A s we regain access to a favorite overlook, don’t overlook important film screenings, beers bubbling in miniature mugs and a locally favored team vying for a national championship.
Monday, April 1 – April Fools’ Day
As of today, many non-foolish New Haveners will be taking advantage of the drive to the summit of East Rock Park, where a sloping recreational expanse and an expansive view of the city await. Snaking its way up from the park’s North Meadow (near the intersection of Davis Street and Farnam Drive), the driveway, pictured very partially above, opens for the season at 10 a.m., admitting vehicles until sunset as it’ll do through November 15.
sponsored by
Tuesday, April 2
The Yale Salsa Student Society’s next public salsa lesson happens inside Harkness Ballroom (367 Cedar St, New Haven) at 9 p.m. Geared toward beginners and intermediates and followed by an open practice, “no experience or partner [is] required,” and a $10 donation is suggested.
Wednesday, April 3
The four-day 2019 Environmental Film Festival at Yale, a.k.a. EFFY, opens at 7 p.m. with a double feature in Kroon Hall (195 Prospect St, New Haven). First-billed is Blue Heart (2018), which follows activists on the Balkan Peninsula as they attempt to save “the last wild rivers in Europe” from “a deluge of hydropower development” that’s almost as out of date as it is destructive. Rounding out the screening is Grit (2018), which centers around one young survivor’s search for justice after “international drilling company Lapindo carelessly unleashed an unstoppable toxic mudflow” that buried “dozens of nearby villages and displac[ed] tens of thousands of Indonesians…” Free.
Thursday, April 4
The latest BrewOn9 event, “a beer crawl featuring beer sips, food tastings and other activities throughout the Ninth Square Neighborhood,” runs from 6 to 8 p.m. $15 advance tickets get you a “crawl map [and] custom BrewOn9 mini tasting mug,” which you can pick up at Baobab Tree Studios (71 Orange St, New Haven) before heading off to any of 15 participating stops.
sponsored by
Friday, April 5
From 4 to 6 p.m., the Yale Center for British Art (1080 Chapel St, New Haven; 203-432-2800) hosts an opening reception for Art in Focus: Blue, which pulls from the Center’s collections to examine “various facets of blue from artistic, historical, cultural, and material perspectives.” Art in Focus, by the way, is an “annual initiative for members of the Center’s Student Guide Program, providing Yale undergraduates with curatorial experience and an introduction to all aspects of exhibition practice.”
Speaking of precocious college students, the UConn women’s basketball team defeated Louisville last Sunday to advance to its 12th straight Final Four, which picks up today. As of this writing, the timing for the UConn game is as undecided as the opponent—7 or 9 p.m. on the former point and Notre Dame or Stanford on the latter—but the TV channel, ESPN 2, is assured.
Saturday, April 6
“Carl is an earthworm. He spends his days happily tunneling in the soil until a field mouse asks him a simple question that stops him short: ‘Why?’” That’s the sublime teaser for Carl and the Meaning of Life, the latest children’s book by local author/illustrator Deborah Freedman, which, after its official release on Tuesday, is the subject of a 10:30 a.m. author talk and signing at RJ Julia (768 Boston Post Rd, Madison; 203-245-3959). Free to attend.
Spanning three locations—1156 Chapel Street, 353 Crown Street and 36 Edgewood Avenue— and “featuring work from the departments of Graphic Design, Painting and Printmaking, Photography, and Sculpture,” the Yale School of Art’s annual graduate open studios event happens today and tomorrow from noon to 6 p.m. Meanwhile, from 6 to 8 p.m. today at 1156 Chapel, there’s a reception for the school’s 2019 Sculpture MFA Thesis Show.
At 7:30 p.m., Trinity on the Green, located at Temple and Chapel Streets, hosts the Grammy-winning, world-touring men’s vocal ensemble Chanticleer. “Named after the clear-singing rooster in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,” the group’s “repertoire spans 10 centuries, from Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony and romantic art song to contemporary music, jazz, spirituals and pop.” Advance tickets are available for $100 (closest to the stage), $50 (anywhere else on the ground level) and $30 (balcony), with discounts for students and seniors.
Sunday, April 7
The annual Edible Book Tea at Creative Arts Workshop (80 Audubon St, New Haven; 203-562-4927), which invites the public to create and then eat food inspired by literature, starts at 1 p.m. for participants and 2 p.m. for admirers and diners, with the admiring at 2, the eating at 3 and activities to keep the young’uns busy.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Image features a stretch of East Rock Park’s summit drive. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
