Summer arts and entertainment come in all sizes, from small-scale, invitation-only experiences in intimate venues to large events shared with hundreds of people. The East Bay offers options in multiple genres: theater, visual art, music, dance, film, comedy, literature and a hybrid category we’re calling “Family/Experiential.” Many programs are free or low-cost and designed for multigenerational audiences and visitors. We’ve selected a venue in each genre that offers an all-summer calendar of shows, along with runner-up choices—indoors and several outdoors that take advantage of the area’s best summer weather.
Music
The Freight is the space to be year-round, but especially in summer months when the roster includes rare stops by artists unavailable during fall/winter tours and a healthy list of shows featuring local musicians. Celebrate Juneteenth and Pride Month with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, get boisterous with Choir! Choir! Choir!, rap with riveting MC Talib Kweli, swing along with Oakland-based T Sisters, find soulful vibes with Hawaii’s Paula Fuga and her band, and more. Workshops, singalongs, storytelling, spoken-word slams, festivals and other events provide generous opportunities to celebrate in the sound of music at downtown Berkeley’s beloved Freight. thefreight.org
Outdoor Choice: The Greek. It’s impossible to imagine a more dramatic outdoor music venue than the 8,500-seat amphitheater on the UC Berkeley campus. The Greek’s architecture is based on the ancient Greek theater of Epidaurus. During the summer, big-name stars fill the air and night skies with the best in jazz, pop, rock, world music and more. thegreektheaterberkeley.com
Visual Art
The Oakland Museum of California in downtown Oakland hits both indoor and outdoor bells all summer long. The “Black Spaces: Reclaim and Remain” exhibition opening in July will occupy the Great Hall. Activities like Friday Nights at OMCA, free First Sundays, gallery talks and tours in the gardens, and spontaneous community gatherings take advantage of outdoor areas on the sprawling campus. Back indoors, be sure to catch “Born of the Bear Dance: Dugan Aguilar’s Photographs of Native California,” before it closes July 13. museumca.org
Runner-up Choice: Plug “East Bay galleries” into any server and go freelance visit whichever establishment tweaks the eye and curiosity. The East Bay Express covers many of them throughout the year, making a swift check of our arts and entertainment archives another route to satisfaction.
Theater
Attending shows at independent East Bay theater companies slammed by recent cuts in federal funding is the best investment a person can make to uphold local theater artists, directors and presenters. The Aurora Theatre Company put the organization on hold for next year, making the final show, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, a poignant title for what may or may not lay ahead for its future. auroratheatre.org
Shotgun Players pirouettes and performs cutting-edge plays throughout the summer, including Blackest Wrench, Neo-Futurists’ one-night-only Juneteenth show that presents 30 plays in 60 minutes. Over at Berkeley Rep, the season caps with Berkeley-born global drag icon, visual artist and author Sasha Velour, starring in The Big Reveal Live Show! berkeleyrep.org
Outdoor Choices: Make immediate plans to see Inferno Theatre’s run of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at Berkeley’s John Hinkel Park Amphitheatre. The show ends June 8. infernotheatre.org.
Extend the pleasure with Woodminster Summer Musicals in Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park. The 2025 series includes Anastasia, Hello Dolly and In the Heights. woodminster.com
Dance
Summer months are the perfect time to leap from watching performances featuring visiting dance companies or local artists to participation. Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Center offers a trove of options, from event workshops featuring salsa, Qawwali, Balkan folk, social dancing and more. Classes get dancers on all levels to plunge into ballet, Argentine tango, capoeira, Pilates, line dances, Zumba and, on Sundays, free expression and free entry dominates during Soul Sanctuary Dance sessions. ashkenaz.com
Outdoor Choices: Summer festivals such as Stern Grove, Fillmore Jazz and Outside Lands invite everyone to groove and move. Movement is the ultimate, universal art form. So whether it’s getting out on the grass/boardwalk/street or performing in a chair or even lying down, remember, everybody can dance.
Film
Grand Lake Theatre wins EBX readers’ “Best Movie Theater” almost every year. Variety names its vintage-style Egyptian and Moorish design as among the 21 coolest movie palaces worldwide. The 99-year-old landmark theater screens first-run Hollywood blockbusters, classics, re-releases, indie films, high-quality 3D and 70mm films, and hosts special events. A vintage Wurlitzer organ adds charm on select showings. Discount Tuesdays ($6) cut the standard ticket price ($13) down enough to allow for the purchase of old-time snacks and sips. renaissancerialto.com
Runner-up Choices: BAMPFA’s summer film series is always spectacular and for free cinema outdoors, check city event listings and the recreation department website for films screened at sunset in parks and gathering spaces in the community.
Literature
For an event mostly outdoors but with special programs at several indoor venues in downtown Berkeley, the 11th annual Bay Area Book Festival on May 31-June 1 is a must-do for lovers of lit. Headliner presentations, a series of democracy dialogues and writers’ workshops bring evocative conversations with thought leaders indoors. The major action outdoors takes place on multiple stages and designated street zones during the two-day festival. Join the children’s book fair during family day, a festive “Bookworm” block party, a robust small press alley, the new Health in Community Row and more. Headliners this year include Viet Thanh Nguyen, Roxane Gay, Judith Butler, Alicia Garza, Prentis Hemphill, Mia Birdsong and others. Unique this year are original songs from Bushwick Book Club Oakland that introduce each headliner program. baybookfest.org
Runner-up Choices: Stretch the inspiration all summer long and support the area’s marvelous local, independent bookstores by purchasing books and attending events. There’s Mrs. Dalloway’s Books; A Great Good Place for Books; Clio’s Books; Books, Inc.; Marcus Books and more. Another idea? Take lit on the road and select a journey-worthy item published by Bay Area-based Chronicle Books. Offering countless books on travel, Chronicle also offers fun activities for when reading is not possible. Visit the website to check out Chronicle’s many puzzles, games, journals and cards, and brighten a summer excursion of any length.
Family/Experiential
Chabot Space & Science Center is a one-stop shop for family fun this summer. The venue plays host to an every-age crowd with First Fridays, Family Nature Adventures, a Sip Series (Hike and Sip; Paint and Sip) for adults 21+, a two-day Bubblefest June 21-22, the five-day Space Week July 30-Aug. 3, free telescope viewings every Friday and Saturday night, and more. Current and new exhibitions and screenings in the Planetarium that reveal the expansiveness of the galaxy in which we live raise science to a platform that can only be called “awesome.” chabotspace.org
Runner-up Choice: Can a person ever have too many bubbles? Probably not, which makes Bubble Planet in the Kaiser Center for the Arts building by Lake Merritt a perfect follow-up to the Chabot. Open now through September, nine rooms invite visitors to frolic in a bubble-ball pit resembling a gigantic bathtub, stomp on ocean creatures to create glowing bubbles, pass through a hall-of-bubblistic mirrors, or don VR goggles and spin in half-bubble glass chairs suspended from the ceiling. All ages are welcome. Children age 2 and under visit free of charge. Children under the age of 17 must be accompanied by an adult. bubble-planet.com
