AMHERST – Wednesday, April 16 begins the monthly Amherst Cinema Center “Coffee Break.” There will be coffee, muffins and regular updates on the campaign for cinema and performing arts in downtown Amherst. An animated virtual tour of the building will be on display to walk you through the current conceptual designs. Meet members of the Board and staff who will be available to discuss the project and its progress in further detail. Activities begin at 8:30-9:30 a.m. at 30 Amity Street.

AMHERST – Sam Hamill, founder of Poets Against the War, will speak at Hampshire College on April 16. Three other poets – Martin Espada, Marilyn Nelson and Doug Anderson – who appear in the Nation Books’ forthcoming Poets Against War anthology, will join Hamill.

All four will read their own poems about peace and war, and Hamill will speak about how his response to an innovation to take part in a Whit House symposium called Poetry and the American Voice, led to the formation of an international movement of “word warriors” for peace.

The readings will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Robert Crown Center on the Hampshire College campus and is free to the public.

SALEM, Mass. – Lovewhip will pump out several evenings of energetic dance music featuring their brand of high-life, juicy juju world pop. It begins April 18 at The Baybridge on Bridge St. Cover is $5. For club info, call 978-745-8881. Their next show will be April 24 at the Land Ho on Orleans, Mass. For door price and times, call (508) 255-5165.

Steve Morse of The Boston Globe summed up the band in his Jan. 31 article: “Lovewhip at Harpers Ferry: Worldbeat rock has a proud legacy in Boston, and Lovewhip fits in nicely. Lovewhip can whip up some of the most feverish dance rhythms in the city. In fact, the dance floor was packed as the band moved stirringly from African soukous to British ska-rock (a great cover of the Selecter’s ‘Too Much Pressure’), all the way to an original song about Lovewhip’s home base of Jamaica Plain. A sizzling set!”

On the Net: http://www.lovewhip.net.

AMHERST – Singer’s Project, directed by Elizabeth Hart, will perform Music of the Passion, a program of works by Schutz and Buxtehude, on April 18, at 5:30 p.m. at the Grace Episcopal Church. The program is presented as part of a grant from the Grace Church’s new Center for Sacred Music and is designed to offer opportunity for an in-depth musical meditation of texts appropriate for Good Friday.

Singer’s Project is a highly regarded professional vocal ensemble of sixteen voices, comprised of some of the area’s best-known soloists and professional choristers. It has as its goal to present vocal chamber music of the highest quality, exploring as “projects” the music of a particular composer of style. Admission is free to the general public. The Grace Church is located on the Town Common in Amherst.

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Rickey Smiley, the former host of BET’s “Comic View,” will headline at The Comedy Connection Hukelau, on Saturday, April 19 starting at 8 p.m.

Despite Smiley’s busy television and radio schedule, he still makes time to tour with D.L. Hughley, Sommore, Bruce Bruce and Earthquake on the multi-city Latham Entertainment Presents Tour.

The Hukelau is located at 705 Memorial Drive. Tickets are on sale for $20, to purchase, call (413) 593-5222.

NORTHAMPTON – The Hooked on Swing Society will be having its monthly swing dance on Saturday, April 19, from 8:30-11:30 p.m., at the Northampton Center for the Arts, third floor, 17 New South Street, Northampton. Tricia Lea will play a mix of East Coast swing, West Coast swing and Lindy. There will be basic swing dance lesson starting at 7:30 p.m. Dancers of all ability levels are welcome. Cover is $8 at the door.

On the Net: http://www.hookedonswing.org.

BOSTON – The Museum of Fine Arts Film Program and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in Boston are proud to present five films by Nicolas Philibert on April 30.

One of today’s most sensitive and expressive documentary filmmakers, Philibert crafts works that have the elegance and emotional breadth of great fiction. This five-film retrospective includes Philibert’s latest work, the surprise box office smash “To Be and to Have,” which presents a year in the life of a one-room schoolhouse in rural France.

Through his sense of narrative and his keen eye, Philibert offers us an unusual and slightly off-kilter viewpoint about prestigious places, such as the Louvre Museum (Louvre City) and the Great Gallery of Evolution (Animals), while putting at the heart of his films the various “secondary characters” who, in the wings, prepare the way the public is received.

The presentation is free and will focus on Nicolas Philibert’s work, including clips from his films. A reception will follow. All films were produced in France and are in French with English subtitles.

EASTHAMPTON, Mass. – R’L Productions of Easthampton will present Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I” on May 16 and 17 at 8 p.m. in the Easthampton Town Hall. Tickets: $12 general; $10 students/seniors. Call (413) 527-6190 for reservations and information.