Along with temperate weather, a surf-friendly beach, and nearby state parks for days, San Francisco is also home to a breathtaking diversity of cultural events. Between our fair city’s world-class museums, restaurants, bars, art galleries, music scene, festivals, and clubs, between all that is weird and quirky and purely San Franciscan, there’s something going down, somewhere, every single day of the year. What’s an engaged culture hound to do? First step: Check out our newly launched Flavorpill social discovery engine, where you can create and share events with friends, follow our carefully curated editors’ picks, and connect with other people who have similar interests as you. Below, you’ll find Flavorpill’s top picks for this week. Just a little bit of help as you set out into this beautiful wide world of SF’s happenings.
Monday, April 22
GETAWAY: National Park Week Free Admission The National Park Service’s National Park Week is this week, and from April 22-26, every national park is open to the public free of admission. Maybe it’s time for a getaway? Maybe you’ve been itching to walk the trails of Muir Woods or Point Reyes National Seashore again, or maybe Virgin Islands National Park sounds mighty good. Find a national park close by or far away (you have 401 parks to choose from) and get those walking shoes ready. Springtime in a national park is a-callin’. — Bonnie Chan
Tuesday, April 23
BOOKS: World Book Night What with the rising popularity of tablets and e-readers, printed books may become archival relics sooner than we think — a bittersweet reality for those of us who celebrate reading in all forms but also love the tactile quality of ink on paper. World Book Night, which was launched in Britain in 2011 and made its inaugural appearance in the US last year, is a nationwide effort to give a bear hug to reading, books, and libraries. The night is dedicated to spreading the joy of reading, “person to person” — literally so, by recruiting 25,000 volunteers to each hand out 20 free paperback copies of selected titles. That’s a whole lot of books. This year’s selections include contemporary classics like The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, as well as recent bestsellers like Bossypants by Tina Fey. Happy reading! — Bonnie Chan
Wednesday, April 24
Thursday, April 25
DANCE: David Dorfman Dance: Prophets of Funk Choreographer David Dorfman, recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and of four fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, teams up with Sly & the Family Stone, one of the first racially and gender-integrated bands in American music history, to bring an inclusive funk-tastic performance where you will not only enjoy the presentation, but sing and dance along in the ecstasy of it all. If you love music and dance with all of yourself, this is not a show to be missed. — Joshua Wyatt
Friday, April 26
DANCE: Bay Area Dance Week Kicking off with the synchronized noontime flash mob One Dance in Union Square, prepare to dance across the Bay with some of the best talent around. Bay Area Dance Week showcases hundreds of performers and dozens of styles of dance. Big hits include fire dancing in Union Square on the 27th and aerial dancing on the same day in Berkeley. This is BADW’s 15th year running, so they’ve got the festival down pat. Whether you’re into watching or participating, there’s sure to be an event on the roster for you. — Nora Oppenheim
Saturday, April 27
PARTY: Night Light: Multimedia Garden Party Forget the tea service, peonies, and whitewashed fences; this Saturday for one night only, SOMArts offers a new breed of everyone’s favorite al fresco fête. Billed as a “Multimedia Garden Party,” SOMArts presents its celebration of the myriad modes of expression that make today’s art world so dynamic. The event will see SOMArts’ expansive spaces pulsing with found object instruments, interactive projections, an exoskeleton cocoon, a labyrinth, and waves crashing in slow motion. This futuristic garden party promises an epic experience of the breadth and dynamism in today’s aesthetic landscape. — Joanna Swan
CITY GEM: The 7th Annual Mr. Hyphen 2013
Sunday, April 28
ART: Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day Who says you need expensive lenses and fancy cameras? On Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day each year, photo enthusiasts officially celebrate the existence of the simplest camera possible: a light-proof container with a tiny hole in its side. Stop by RayKo Photo Center or the Children’s Creativity Museum (or Looking Glass Photo in Berkeley) today to get friendly hands-on instruction in making your own pinhole camera and using the darkroom. After you produce your own pinhole image and take it home to frame, you can also share it with the rest of the world by uploading it to the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day website. — Bonnie Chan
Ongoing
FILM: 56th San Francisco International Film Festival In this the age of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, actually getting out of your apartment and Going to See a Movie is practically a special occasion – so you’d best make it count. Fortunately, the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival offers the total cinematic package: 15 days of smarts, heart, and history (the SFIFF is the longest-running film festival in the Americas). Choose from special live events and some 150 films from all over the world, including documentaries, dramas, and shorts directed by indie film darlings and newcomers alike. See you at the movies! — Meg Hurtado