🎨 Visual art
Sylvia Fernández: 'Habitando, I Don't Belong Here, We Belong Everywhere'
Lima-born, San Diego-based artist Sylvia Fernández studies migration, transformation and home in a new solo exhibition at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, interviewing a series of women from around the world. Fernández compiles and transposes their answers, along with their literal shadows into works of art. She also weaves nature, especially migratory birds, into her paintings, drawing particular inspiration from her varied experiences with the Pacific Ocean, both during her childhood in Peru and now in California. In the gallery, large canvases are suspended from the ceiling, creating an immersive space. Fernández will discuss the work during an artist talk kicking off the opening reception on Friday.
5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16 | Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla | Free | MORE INFO
Other Places Art Fair South
Co-presented by Harvest & Gather, the San Diego iteration of Other Places Art Fair (OPAF) returns to the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, for its second year. OPAF was founded in San Pedro and showcases alternative, DIY, experimental and unconventional art. Its mission is to offer a place for artists and creatives who may feel excluded from or dissatisfied with the traditional art fair market, often due to the cost of participating. I spoke with artist and OPAF South organizer Cat Gunn last year about launching the festival. "There's something about the art fair structure that feels like a really, really expensive shopping mall to me, and I really love the more authentic, sincere take that Other Places offers," Gunn said.
The festival features pop-up displays and immersive installations, with artwork scattered across the CCAE grounds. This year's participating artists, collectives and projects include Project PAINT: The Prison Arts Initiative, Burn All Books and Friends; An Interval; Home Was the Place I Longed for, Not Where I Lived; Wild Geese; Fishing for a Sound, Aeolian Forms for San Diego’s Mission Bay; and more.
11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 | CCAE, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido | Free | MORE INFO
🎵 Music
The Salty Series: Brandon Tani + ãññã duo
Interdisciplinary artist Brandon Tani will join ãññã duo, made up of Anqi Liu and Han Zhang, for a performance of visual and sound art. Tani uses field recordings, electronics and video to explore patterns and perceptions. The duo is known for its DIY "biosignal" instruments and merging visual and sculptural elements with sound. This performance is part of Project [BLANK]'s Salty Series, which is pay what you can.
7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16 | Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights | $15 | MORE INFO
Jordan Krimston and The Band Cope dual album release party
Jordan Krimston and The Band Cope will each celebrate a new album release during a joint showcase at Soda Bar on Saturday. I've been following The Band Cope for a while, and the new singles from the band's forthcoming album are all excellent, including the brand-new "Good People."
Fun fact: Eliza Cope (of The Band Cope) appears as a backup vocalist on Krimston's album, so it's safe to expect some onstage collaboration, too. Also on the bill are indie act Neutral Shirt, Brian Warren (of Weatherbox) and DJ Klurax.
7 p.m. (doors) Saturday, Oct. 17 | Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights | $14.94 | MORE INFO
📚 Books
San Diego Zine Fest
The 14th annual San Diego Zine Fest will be held at WOO! Studios in Barrio Logan, celebrating the mighty zine and other DIY art, activism and community-building creative formats. The festival also features a packed lineup of musicians and DJs. Looking for live music? Plan to pop in on Sunday, where the musical slate includes live sets by The Gay Agenda, Silica Sun, Glitch Love and Deaf Club, along with a reading and live performance from Bobby Bray, guitarist for The Locust. DJs include La Frida, Cha Cha, Julieta & Filoso Anahuac and many more. There will also be live screenprinting demos both days, so bring something to print on.
Noon-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17-18 | WOO! Studios, 2212 Main St., Barrio Logan | Free | MORE INFO
🍿 Film
San Diego International Film Festival
The 25th annual San Diego International Film Festival is underway and closes Sunday.
On my radar: "Elsinore" screens as part of the festival, a forthcoming film starring the inimitable Andrew Scott as Scottish actor Ian Charleson. Charleson was known for playing the lead in "Chariots of Fire" and, while battling AIDS toward the end of his tragically short life, taking on the role of Hamlet at London's National Theatre. "Elsinore" screens at 6:15 p.m. Saturday at AMC UTC La Jolla — otherwise you'll have to wait until late November for its standard theatrical release.
The SDIFF is packed with other features, shorts, documentaries and local spotlights. Check out the full schedule here. Individual screenings start at $25, and weekend or festival passes are available.
Through Oct. 18 | Multiple locations | $25+ | MORE INFO
🎭 Theater
'As You Like It: The Musical'
New Village Arts presents the musical adaptation of Shakespeare's "As You Like It," written by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery. The production infuses folk-pop anthems into the enduring classic comedy that follows Rosalind and Celia as refugees in the Forest of Arden, in disguise (of course). Kristianne Kurner directs. Lower-cost previews run Oct. 16-23.
Oct. 16 through Nov. 29 | New Village Arts, 2787 State St., Carlsbad | $45-$85 | MORE INFO
'Our Lady of the San Diego Convention Center'
TuYo Theatre will wrap its recent tour of a new play by local playwright Mario Vega this weekend. The story is inspired by Vega's experience working as a youth care worker during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2021, hundreds of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum were sheltered in the San Diego Convention Center, where they waited to be reunited with their sponsors and family members. The play follows two migrant girls and the staff hired to take care of them. Vega recently joined KPBS Midday Edition to discuss the work.
2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18 | Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 1770 Kearney Ave., Logan Heights | $25/pay what you can |MORE INFO
'JOB'
Max Wolf Friedlich's 2024 Broadway play "JOB" recently became available for licensing to independent theaters earlier this spring, and Cygnet Theatre is now bringing it to local stages. It's a psychological thriller and dark comedy about a woman in crisis after a viral post costs her job. A session with her therapist spectacularly devolves. The play stars just two actors — Caroline Gottlieb as Jane and Jacob Bruce as Loyd — and is directed by Hannah Meade at Cygnet.
Through Nov. 1 | Cygnet Theatre, 2880 Roosevelt Rd., Liberty Station | $37.50-$82 | MORE INFO
💃 Dance
CONTRA-TIEMPO: Activist Dance Theater | 'Roots of Loving Us'
CONTRA-TIEMPO is technically based in Los Angeles, but founding artistic director Ana Maria Alvarez is on the faculty at UC San Diego. The company’s productions are gorgeous, striking and evocative, designed to encourage social change and dialogue. Choreographer holly johnston and Alvarez have collaborated on a new world-premiere production, "Roots of Loving Us." It explores ideas of love, home and family, and how family can also be a verb — from adoptees to chosen family.
7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16 | Epstein Family Amphitheatre, 9480 Innovation Ln., UC San Diego | $30-$55 | MORE INFO
🎸 Bonus: Indigenous metal and books
Metal and Myth: Celebrate 20 Years of One Book, One San Diego!
The San Diego Central Library will host a special celebration and concert to kick off the 20th anniversary of One Book, One San Diego, KPBS' community reading program. A local Indigenous metal band, Warpath, will perform a set. Members of the band are based on the Santa Ysabel and Barona reservations. Their music is great: skillful, melodic, intense and yes, it shreds. And be sure to show up on time, because the first 20 attendees get a free copy of Stephen Graham Jones' "Buffalo Hunter Hunter," the 2026 One Book selection for adults.
2-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 | San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., downtown | Free | MORE INFO
For more arts events and ongoing happenings, visit our community calendar.
