for poems describing the animals depicted in the various movements of the suite. Visit the DSO website for details and a list of the animals that still need poems. The winning poem for each animal will be read to introduce that animal during the performance.

Tickets for the March 13 and May 8 concerts remaining in the 2021-22 season are available through the Lesher Center Box Office. They can be purchased in person during box office hours, by phone (925-943-7469) or online. The following link takes you directly to the DSO’s ticketing page: https://lesherartscenter.showare.com/?category=86. Questions about the orchestra or its concerts can be sent to the email address info@diablosymphony.org. You can also visit the orchestra’s website at www.diablosymphony.org for information about the orchestra and its musicians, concerts and activities. 

Gold Coast Chamber Players - ¡Caliente!

This concert is hot, hot, hot! Live music is back with the Gold Coast Chamber Players concert ¡Caliente! on Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:30pm at the Don Tatzin Community Hall at the Lafayette Library.

The program for strings, piano, and clarinet offers a sizzling exploration of the dynamic range of leading Spanish composers. Spanish clarinetist and composer Jose Gonzalez Granero, principal clarinetist with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra is featured. Check our website for health and safety information. Tickets $15-45 online or by phone (925) 283-3728. https://www.gccpmusic.com

International Film Showcase 

Our March selection is Oscar finalist from Bhutan: A Yak in the Classroom. It took us over 2 years to get permission to bring this touching film to you. The film opens in Orinda on 3/25/22 and at the Jarvis Conservatory, Napa on 3/26/22

Trailer https://youtu.be/xbeVZtegdP0

Synopsis: A young teacher in modern Bhutan, Ugyen, shirks his duties while planning to go to Australia to become a singer. As a reprimand, his superiors send him to the most remote school in the world, a glacial Himalayan village called Lunana, to complete his service. He finds himself exiled from his Westernized comforts after an arduous 8 day trek just to get there. There he finds no electricity, no textbooks, not even a blackboard. Though poor, the villagers extend a warm welcome to their new teacher, but he faces the daunting task of teaching the village children without any supplies. He wants to quit and go home, but he begins to learn of the hardship in the lives of the beautiful children he teaches, and begins to be transformed through the amazing spiritual strength of the villagers.

For further information and buy tickets please visit our web site at: www.internationalshowcase.org

JPG@theBank on the corner of Moraga Rd. and Mt. Diablo Blvd. is closing March 26th! Only a couple more weekends to stop in and see the art, buy art, and connect with what will has been a history making art gallery and community gathering space in Lafayette.

Closing reception will be held inside and outside the Gallery on Sunday, March 20th, 12-2. Please join us for this farewell event!

Come Together Lafayette to embrace communitarianism* by participating in a citywide community service day on Saturday, June 4. 

Lafayette Community Foundation (LCF), The City of Lafayette and Lafayette Chamber of Commerce are partnering for Lafayette’s first Community Day. This special day includes a morning welcome in Park Plaza and then an opportunity for volunteerism in which community members can sign up in advance for a work party for a select volunteer project. Afterward, everyone is invited to come back together at Park Plaza for a Community Day celebration that includes information about the participating nonprofits, activities, BBQ, a live band and the chance to recognize all those who helped make this new annual event a big success!

Mark your calendars and plan to roll up your sleeves on June 4th. Please visit www.lafayettecf.org for more details as they unfold and email communityday@lafayettecf.org with any initial questions or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities.

Lafayette Library programs are only possible thanks to our generous donors. If you value great storytelling and believe in the power of Library’s to inspire, enrich and change lives, please consider making a gift today.

Your support ensures we can continue to offer meaningful programs throughout the year. Many past events are available to watch anytime on the Lafayette Library YouTube channel.  You’ll be inspired, informed and entertained! http://www.LLLCF.org

Artist Reception Sunday, March 13th, 11 AM - 12:30 PM

Learn more at eclectickingdom.com.

Lamorinda Arts Alliance is pleased to announce our member show “Wellness & Wellbeing” at the John Muir Health Auxiliary Gallery at John Muir Health, Aspen Center, Walnut Creek, April 11 – May 19.

The Aspen Center Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 7am-6pm, and alternate Saturdays with shortened hours. Please check with the Aspen Surgery Center’s reception desk at (925) 937-8100 if visiting on a Saturday.

Participating Artists: Dalia Alekna, Dana Beebe, Arlynn Bloom, Mindy Bush, Kelley Dean-Crowley, Carla Gelbaum, Karen Giorgianni, Gene Gracey, Jennifer Granat, Fiona Hughes, Melchia Kutches, Dave Manousos, Anne Morrison Rabe, Irene Needoba, Paula Oesterling, Chelsea Pickslay, Mark Robinson, Adrienne Rogers, Marian Sims Harris, Charlene Steen, Nancy Vachani, Elizabeth Verigin

Lamorinda Arts Alliance website: https://laa4art.org

19^th High School Visual Arts Competition

The High School Visual Arts Competition’s (HSVAC) 230 entries are on display in the Art Gallery at the Orinda Library. Cash awards and merit citations were presented at their awards ceremony on Thurs., March 10 from 7:30 -9:00 p.m. The exhibit is both in-person and online; the online exhibit can be accessed on the LAC website through April 2023. Hosted by the Lamorinda Arts Council, the event is sponsored by Lamorinda Arts Alliance, the Bentley School, and the Campolindo Parents Club. For information, visit www.lamorindaarts.org/vac. Questions? Call 925.359.4490.

The Lamorinda Arts Council features San Ramon artist Bill Carmel at Wilder for the month of March. He is showing work from public art projects done with community partners engaged in making collaborative artwork. The “Veil Tapestry” asks people to paint sacred words on a large traveling canvas. The pieces entitled “Festival Wheelies” were done with Danville artist John Barry, creator of the trAction painting process. The work was painted during the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival by dipping Barry’s rollerblades in paint, then making lines and marks on canvas. For more information visit www.lamorindaarts.org/current-exhibits-wilder/. In-person viewings can be arranged by emailing Curator Aniston Breslin at wildergallery@lamorindaarts.org.

The Lamorinda Arts Council presents ceramics by Brad Krebs, paintings by Joseph Loria and Silvia Villanueva Mallon and turned wood by members of the Bay Area Woodturners Association during April in the Art Gallery at the Orinda Library. Meet the artists at a reception in their honor on Saturday April 9 from 3 to 5:00 p.m. where light refreshments will be served.

 

About 60 choral students and musicians from Miramonte High School in Orinda will perform in St. Mary’s Chapel on Wednesday April 20 from 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. The three choirs at Miramonte will perform individually and as a mass choir. Listen for solo and special ensemble performances as well. The concert is free.

 

The featured artist in the solo Wilder Gallery in April is painter Matthew Felix Sun. Meet the artist at a reception in his honor on Sunday, April 3 from 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. where light refreshments will be served. View his virtual gallery at http://www.lamorindaarts.org/online-galleries and a video preview of his show at https://youtu.be/M1iNAyeEKZ0. The exhibit is about Sun’s ideas and experiences while living through the pandemic. This surely is a topic many people can relate to. It runs April 2 – 30. In-person viewings can be arranged by emailing Curator Aniston Breslin at wildergallery@lamorindaarts.org.

Join Lamorinda Arts Council co-chairs Elana O’Loskey and Sue Farmer for a return to live Art Embraces Words programs at the Lafayette Library & Learning Center, Saturday April 23 from 2 to 4 p.m. Emerging writers will read from their work surrounded by original artwork from local artists. Call for emerging writers and original artwork – please apply at https://lamorindaarts.org/art-embraces-words. 

The Moraga Gallery invites the public to free celebration of "Singularities," an extraordinarily colorful feast of art to please the eye and nourish the soul. Save the date: Saturday, March 19th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. The exhibit is packed with visual delights by twenty-five member and guest artists led by Orinda’s Linh Kang and Walnut Creek's Susan Erickson. Add to that a collection of bowls and jewelry made of colorful vegetable and fruit parchment by Margaret Dorfman, and an array of impressionistic photographs of cacti, waves, kelp, and other of nature's wonders by Anita Rama.

During the reception wine and light snacks will be served along with a large measure of hospitality and a return engagement of the popular Fretful String Band, whose repertoire of original songs, blues, folk, country, Motown and rhythmic Americana has kept feet tapping for almost a decade.  The gallery, located at 432 Center Street in Moraga's Rheem Shopping Center, is open Wednesday through Sunday from 12 noon to 5:00 pm. For more information, visit www.moragaartgallery.com, or call 925-376-5407. 

Synopsis: It’s 1948 and sixty-three year-old OUT OF AFRICA author Karen Blixen (pen name: Isak Dinesen) is a lonely literary sensation devastated by syphilis and mourning her lost love, until she meets talented thirty year-old poet Thorkild Bj rnvig. She offers him a Faustian bargain and promises him stardom if he will obey her unconditionally. As her demands become more and more pernicious, Thorkild much choose between Blixen’s promise of fame or his wife and young son. From director Bille August (PELLE THE CONQUEROR) comes this sterling adaptation of Bj rnvig’s bestselling memoir. Director: Bille August. Non-rated, from Denmark, 2021, 115 min. In Danish with English subtitles. TRAILER

Free for Mountain Shadow members. To purchase a general admission ticket, see the website: http://mountainshadow.org or simply call: 925-787-6965

Explore Paris, Berkeley, cultural astronomy, great music, great films, great leadership (many greats), resistance poetry and more — fascinating and enlightening courses tailor-made for the 50+ learner. You must be an OLLI member to register. We'd love to have you join us online, in person in downtown Berkeley, or both! Learn more and sign up.

Do you or a friend or family member have an unwanted car taking up space? The Park Theater Trust (TPTT), an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to renovate and re-open Lafayette's beloved Park Theater, is joining forces with Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary’s top-notch vehicle donation program, Cars2ndChance. 

Few vehicle donation programs in the U.S. maintain such a low overhead and that means more of your donation goes to lighting up the Park! Cars2ndChance accepts vehicles of all types, in any condition, running or not. Simply visit https://cars2ndchance.com/park-theater/ to fill out the donor form and they will handle all the arrangements, including pick up or towing, at no cost to you. Your tax-deductible donation will specifically benefit the renovation of one of the East Bay’s most iconic cinemas, which hopes to reopen by Holiday 2023.

After raising $3 million of its $8 million capital campaign, TPTT acquired the Park Theater property in December 2021. The push is now on for the $5 million necessary for the renovation of this single-screen cinema into a vibrant venue offering two screens, a community space, commercial kitchen, and rooftop terrace, which will all also be available for rentals. This is a one-time need as once the renovation is complete, TPTT’s for-profit operator, highly regarded CinemaSF, will pay rent directly into a fund to cover future care of the property. Please visit https://www.parktheatertrust.org for more information.

Power & Purpose: Reflections from the African Art Collection, on view through June 19, 2022, features African art from the college's permanent collection. Redirecting narrative to the descendants impacted by the African Diaspora, Power & Purpose responds to the objects' histories and how this informs living identities. This exhibition is guest curated by Kathy Littles, Ph.D., with reflections by SMC recent alumnae. 

Join the SMC Museum of Art for an afternoon dialogue Saturday, March 19 at 2:30 p.m. exploring African art and the objects in Power & Purpose: Reflections on the African Art Collection. Panelists include alumnae Briana Swain, Enobong Akan-Etuk, and Tammy Appling-Cabading. This event will be hybrid via Zoom and in-person at the Museum of Art. Learn more here: https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/what-it-means-to-be-in-power-0

Stock, on view through May 8, features work by SMC professor and artist Andrew Mount. Stock invites visitors to pause and reflect upon the empirical structures and encoded meanings through participation and social engagement

The exhibitions are on view Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to all programs and events are free. More information can be found at www.stmarys-ca.edu/museum.

Sustainable Lafayette and Stanley Middle School’s Project Earth team up for first movie screening at Town Hall Theatre in over two years. The film, “Idle Threat”, follows its director/producer George Pakenham as he brings the attention of New York motorists to the dangers caused to the environment by idling cars. Following the film Project Earth will lead a youth panel to discuss the film and ways we can combat the effects of vehicle exhaust on a local level.

George Pakenham’s film premiered at the 13^th Woodstock Film Festival in 2012 and has been screened around this country ever since. In the film Pakenham, who has been called a “Verdant Vigilante”, captures his crusade to confront drivers around New York City and make them aware that their idling vehicles – cars, buses, trucks – all contribute to inflated gas prices and illnesses like asthma.

Tickets available at https://www.townhalltheatre.com.

Three Thirty Three Arts is now fundraising for a large community volunteer participation mural painting activity scheduled for June 2022 in Concord at Todos Santos Plaza.

Three Thirty Three Arts is in need of a lumber donor for a few thousand dollars worth of materials so we can build temporary structures and invite amateur/emerging artists of all ages from Contra Costa County to participate. Once the mural structures are completed (8' x 8'), we will donate them to various non-profit orgs in and around Concord.

Three Thirty Three Arts is going to handle all of the community activation for Local Edition Creative placemaking programming. Learn more at creativeconcordca.com and www.333arts.org.

Saturday March 12th at 11:00am (FREE) "Idle Threat" Movie Screening presented by Sustainable Lafayette and Stanley Middle School's Project Earth 

Monday March 14th at 7:30pm ($15 pre-sale, $20 at-door) "Faeries or Out the Other Side" Staged Reading written by Colette Gunn-Graffy and Jasmine Woods. Directed by Claire Ganem

Friday March 25th at 8:00pm ($30 pre-sale, $35 at-door) Pan Theatre Improv Comedy Show

April 1, 2 & 8, 9  ($25 pre sale/at the door) “amémonos // let us love each other” written by linda maria girón. Directed by karina gutiérrez  

TICKETS at

https://www.townhalltheatre.com

Spring Break Camps -- half-day and full-day -- April 4 to 8. The camps are for 2nd to 5th Grade, 6th to 9th Grade, and 9th to 12th. They're perfect for students who want an intro theatre or looking to expand their skills.  

Half-day camps are $75, full-day are $150. Students who enroll in 3 or more days get a 10% discount, or enroll for the whole five days and get a 20% discount. As always, thanks to the Correll Family Tuition Assistance Fund no student is turned away for financial reasons. Find out more information at https://www.townhalltheatre.com/sbc-2022.

For more information please visit art_room_by_chari on Instagram or call 510.381.4634.

Dinart is all about finding joy in creativity and all the good energy that we need to carry with us everyday and everywhere we go. To fulfill this goal I came up with the idea to transform my watercolor painting to different types of custom wearable arts. My hand-crafted art pieces can be seen at www.etsy.com/shop/dinartgift and din-art.com. Currently, my handmade painting jewelry is available online and is also sold exclusively at a local high-end boutique in Oakland, CA. Every collection has a name which is inspired by my personal journey such as Self Love, Harmony, Courage, Wisdom, Hope, ....

Currently, we are offering a 15% discount on my Esty site! https://www.etsy.com/shop/DINARTGIFT. The promo code is love15.

To learn more about me and my art, please refer to the above links. I was recently highlighted in the Lamorinda Weekly & Rossmoor News.  

Enumero Cribbage Boards are hand crafted in small batches using beautiful, warm hardwoods and richly colored inlay. Each and every board is unique in its appearance, name, and the series (or batch) it belongs to.

Cribbage and cutting boards have been recently re-photographed to show the exquisite detail. View etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/enumerocribbageboard.

I currently reside in Moraga CA. My website is www.metzgallery.com and Instagram @jaweedmetz and email metz@metzgallery.com.

If you like California land you will like my work! I paint the joy I see in our landscapes. Most of my work is done on location within 60 miles of Lamorinda. I paint Napa, the Bay, small farms, orchards, and trees that I fall in love with. Teresa Onoda, www.onodaart.com.

Prints of my work are also available on www.fineartamerica.com (search Tom Taneyhill).

EMAIL tom@taneyhill.com

FACEBOOK @taneyhillart

INSTAGRAM @taneyhillart

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