Reading Buccaneers to receive BAC Pagoda Award during fest; Al Chez to perform

DATE: Monday, April 3
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Reading | 701 Penn St. | Reading, PA 19601

Berks Arts Council will honor Berks County’s championship drum and bugle corps the Reading Buccaneers with the 2017 Pagoda Award for Excellence in the Arts. The Pagoda Award coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Reading Buccaneers and the 30th anniversary of the Buccaneer Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps.

The Awards Ceremony will include a special Berks Jazz Fest performance to honor the “Bucs” with Buccaneers’ alumnus Al Chez performing with his band — The Brothers of Funk Big Band.

Visit the Berks Jazz Fest website for more information about the Buccaneers and Al Chez & The Brothers of Funk Big Band. Tickets $25.

Share your ideas about the future of the Pagoda and Mt. Penn! Take the Mount Penn Preserve online survey

On May 3, 2016, The Pagoda Foundation held an Open House and Forum to discuss the potential of Mount Penn becoming a destination with its restaurants, trail, vistas, outdoor activities and events with the possibility of additional recreation venues. Attendees also had the opportunity to share their support with the forum and discussed future community meetings to be held in support of the Mount Penn Preserve.

The Pagoda Foundation needs YOUR input! Please take the Mount Penn Preserve online survey so your ideas for the future of the Preserve are heard. The deadline to take this brief survey is April 10, 2017!

For more information, please visit the Mount Penn Preserve / Pagoda page of the Berks County website.

DATE: Saturday, March 11
TIME: 10 - 11 a.m.
LOCATION: Berks History Center | 940 Center Ave | Reading. PA 19601


See history come alive with historical reenactments and first-person storytelling of the famous women of Berks County. Light refreshments served at 9:30 a.m. Admission $5 for members, $8 for non-members.

Visit the Berks History Center website for more information.

DATES/TIMES:
Saturday, April 1 // 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday, April 2 // 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
LOCATION: O'Pake Fieldhouse at Kutztown University | Trexler Ave. and Baldy St. | Kutztown, PA 19530.

If you are in Reading for the 2017 Berks Jazz Fest, add this shopping event to your "must do" list. Over 80 craftsmen and fine artists will be displaying their creations. A students gallery, featuring art students from the area colleges, live music by "The Acoustic Road" Show, and a food cafe are some of the offerings. Admission is a $6 donation, with children 12 and under free. Visit the RB Guild website for a $1 off coupon.

Current Berks Arts Council members receive a Buy-One-Get-One-Free ticket offer when they show their valid membership card at the door!

For more information click here.

FRIDAY: Art Plus reception celebrating the art of Alice Gerhart

DATE: Friday, March 10
TIME: 5 - 8 p.m.
LOCATION: Art Plus Gallery | 604 Penn Ave | West Reading, PA 19611

Free and open to the public!

DATE: Friday, March 10
TIME: 8 p.m.
LOCATION: Abraham Lincoln Ballroom | 5th & Washington Sts. | Reading, PA 19601

The Reading Choral Society presents an evening of a cappella music with Street Corner Symphony and Red, Hot & Blue. SCS, a runner up in 2010 season of NBC's The Sing Off, is a six-man a cappella group from Nashville that has performed around the world. RH&B is an a cappella group from Yale University that has won national recognition for its innovative arrangements of jazz standards. Celebrate the harmonious thrill that can be achieved through nothing but the human voice. Tickets: $20 advance/ $10 students/ $25 door.

For tickets and more information, visit the Berks Choir Games website.

DATE: Thursday, March 16
TIMES: 7 & 9 p.m.
LOCATION: South Kitchen and Jazz Parlor | 600 N. Broad St | Philadelphia, PA 19130

Even in his passing, legendary bassist and composer Charles Mingus has inspired more controversy than perhaps any other in jazz.

While pursuing increasing musical complexity like his contemporaries, Mingus simultaneously ran against the grain, reveling in the raw emotion found in jazz’s “simple” ancestors, the blues and gospel. These styles have been called the victory of the subjective over the objective. In other words, how the music makes people feel is far more important than the degree of technical correctness in the musicians’ playing.

Mingus’ defiant adherence to this ideal is ever present in his compositions and has made him a fascination to the generations of jazz musicians that followed. Tickets $25.

Visit the SOUTH website for more information and to purchase tickets.

DATE: Friday, March 17
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Miller Symphony Hall Rodale Community Room | 23 N .6th St. | Allentown, PA 18101

As part of the BERKS JAZZ FEST KICK-OFF PERFORMANCES, Expansions: The Dave Liebman Group will feature music written and played by John Coltrane, celebrating the 90th year of his birth and 50th since his passing. Coltrane's body of work represents a pinnacle of achievement in the 20th century exerting an influence that goes beyond jazz both spiritually and musically. Specifically for Liebman, it was seeing Coltrane live on many occasions in New York City that inspired him to pursue this music.

For more information,visit the Miller Symphony Hall website.

DATE: Sunday, March 19
TIME: 1 - 3 p.m.
LOCATION: Miller Center for the Arts | 4 North 2nd St. | Reading. PA 10601

Join Berks Art Alliance for the opening of it's member exhibition at the Miller Center. In appreciation of Berks Art Alliance's support for the Senior Festival of the the Arts, the Miller Center has offered BAA the opportunity to exhibit from March 19 to April 23. If you are attending a performance at the Miller Center, please come early and enjoy the exhibit. For more information about the Berks Art Alliance, visit their website.

DATE: Wednesday, March 22
TIME: 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Freyberger Gallery @ Penn State Berks | Tulpehocken Road, P.O. Box 7009 | Reading, PA 19610

Regional artists selected by jurors Bob Stickloon and Janice Trusky are exhibiting art beginning March 22, through April 2017. Artists may submit two works of art including painting, printmaking, sculpture.

Known to many as a visionary leader, Dr. Frederick Gaige served as Dean and CEO of Penn State Berks from 1984 - 2001. He transformed the campus into a college with four-year degree programs and residence halls. Gaige was a noted scholar in the field of South Asian studies.

For more information, visit the Freyberger Gallery website.

DATE: Wednesday, March 22
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Building 24 | 1115 Bern Rd. | Wyomissing, PA 19610

On this Berks Jazz Fest Night, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra will let the music speak for itself. That’s the drive behind the 15-woman big band pushing traditional boundaries of jazz and swing to their outermost limits and transcending boundaries of time and style. Led by drummer and music director Dr. Sherrie Maricle — who has kept a brisk pace for the ensemble since it was founded in 1992 — the DIVA Jazz Orchestra has held court everywhere from clubs to Carnegie Hall, dazzled international crowds in Paris, Rome and Berlin, and fired up audiences at Tanglewood and the Montreal Jazz Festival.

For more information, please visit the Berks Jazz Fest website.

DATE: Thursday, March 23
TIME: 5 - 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Freedman Gallery @ Albright College | 13th & Bern Sts. | Reading, PA 19604

Invitational exhibition of regional artists and artisans whose work focuses on food and table related items that will collectively be arranged in an immersive environment with a table setting set for a grand feast. Free and open to the public.

Mark your calendars for the closing reception & auction on Friday, April 21, from 7 to 11 p.m.

Alvernia University's Vintage Voices

DATE: Sunday, March 26
TIME: 4 p.m.
PRESENTED BY: Reading Choral Society

DATE: Sunday, March 26
TIME: 4 - 6 p.m.
PRESENTED BY: Clay on Main

Native American Flute Circle

DATE: Sunday, April 2 (First Sunday of every month)
TIME: 1 - 4 p.m.
PRESENTED BY: Turtle Moon Native American Flute Circle, Reading-Berks

The Messiah

DATE: Sunday, April 2
TIME: 3 p.m.
PRESENTED BY: Reading Symphony Orchestra

Sundays at Stirling

DATE: Sunday, April 2
TIME: 5:30 p.m.
PRESENTED BY: Friends of Chamber Music of Reading

AUDITIONS: Death Defying Acts

DATES:
Sunday, March 26
Monday, March 27
TIME: 7:30 p.m. both days
LOCATION: Christ Church | 5th and Court Sts. | Reading, PA 19601 (Court St. entrance)

Reading Community Players is pleased to announce open auditions for Death Defying Acts, 3 one-act dark comedies by David Mamet, Elaine May and Woody Allen. Directed by Bruce McLean. Cold readings from the script. Character summaries on the RCP website. For more info, call (610) 375-9106.

Calling All Artists!! Abilities in Motion is hosting an Art Show & ADA Awareness event in July featuring artwork of all kinds (jewelry, paintings, weaving, etc.) Artists may sell their artwork if they choose. AIM is seeking artists in all mediums that have any disability. Deadline to register is March 31.

For more information, contact Shelly Houser - Community Coordinator at 610--376-0010 x 142 or SHouser1@AbilitiesInMotion.org.

Digital Submissions - March 21 to June 26 Visit the Berks Art Alliance website to download the 2017 Prospectus with complete instructions for entering. (Note that the last page for preparing tags for accepted work can be filled in and printed from your computer using Adobe Acrobat Reader). BAA members receive a discount; you may join by going to the membership link, printing out a form and mailing your check.