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"title": "Ayodele Nzinga, Oakland’s First Poet Laureate, Is Here for the People",
"headTitle": "Ayodele Nzinga, Oakland’s First Poet Laureate, Is Here for the People | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]P[/dropcap]oets often exaggerate and embellish to make their points. Well, here’s something that may seem hyperbolic but isn’t: Oakland is currently undergoing some of its most significant changes in recent years, by and for the people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Whether it’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11842392/how-moms-4-housing-changed-laws-and-inspired-a-movement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a group of mothers resisting displacement\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or artists \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13897823/nft-artists-bay-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">turning the empty fifth floor of the Tribune Tower into an art installation\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, you only need to look around to appreciate the work happening here. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11858928/west-oakland-mural-honors-women-of-black-panther-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Muralists\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/rightnowish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">journalists\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13897246/with-j-dillas-help-rapper-seti-x-launches-a-new-music-program-for-sf-youth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">educators\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13885918/grand-nationxl-a-wolf-pack-of-artists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">rappers\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://thebolditalic.com/bay-area-mural-program-on-full-display-at-oaklands-art-clash-d9ea1b5a46b8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">community organizations\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11854487/by-the-people-youve-protested-voted-donated-cat-brooks-on-whats-next\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">activists\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and everyday Oaklanders are united on the front lines of change, and making visible progress.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, thanks to their collective efforts, we can finally add a Poet Laureate of Oakland to that list. For the first time in the Town’s 169-year history, the city has announced an official literary arts representative—a designated wordsmith who will not only capture Oakland on the page, but share it throughout the world’s literary circuit. The champion selected for this tremendous task? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ayodelenzinga.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ayodele Nzinga\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You might’ve heard of Dr. Nzinga before. She’s a longtime West Oakland resident who founded and directs the Lower Bottom Playaz, a local theater company that centers Black stories, established in 1999. In addition to being a respected community playwright and poet, she’s also an educator and activist who was most recently involved in the city’s massive \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandvoices.us/2021/03/29/oakland-reimagining-public-safety/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Refund movement\u003c/a>, the campaign to reallocate resources from the police budget to community programs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I hate politics. It’s the art of compromise,” Nzinga tells me. “But some things cannot be compromised, and if there’s any hope for politics, it’s local. I couldn’t just be an artist anymore.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to her creative efforts, she has attended countless meetings and hearings with local officials, delivering messages on behalf of her people. The collective efforts of Nzinga, Cat Brooks, the Anti Police-Terror Project, the Oakland Progressive Alliance and many others helped ensure \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11879404/oakland-just-redirected-18-million-away-from-police-into-violence-prevention-programs\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a victory for the Refund movement\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. In June, Oakland C\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ity Council voted to redirect $18 million away from the mayor’s proposed police budget into alternative methods for community crime prevention.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As Nzinga’s collaborator, Brooks, wrote in her piece \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandvoices.us/2021/03/29/oakland-reimagining-public-safety/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Oakland can ‘Defund the Police’ and ‘Refund the Community,’”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “‘all violence is state violence’ [and] it is the state that creates the conditions under which tragic realities play out.” If that’s true, then it must mean that our poets and artists are fostering the conditions in which the possibilities for healing can occur.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And healing is what Nzinga knows best; it’s her chosen form of poetry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I have lived in every segment of Oakland,” she tells me during our phone conversation. “I appreciate the slightly different flavors, and I am interested in every little nuance.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900172\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900172\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga, Oakland poet, playwright, community activist, and the city’s inaugural poet laureate, poses for a portrait in downtown Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s she gets accustomed to her new role, Nzinga is indulging in her desires to build bridges across Oakland’s mosaic of neighborhoods. What poets has she yet to meet in Little Saigon? What writers in Fruitvale will she meet and kick it with? There is a Hmong community in East Oakland, and she \u003c/span>wants to be among them. She will be everywhere “where people want to see a laureate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nzinga has a peaceful aura. But don’t get it twisted: she’s a warrior who is strongly rooted in herself, in her beliefs, in her people. She has demands for city officials and challenges for her audiences, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you want this, you also have to listen to the truth,” she says. “The truth can be beautiful. Maybe I won’t get invited back to some of these places after they hear me, and that’s okay.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900169\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900169\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga, Oakland poet, playwright, community activist, and the city’s inaugural poet laureate, poses for a portrait in downtown Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]N[/dropcap]zinga holds an MFA in Writing and Consciousness from the New College of California and a Ph.D. in Transformative Education & Change from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. She’s fiercely perceptive and resolute, yet tender-eared, as the most generous of poets must be. An afternoon talking to her simultaneously feels like reconnecting with a favorite family member and attending a profound seminar. She is both a communal elder and a judicious scholar; a loving aunt who slips you $5 on a hot day then, later on, asks you to join her as she leads a group of folks on the frontlines of a protest. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She writes poetry on paper, of course, but it’s her actions that express her highest form of poetic engagement with her surroundings. She breaks lines in our society’s flawed barriers and clarifies ancient truths many of us know to exist but cannot articulate with the same level of candor, intuition and clarity. And she doesn’t merely bury this knowledge inside her books, either.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If I want to continue to make art in Oakland, I have to do more than make art,” Nzinga says. “Can you have anything you’re not really willing to roll up your sleeves and work for?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900174\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900174\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga speaks with Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya in downtown Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the years, she has worked her way into local political spaces, not for ego’s sake, but with purpose and intention. In receiving a title like poet laureate, she hopes to galvanize more residents to disrupt systemic iniquity. Or, as she poetically puts it, “to educate [the community] that they are already aware of the intersections of inequalities and point them to soft spots in places we can leverage.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During our conversation, she speaks of her admiration for Amiri Baraka, the transcendent writer from the Black Arts Movement who became laureate of Newark, New Jersey in 2002. Bakara created a roadmap for how Nzinga envisions her new role, and she speaks of subverting the “top-down model” by favoring a “bottom-up” approach—in both the political and literary sense.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inviting children to share a microphone in North Oakland. Hosting celebrations at San Antonio Park in East Oakland. Leading a workshop at a home in West Oakland. Going to a country club and requiring “those in upper places” to pay a fee to listen to poets from the flatlands. These are the sorts of things we can expect from this laureate.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There are no boundaries,” she says, with excitement in her tone. “How many places can we illuminate by literature? How many people can we give permission to tell their stories and provide an audience to listen?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nzinga’s term as the Oakland laureate will last two years. The position comes with a $5,000 stipend and additional funding to organize events through the Oakland Public Library. And though Oakland has appointed a youth poet laureate for the past decade (spotlighting young writers such as Leila Mottley, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.org/blogs/library-community/2020-poem-oaklands-youth-poet-laureate-greer-nakadegawa-lee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Greer Nakadegawa-Lee\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, former KQED Arts intern Samuel Getachew and, most recently, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/news/2021-06-10/myra-estrada-named-oaklands-youth-poet-laureate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Myra Estrada\u003c/a>) the induction of an adult position is nothing short of monumental. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900173\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900173\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga points to a mural of Bobby Seale that says “Seize the Time” by Madow Futur and AeroSoul in Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]N[/dropcap]zinga and Cultural Affairs Commissioners Roberto Bedoya and J.K. Fowler, who have long been involved in helping make this position a reality, have plans to expand the laureate’s reach beyond Oakland’s limits. They have already hinted at collaborations across the Bay Bridge and throughout the East Bay, with other poets and laureates in neighboring cities, an act of intentional solidarity that isn’t as common as you might think.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“How can a poet emblematize community engagement across Oakland, and beyond? Who could best represent the seven districts?” Fowler, the founding executive director of Oakland’s Nomadic Press, says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He, Bedoya and others on the commission have spearheaded the launch of Oakland’s inaugural laureateship as a way to deepen the public’s engagement with the literary arts, and to use the literary arts as a form of civic engagement.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It seemed silly that Oakland, of all cities, didn’t have this position available,” Fowler says. “We wanted to be sure to bring someone in who was honestly and truly engaged across communities. Who is the people’s poet?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nzinga might be the first to fill that role, but Oakland’s tradition of activism and poetry runs deep. With luminaries like Ishmael Reed and Chinaka Hodge, poetry and activism go hand-in-hand in this city and region. (San Francisco has been going hard with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sfpl.org/books-and-media/san-francisco-poet-laureate#:~:text=Breed%20announced%20San%20Francisco's%208th%20Poet%20Laureate%20is%20Tongo%20Eisen%2DMartin.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">official laureates since 1998\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.) But Oakland hasn’t officially recognized poetry’s impact in a formalized, financially-supported and keys-to-all-the-libraries kind of way. Not until this year. And that is progress that can lead to future opportunities for more voices to be heard across more platforms. Seeing that finally happen “is dope,” Nzinga says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, she is aware of her position as the first-ever laureate, and doesn’t plan to just read from behind a dusty podium or hoard clout for herself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900168\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900168\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga stands in front of a photo of herself, a part of the project Story Windows, at PianoFight theater in Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My job is to keep that door open, not to let it close,” Nzinga declares. “I got my feet and shoulders in the door, and if I’m successful, there won’t be a door when I’m done. We need to collect all the Black and Brown poets throughout Oakland, and the East Bay, and raise hell.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To some, this might seem like a confrontational or aggressive approach. And maybe it is; maybe it has to be, when positions like this have been historically denied to these communities for centuries. But above that, it’s a statement born from undiluted love—a love for her people, a love for her craft, a love for leading the way into what she calls a more “humanist” future. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Being a laureate puts me in conversation with more people,” she says. “The message doesn’t change. There is a steadfastness in what I do. I’m just trying to see liberty and good, strong living for humans, for Black people.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Poetry may get a bad reputation for being overly complex and inaccessible, but for Nzinga, its purpose is simple: to unite us. Join her in conversation as she reads poems and organizes events throughout the next 24 months. To be sure, Nzinga’s legacy won’t be a fleeting stanza, but an epic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ayodelenzinga.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ayodele Nzinga\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is the author of \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Horse Eaters\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (2017), \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sorrowland Oracle\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (2020), and the forthcoming \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Incandescent: Poems of Power \u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(2021).\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">P\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>oets often exaggerate and embellish to make their points. Well, here’s something that may seem hyperbolic but isn’t: Oakland is currently undergoing some of its most significant changes in recent years, by and for the people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Whether it’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11842392/how-moms-4-housing-changed-laws-and-inspired-a-movement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a group of mothers resisting displacement\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or artists \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13897823/nft-artists-bay-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">turning the empty fifth floor of the Tribune Tower into an art installation\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, you only need to look around to appreciate the work happening here. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11858928/west-oakland-mural-honors-women-of-black-panther-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Muralists\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/rightnowish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">journalists\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13897246/with-j-dillas-help-rapper-seti-x-launches-a-new-music-program-for-sf-youth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">educators\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13885918/grand-nationxl-a-wolf-pack-of-artists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">rappers\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://thebolditalic.com/bay-area-mural-program-on-full-display-at-oaklands-art-clash-d9ea1b5a46b8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">community organizations\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11854487/by-the-people-youve-protested-voted-donated-cat-brooks-on-whats-next\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">activists\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and everyday Oaklanders are united on the front lines of change, and making visible progress.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, thanks to their collective efforts, we can finally add a Poet Laureate of Oakland to that list. For the first time in the Town’s 169-year history, the city has announced an official literary arts representative—a designated wordsmith who will not only capture Oakland on the page, but share it throughout the world’s literary circuit. The champion selected for this tremendous task? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ayodelenzinga.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ayodele Nzinga\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You might’ve heard of Dr. Nzinga before. She’s a longtime West Oakland resident who founded and directs the Lower Bottom Playaz, a local theater company that centers Black stories, established in 1999. In addition to being a respected community playwright and poet, she’s also an educator and activist who was most recently involved in the city’s massive \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandvoices.us/2021/03/29/oakland-reimagining-public-safety/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Refund movement\u003c/a>, the campaign to reallocate resources from the police budget to community programs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I hate politics. It’s the art of compromise,” Nzinga tells me. “But some things cannot be compromised, and if there’s any hope for politics, it’s local. I couldn’t just be an artist anymore.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to her creative efforts, she has attended countless meetings and hearings with local officials, delivering messages on behalf of her people. The collective efforts of Nzinga, Cat Brooks, the Anti Police-Terror Project, the Oakland Progressive Alliance and many others helped ensure \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11879404/oakland-just-redirected-18-million-away-from-police-into-violence-prevention-programs\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a victory for the Refund movement\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. In June, Oakland C\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ity Council voted to redirect $18 million away from the mayor’s proposed police budget into alternative methods for community crime prevention.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As Nzinga’s collaborator, Brooks, wrote in her piece \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandvoices.us/2021/03/29/oakland-reimagining-public-safety/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Oakland can ‘Defund the Police’ and ‘Refund the Community,’”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “‘all violence is state violence’ [and] it is the state that creates the conditions under which tragic realities play out.” If that’s true, then it must mean that our poets and artists are fostering the conditions in which the possibilities for healing can occur.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And healing is what Nzinga knows best; it’s her chosen form of poetry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I have lived in every segment of Oakland,” she tells me during our phone conversation. “I appreciate the slightly different flavors, and I am interested in every little nuance.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900172\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900172\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/005_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga, Oakland poet, playwright, community activist, and the city’s inaugural poet laureate, poses for a portrait in downtown Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>s she gets accustomed to her new role, Nzinga is indulging in her desires to build bridges across Oakland’s mosaic of neighborhoods. What poets has she yet to meet in Little Saigon? What writers in Fruitvale will she meet and kick it with? There is a Hmong community in East Oakland, and she \u003c/span>wants to be among them. She will be everywhere “where people want to see a laureate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nzinga has a peaceful aura. But don’t get it twisted: she’s a warrior who is strongly rooted in herself, in her beliefs, in her people. She has demands for city officials and challenges for her audiences, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you want this, you also have to listen to the truth,” she says. “The truth can be beautiful. Maybe I won’t get invited back to some of these places after they hear me, and that’s okay.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900169\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900169\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/029_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga, Oakland poet, playwright, community activist, and the city’s inaugural poet laureate, poses for a portrait in downtown Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">N\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>zinga holds an MFA in Writing and Consciousness from the New College of California and a Ph.D. in Transformative Education & Change from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. She’s fiercely perceptive and resolute, yet tender-eared, as the most generous of poets must be. An afternoon talking to her simultaneously feels like reconnecting with a favorite family member and attending a profound seminar. She is both a communal elder and a judicious scholar; a loving aunt who slips you $5 on a hot day then, later on, asks you to join her as she leads a group of folks on the frontlines of a protest. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She writes poetry on paper, of course, but it’s her actions that express her highest form of poetic engagement with her surroundings. She breaks lines in our society’s flawed barriers and clarifies ancient truths many of us know to exist but cannot articulate with the same level of candor, intuition and clarity. And she doesn’t merely bury this knowledge inside her books, either.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If I want to continue to make art in Oakland, I have to do more than make art,” Nzinga says. “Can you have anything you’re not really willing to roll up your sleeves and work for?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900174\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900174\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/009_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga speaks with Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya in downtown Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the years, she has worked her way into local political spaces, not for ego’s sake, but with purpose and intention. In receiving a title like poet laureate, she hopes to galvanize more residents to disrupt systemic iniquity. Or, as she poetically puts it, “to educate [the community] that they are already aware of the intersections of inequalities and point them to soft spots in places we can leverage.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During our conversation, she speaks of her admiration for Amiri Baraka, the transcendent writer from the Black Arts Movement who became laureate of Newark, New Jersey in 2002. Bakara created a roadmap for how Nzinga envisions her new role, and she speaks of subverting the “top-down model” by favoring a “bottom-up” approach—in both the political and literary sense.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inviting children to share a microphone in North Oakland. Hosting celebrations at San Antonio Park in East Oakland. Leading a workshop at a home in West Oakland. Going to a country club and requiring “those in upper places” to pay a fee to listen to poets from the flatlands. These are the sorts of things we can expect from this laureate.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There are no boundaries,” she says, with excitement in her tone. “How many places can we illuminate by literature? How many people can we give permission to tell their stories and provide an audience to listen?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nzinga’s term as the Oakland laureate will last two years. The position comes with a $5,000 stipend and additional funding to organize events through the Oakland Public Library. And though Oakland has appointed a youth poet laureate for the past decade (spotlighting young writers such as Leila Mottley, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.org/blogs/library-community/2020-poem-oaklands-youth-poet-laureate-greer-nakadegawa-lee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Greer Nakadegawa-Lee\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, former KQED Arts intern Samuel Getachew and, most recently, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/news/2021-06-10/myra-estrada-named-oaklands-youth-poet-laureate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Myra Estrada\u003c/a>) the induction of an adult position is nothing short of monumental. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900173\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900173\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/019_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga points to a mural of Bobby Seale that says “Seize the Time” by Madow Futur and AeroSoul in Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">N\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>zinga and Cultural Affairs Commissioners Roberto Bedoya and J.K. Fowler, who have long been involved in helping make this position a reality, have plans to expand the laureate’s reach beyond Oakland’s limits. They have already hinted at collaborations across the Bay Bridge and throughout the East Bay, with other poets and laureates in neighboring cities, an act of intentional solidarity that isn’t as common as you might think.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“How can a poet emblematize community engagement across Oakland, and beyond? Who could best represent the seven districts?” Fowler, the founding executive director of Oakland’s Nomadic Press, says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He, Bedoya and others on the commission have spearheaded the launch of Oakland’s inaugural laureateship as a way to deepen the public’s engagement with the literary arts, and to use the literary arts as a form of civic engagement.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It seemed silly that Oakland, of all cities, didn’t have this position available,” Fowler says. “We wanted to be sure to bring someone in who was honestly and truly engaged across communities. Who is the people’s poet?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nzinga might be the first to fill that role, but Oakland’s tradition of activism and poetry runs deep. With luminaries like Ishmael Reed and Chinaka Hodge, poetry and activism go hand-in-hand in this city and region. (San Francisco has been going hard with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sfpl.org/books-and-media/san-francisco-poet-laureate#:~:text=Breed%20announced%20San%20Francisco's%208th%20Poet%20Laureate%20is%20Tongo%20Eisen%2DMartin.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">official laureates since 1998\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.) But Oakland hasn’t officially recognized poetry’s impact in a formalized, financially-supported and keys-to-all-the-libraries kind of way. Not until this year. And that is progress that can lead to future opportunities for more voices to be heard across more platforms. Seeing that finally happen “is dope,” Nzinga says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, she is aware of her position as the first-ever laureate, and doesn’t plan to just read from behind a dusty podium or hoard clout for herself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900168\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13900168\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/025_KQEDArts_Oakland_AyodeleNzinga_07192021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayodele Nzinga stands in front of a photo of herself, a part of the project Story Windows, at PianoFight theater in Oakland on July 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My job is to keep that door open, not to let it close,” Nzinga declares. “I got my feet and shoulders in the door, and if I’m successful, there won’t be a door when I’m done. We need to collect all the Black and Brown poets throughout Oakland, and the East Bay, and raise hell.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To some, this might seem like a confrontational or aggressive approach. And maybe it is; maybe it has to be, when positions like this have been historically denied to these communities for centuries. But above that, it’s a statement born from undiluted love—a love for her people, a love for her craft, a love for leading the way into what she calls a more “humanist” future. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Being a laureate puts me in conversation with more people,” she says. “The message doesn’t change. There is a steadfastness in what I do. I’m just trying to see liberty and good, strong living for humans, for Black people.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Poetry may get a bad reputation for being overly complex and inaccessible, but for Nzinga, its purpose is simple: to unite us. Join her in conversation as she reads poems and organizes events throughout the next 24 months. To be sure, Nzinga’s legacy won’t be a fleeting stanza, but an epic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ayodelenzinga.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ayodele Nzinga\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is the author of \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Horse Eaters\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (2017), \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sorrowland Oracle\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (2020), and the forthcoming \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Incandescent: Poems of Power \u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(2021).\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Roberto Bedoya, the city of Oakland’s cultural affairs manager, is one of two recipients of the 2021 Berresford Prize, an annual award administered by the national arts funding organization \u003ca href=\"https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">United States Artists\u003c/a>. Bedoya and Lulani Arquette, president and CEO of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Native Arts and Cultures Foundation\u003c/a>, based in Portland, Oregon, will each receive $25,000. The unrestricted prize, today’s announcement says, is given to cultural practitioners who have made significant contributions to the “advancement, wellbeing and care of artists in society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a phone interview, Bedoya described himself as “humbled and thrilled,” saying that though he knew of the prize’s existence, receiving it was a complete surprise. Bedoya and Arquette were selected from a pool of about 50 nominees across the country; there is no application process for the award. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the announcement, United States Artists noted that Bedoya and Arquette’s “visionary approaches engender cooperation, promote thoughtful civic engagement, and advocate for artists on a local and national level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The prize, named for United States Artists co-founder Susan V. Berresford, was created in 2019 to acknowledge those who labor mostly behind the scenes in the support of the arts such as administrators, curators and scholars: those creating the platforms and conditions that allow artists to successfully pursue their work. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previous recipients include Kristy Edmunds, executive and artistic director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, and Linda Good Bryant, a social activist, gallerist, filmmaker and founder of Active Citizen Project and Project EATS. This is the first time the prize has recognized two people in the same year, which United States Artists says comes from “an ethos of abundance and sharing”—a way of acknowledging the challenges and financial strains facing the arts sector over the past year. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s thoughtful for a foundation supporting artists to think about what kind of support system they have,” Bedoya says of the Berresford Prize. Using a theater analogy to describe his own role, Bedoya says, “There’s nothing glamorous about being the stage manager or the house manager, but they’re incredibly important to the production.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>United States Artists is perhaps best known for their fellowships, which award individual artists and collaboratives unrestricted grants of $50,000 each year. To date, the fellowship program has distributed over $33 million to more than 700 artists. Earlier this year, they helped administer the Rainin Foundation’s new fellowship program, which awarded \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13894782/rainin-fellowship-awards-100000-grants-to-four-bay-area-artists\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">unrestricted grants of $100,000\u003c/a> to four Bay Area artists and collaboratives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13827589']As Oakland’s cultural affairs manager, Bedoya unveiled a cultural plan titled “\u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Cultural-Plan-9.24-online.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Belonging in Oakland\u003c/a>” in the spring of 2018—the city’s first cultural plan in 30 years. Prior to this role, Bedoya was the executive director of the Tucson Pima Arts Council, where he developed an initiative called P.L.A.C.E (People, Land, Arts, Culture and Engagement), a project rooted in art-based civic engagement. From 1996 to 2001, he was executive director of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations, which supported artist-run alternative art spaces and initiatives. He is also a poet; Chax Press published his chapbook \u003ci>The Ballad of Cholo Dandy\u003c/i> in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guiding all his work, he says, is the idea of empowering artists and communities. “The beauty of Oakland is that it’s alive—it really is. There’s so much going on,” he says. While the Bay Area’s largest and wealthiest arts institutions may be in San Francisco, Bedoya says, “Oakland has always been the home of social activists in the arts and individual artists.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In my policy work over the years, it’s how do we validate the importance of arts and culture to build social networks that animate our lives—that’s my homework assignment,” he says. “It’s nice that someone gave me a grade and they liked it.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Roberto Bedoya, the city of Oakland’s cultural affairs manager, is one of two recipients of the 2021 Berresford Prize, an annual award administered by the national arts funding organization \u003ca href=\"https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">United States Artists\u003c/a>. Bedoya and Lulani Arquette, president and CEO of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Native Arts and Cultures Foundation\u003c/a>, based in Portland, Oregon, will each receive $25,000. The unrestricted prize, today’s announcement says, is given to cultural practitioners who have made significant contributions to the “advancement, wellbeing and care of artists in society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a phone interview, Bedoya described himself as “humbled and thrilled,” saying that though he knew of the prize’s existence, receiving it was a complete surprise. Bedoya and Arquette were selected from a pool of about 50 nominees across the country; there is no application process for the award. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the announcement, United States Artists noted that Bedoya and Arquette’s “visionary approaches engender cooperation, promote thoughtful civic engagement, and advocate for artists on a local and national level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The prize, named for United States Artists co-founder Susan V. Berresford, was created in 2019 to acknowledge those who labor mostly behind the scenes in the support of the arts such as administrators, curators and scholars: those creating the platforms and conditions that allow artists to successfully pursue their work. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previous recipients include Kristy Edmunds, executive and artistic director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, and Linda Good Bryant, a social activist, gallerist, filmmaker and founder of Active Citizen Project and Project EATS. This is the first time the prize has recognized two people in the same year, which United States Artists says comes from “an ethos of abundance and sharing”—a way of acknowledging the challenges and financial strains facing the arts sector over the past year. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s thoughtful for a foundation supporting artists to think about what kind of support system they have,” Bedoya says of the Berresford Prize. Using a theater analogy to describe his own role, Bedoya says, “There’s nothing glamorous about being the stage manager or the house manager, but they’re incredibly important to the production.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>United States Artists is perhaps best known for their fellowships, which award individual artists and collaboratives unrestricted grants of $50,000 each year. To date, the fellowship program has distributed over $33 million to more than 700 artists. Earlier this year, they helped administer the Rainin Foundation’s new fellowship program, which awarded \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13894782/rainin-fellowship-awards-100000-grants-to-four-bay-area-artists\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">unrestricted grants of $100,000\u003c/a> to four Bay Area artists and collaboratives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As Oakland’s cultural affairs manager, Bedoya unveiled a cultural plan titled “\u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Cultural-Plan-9.24-online.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Belonging in Oakland\u003c/a>” in the spring of 2018—the city’s first cultural plan in 30 years. Prior to this role, Bedoya was the executive director of the Tucson Pima Arts Council, where he developed an initiative called P.L.A.C.E (People, Land, Arts, Culture and Engagement), a project rooted in art-based civic engagement. From 1996 to 2001, he was executive director of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations, which supported artist-run alternative art spaces and initiatives. He is also a poet; Chax Press published his chapbook \u003ci>The Ballad of Cholo Dandy\u003c/i> in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guiding all his work, he says, is the idea of empowering artists and communities. “The beauty of Oakland is that it’s alive—it really is. There’s so much going on,” he says. While the Bay Area’s largest and wealthiest arts institutions may be in San Francisco, Bedoya says, “Oakland has always been the home of social activists in the arts and individual artists.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In my policy work over the years, it’s how do we validate the importance of arts and culture to build social networks that animate our lives—that’s my homework assignment,” he says. “It’s nice that someone gave me a grade and they liked it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to approve the appointment of 11 people to the city’s long-dormant Cultural Affairs Commission. [aside postID=arts_13861153,arts_13873207,arts_13866026]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission, inactive since 2011, will advise city officials on policy affecting the arts, and advocate for the Cultural Funding Program (CFP), which awards $1 million to local artists and nonprofits annually. Its revival marks another step in the city’s fitful efforts to buoy the arts. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The appointees are working artists, nonprofit professionals and policy experts including Theo “Aytchan” Williams, director of Carnaval arts group SambaFunk; Jennifer Easton, public art director at Bay Area Rapid Transit; Diane Sanchez, a philanthropy consultant; and Kevin “Kev” Choice, an educator and musician who’s worked with Goapele and Lauryn Hill. (Full list below.) \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf praised the new commissioners and their connections to the city. “The importance of arts and culture in creating a vibrant and just city is shown by the breadth of experience of the commission members who are dancers, musicians, curators, cultural strategists, educators, non-profit administrators, lawyers, publishers, writers, storytellers, community organizers and civil engineers,” she said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams of SambaFunk, one of the Afro-diasporic dance and drumming organizations based in the city-owned Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, said he’s pleased to represent performing arts often overlooked next to ballet and the symphony. Like most local arts figures with an eye on City Hall, Williams also sees a gap to close between officials’ praise of Oakland’s cultural life and investment in its perseverance. “So the main thing is more funding,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This conversation is old,” Williams added. “We have a document from ’98 about the woes of the Malonga, what was then the Alice Arts Center, and they’re almost verbatim the same as now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission is an unpaid one- to three-year position, and appointees are ineligible for CFP grants during their tenure. Commissioner Charmin Roundtree-Baaqee also serves on the Public Art Advisory Committee. A total of 93 people applied for the post, according to a staff report, and council members approved Schaaf’s 11 appointments Tuesday night. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberto Bedoya, Oakland’s cultural affairs manager since 2016, calls the commissioners “ambassadors and advocates,” describing their role as drumming up support for and illustrating the value of the Cultural Funding Program. In 2018, Oakland \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13827589/oakland-releases-draft-of-citys-cultural-plan-its-first-in-30-years\">adopted\u003c/a> a Cultural Plan for alleviating cost-of-living pressures on local artists and sustaining community identity, but city officials have not provided funding significant enough to enact most of its recommendations. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CFP staff is struggling under increased demand for grants. The number of applications rose 25 percent between 2018 and 2019 to a total of 171, CFP records show. Partly due to the mounting workload, with only a few staffers administering a multi-step ranking and approval process, this year sees the art-in-schools grant category temporarily suspended. According to the Cultural Plan, Oakland’s inflation-adjusted grant-making budget is half of what it was in 2001. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13861153/its-criminal-cultural-funding-cuts-frustrate-oakland-artists\">shrinking\u003c/a>: A onetime $230,000 nudge to the CFP budget from 2017 lapses this year, resulting in an expected 17 percent reduction. A $100,000 murals set-aside from 2017 also recently disappeared before it could be spent, Bedoya said at a recent committee hearing, due to anticipated revenue shortfalls after council members reduced cannabis taxes. “If I can have commissioners call up and say, ‘Gimme back that money,’ it would help a lot,” Bedoya said. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cultural Funding Program regularly supports organizations such as Creative Growth, The Crucible, Oakland Ballet, Ubuntu Theater Project and Pro Arts as well as individual artists such as Karen Smith, the subject of a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13873207/the-hustle-karen-smith-metalsmith-oakland\">profile\u003c/a> for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/thehustle\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">The Hustle\u003c/a>, KQED’s series about artists and money. One storyline in Tommy Orange’s acclaimed 2018 novel \u003cem>There, There\u003c/em> draws on the author’s CFP-supported oral history project. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cultural Affairs Commission appointees are: \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roy Chan, Community planning manager at the Chinatown Community Development Center\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Easton, Public art director at San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Orange, Founding director of Matatu\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa Whang, Lead consultant on the Cultural Plan \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kevin “Kev” Choice, Music instructor at Oakland School for the Arts \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JK Fowler, Founder and executive director of Nomadic Press\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Lee, Founder of Whole Story Group \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diane Sanchez, Philanthropy consultant \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard Raya, Legal educator at Centro Legal de la Raza \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charmin Roundtree-Baaqee, Founder of Art is Luv \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theo “Aytchan” Williams, Director of SambaFunk \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission, inactive since 2011, will advise city officials on policy affecting the arts, and advocate for the Cultural Funding Program (CFP), which awards $1 million to local artists and nonprofits annually. Its revival marks another step in the city’s fitful efforts to buoy the arts. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The appointees are working artists, nonprofit professionals and policy experts including Theo “Aytchan” Williams, director of Carnaval arts group SambaFunk; Jennifer Easton, public art director at Bay Area Rapid Transit; Diane Sanchez, a philanthropy consultant; and Kevin “Kev” Choice, an educator and musician who’s worked with Goapele and Lauryn Hill. (Full list below.) \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf praised the new commissioners and their connections to the city. “The importance of arts and culture in creating a vibrant and just city is shown by the breadth of experience of the commission members who are dancers, musicians, curators, cultural strategists, educators, non-profit administrators, lawyers, publishers, writers, storytellers, community organizers and civil engineers,” she said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams of SambaFunk, one of the Afro-diasporic dance and drumming organizations based in the city-owned Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, said he’s pleased to represent performing arts often overlooked next to ballet and the symphony. Like most local arts figures with an eye on City Hall, Williams also sees a gap to close between officials’ praise of Oakland’s cultural life and investment in its perseverance. “So the main thing is more funding,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This conversation is old,” Williams added. “We have a document from ’98 about the woes of the Malonga, what was then the Alice Arts Center, and they’re almost verbatim the same as now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission is an unpaid one- to three-year position, and appointees are ineligible for CFP grants during their tenure. Commissioner Charmin Roundtree-Baaqee also serves on the Public Art Advisory Committee. A total of 93 people applied for the post, according to a staff report, and council members approved Schaaf’s 11 appointments Tuesday night. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberto Bedoya, Oakland’s cultural affairs manager since 2016, calls the commissioners “ambassadors and advocates,” describing their role as drumming up support for and illustrating the value of the Cultural Funding Program. In 2018, Oakland \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13827589/oakland-releases-draft-of-citys-cultural-plan-its-first-in-30-years\">adopted\u003c/a> a Cultural Plan for alleviating cost-of-living pressures on local artists and sustaining community identity, but city officials have not provided funding significant enough to enact most of its recommendations. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CFP staff is struggling under increased demand for grants. The number of applications rose 25 percent between 2018 and 2019 to a total of 171, CFP records show. Partly due to the mounting workload, with only a few staffers administering a multi-step ranking and approval process, this year sees the art-in-schools grant category temporarily suspended. According to the Cultural Plan, Oakland’s inflation-adjusted grant-making budget is half of what it was in 2001. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13861153/its-criminal-cultural-funding-cuts-frustrate-oakland-artists\">shrinking\u003c/a>: A onetime $230,000 nudge to the CFP budget from 2017 lapses this year, resulting in an expected 17 percent reduction. A $100,000 murals set-aside from 2017 also recently disappeared before it could be spent, Bedoya said at a recent committee hearing, due to anticipated revenue shortfalls after council members reduced cannabis taxes. “If I can have commissioners call up and say, ‘Gimme back that money,’ it would help a lot,” Bedoya said. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cultural Funding Program regularly supports organizations such as Creative Growth, The Crucible, Oakland Ballet, Ubuntu Theater Project and Pro Arts as well as individual artists such as Karen Smith, the subject of a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13873207/the-hustle-karen-smith-metalsmith-oakland\">profile\u003c/a> for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/thehustle\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">The Hustle\u003c/a>, KQED’s series about artists and money. One storyline in Tommy Orange’s acclaimed 2018 novel \u003cem>There, There\u003c/em> draws on the author’s CFP-supported oral history project. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cultural Affairs Commission appointees are: \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roy Chan, Community planning manager at the Chinatown Community Development Center\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Easton, Public art director at San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Orange, Founding director of Matatu\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa Whang, Lead consultant on the Cultural Plan \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kevin “Kev” Choice, Music instructor at Oakland School for the Arts \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JK Fowler, Founder and executive director of Nomadic Press\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Lee, Founder of Whole Story Group \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diane Sanchez, Philanthropy consultant \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard Raya, Legal educator at Centro Legal de la Raza \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charmin Roundtree-Baaqee, Founder of Art is Luv \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theo “Aytchan” Williams, Director of SambaFunk \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The City of Oakland has released a 342-page review draft of its Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (DOSP), a policy framework for development, transportation and public space as well as cultural arts in its rapidly changing urban core, and officials are now soliciting public feedback. [aside postID=arts_13861153,arts_13853547,arts_13862998] \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It largely carries forward cultural stabilization strategies from similarly-aimed task forces and planning documents dating as far back as 2015 that local arts figures support but wish to see funded and implemented more swiftly than in recent years. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/FINAL_DOSP-Public-Review-Draft-Plan_082819_Compressed.pdf\">document\u003c/a>, four years in the making and projected for adoption in 2020, includes a raft of policy proposals to support arts and culture in the area approximately bounded by Lake Merritt, Interstate 980, 27th Street and the Oakland Estuary in a chapter entitled “Culture Keeping.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s an area experiencing dramatic development, with thousands of housing units opening or under construction, and intense competition for commercial and office space. Changes to the built environment, along with downtown’s declining black population and an influx of affluent residents, pose challenges to nonprofits, galleries, venues and other cultural resources. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downtown Oakland has 161 arts and culture businesses, institutions and nonprofits, 62 nightlife and entertainment establishments and 184 murals, according to the DOSP. “Unprecedented economic investment … has introduced a new dynamic in the cultural landscape that, left unaddressed, endangers this mosaic,” reads the chapter introduction. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13863001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"The 13th Street Commons project shows the extraordinary power of Business Improvement District organizations to shape, and police, public space.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13863001\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 13th Street Commons project shows the extraordinary power of Business Improvement District organizations to shape, and police, public space. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The plan proposes formalizing unofficial cultural districts such as Chinatown and the cluster of galleries near the Oakland First Fridays street festival, plus allocating resources to the already-established Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD). These districts would be incorporated into a network of public spaces with culturally-relevant streetscape elements. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the ten intersections listed for potential redesign is 13th Street between Broadway and Franklin Street. There the Downtown Oakland Association, a consortium of area property owners, plans to create a plaza to dissuade loitering, raising concerns about the organization’s swelling power to shape and police public space, as KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13862998/to-reduce-loitering-a-plaza-downtown-oakland-landlords-plan-to-annex-a-street\">previously reported\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also proposed is requiring developers that displace arts and culture businesses to offer replacement space on-site or else offer relocation assistance; supporting land trusts and other collective ownership models to acquire and preserve properties for arts uses (along the lines of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13838421/with-luxury-development-on-all-sides-oakland-artists-buy-the-right-to-stay-put\">Shadetree\u003c/a>); and offering more below-market-rate leases to galleries in city-owned properties similar to its deals with Pro Arts and Betti Ono. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan lists difficulties for entertainment venues to comply with special-events regulations including prohibitive costs and “racial bias in permitting and enforcement,” a reference to \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/blacklisted-how-the-oakland-police-department-discriminates-against-rappers-and-music-venues/Content?oid=6482231\">reports\u003c/a> of Oakland cops’ double standards for hip-hop nightclubs that draw largely black audiences. In March city officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13853547/new-karibbean-citys-after-hours-permit-revoked-prompting-discrimination-accusation\">revoked\u003c/a> New Karibbean City’s after-hours permit at the urging of Oakland police in what proprietor Richard Ali considered the latest example of discrimination against hip-hop venues. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proposed regulatory fixes for downtown entertainment include a streamlined “one-stop shop” for permitting and revising what critics call selectively-enforced aspects of the municipal code pertaining to events. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Acknowledging tensions between nightlife operators and residents, the plan also floats an idea—similar to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10632258/legislation-passes-to-protect-sf-nightclubs-from-complainy-pants-neighbors\">legislation\u003c/a> San Francisco adopted in 2015—to protect entertainment venues against noise complaints from residents of newly-constructed buildings. For example, Oakland could proactively require developers to disclose the presence of entertainment venues near new apartments to prospective tenants or buyers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13853569\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"New Karibbean City proprietor Richard Ali is among the downtown nightlife operators to accuse Oakland police of discriminating against hip-hop venues that draw largely black audiences.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13853569\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New Karibbean City proprietor Richard Ali is among the downtown nightlife operators to accuse Oakland police of discriminating against hip-hop venues that draw largely black audiences. \u003ccite>(Stephanie Lister/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The document incorporates ideas from the Cultural Plan published last year, the special events task force formed after the Dec. 2, 2016 Ghost Ship fire in East Oakland and an artist housing and workspace task force report published in 2015. Local arts figures laud many of the proposals, but worry Oakland lacks the resources and political will to follow through with investment and implementation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eric Arnold, BAMBD spokesperson and community advisor to the DOSP authors, called the document “aspirational,” noting many of the “Culture Keeping” strategies date back years. “The outcomes listed all sound great, but how do we get there?” He said, “There isn’t the urgency we need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the DOSP proposals have gained momentum only to stall: The Black Arts Movement and Business District was established in 2016 but just recently received city funding—$75,000 for signage. Stakeholders in the Art + Garage District, as some call the First Fridays gallery cluster, campaigned for formal recognition in 2015, only to have the plan scuttled after area property owners objected, according to supporters. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lonnie Lee, a key Art + Garage District promoter whose Vessel Gallery was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13843911/vessel-gallery-oakland-art-murmur-fixture-to-close-following-lease-termination\">displaced\u003c/a> earlier this year, said she’s baffled that cultural districts are so prominent in the plan after her disheartening experience attempting to form one. “They just want the marketing value,” Lee said. “The districts are nothing without policies—a sign’s not going to keep you.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DOSP specifically identifies the city-owned Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts—a longtime hub for performing arts of the African diaspora, currently housing companies including SambaFunk! and Dimensions Dance Theater—as needing significant upgrades, noting tenants of the facility have complained of deferred maintenance and inadequate staffing since 1999. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many in the arts community recommended increasing overall funding for arts and culture programs, as well as direct financial assistance to local artists and artists of color,” the plan reads. As \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13861153/its-criminal-cultural-funding-cuts-frustrate-oakland-artists\">KQED previously reported\u003c/a>, the Cultural Affairs Unit has launched new initiatives—embedding artists in city departments, reestablishing an arts commission—under the leadership of Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya since 2016, yet earlier this year officials cut its grant-making budget by 17 percent. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13840998\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-800x514.jpg\" alt=\"Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya present the city's first-ever Cultural Plan.\" width=\"800\" height=\"514\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13840998\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-800x514.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-768x493.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-1020x655.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-1200x770.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-1920x1232.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-1180x757.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-960x616.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-240x154.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-375x241.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-520x334.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya present the city’s first-ever Cultural Plan. \u003ccite>(Chloe Veltman / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these strategies require a huge infusion of support for Cultural Affairs,” Arnold said. “If you don’t increase their funding, projects requiring their input aren’t really going to happen.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One solution, according to the plan, is to increase the Cultural Funding Program’s share of Oakland’s hotel or transient occupancy tax, although this would require a ballot measure. “That’s a big lift,” said Arnold. “You have community support, but you need political will, money to get it on the ballot and a campaign to draw attention—and the hotel industry will fight back.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DOSP also proposes contributing public funds to another round of real-estate holding nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://cast-sf.org/\">Community Arts Stabilization Trust\u003c/a>’s “Keeping Space—Oakland,” which launched late 2016 to provide precarious local arts organizations financial and technical assistance; the first round was philanthropically financed. Oakland’s increasingly close partnership with CAST has previously \u003ca href=\"https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2018/06/culture-cash-oaklands-struggle-to-support-the-arts/\">stirred concerns\u003c/a> of Cultural Funding Program responsibilities being outsourced or privatized. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DOSP, developed with input from community advisory and stakeholder groups and public surveys, is still subject to change and requires approval from the Oakland City Council for adoption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Events for the public to \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/meetings/related-to/topics/downtown-oakland-specific-plan?range%5Bdate%5D=1567321200000%3A1569913199999\">learn more and provide feedback\u003c/a> on the document are scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 19 at Latham Square Plaza and Sunday, Sept. 29 at the Jack London Farmers Market. The Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Jack London Improvement District and Old Oakland Neighbors are also hosting informational events throughout September. \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It largely carries forward cultural stabilization strategies from similarly-aimed task forces and planning documents dating as far back as 2015 that local arts figures support but wish to see funded and implemented more swiftly than in recent years. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/FINAL_DOSP-Public-Review-Draft-Plan_082819_Compressed.pdf\">document\u003c/a>, four years in the making and projected for adoption in 2020, includes a raft of policy proposals to support arts and culture in the area approximately bounded by Lake Merritt, Interstate 980, 27th Street and the Oakland Estuary in a chapter entitled “Culture Keeping.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s an area experiencing dramatic development, with thousands of housing units opening or under construction, and intense competition for commercial and office space. Changes to the built environment, along with downtown’s declining black population and an influx of affluent residents, pose challenges to nonprofits, galleries, venues and other cultural resources. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downtown Oakland has 161 arts and culture businesses, institutions and nonprofits, 62 nightlife and entertainment establishments and 184 murals, according to the DOSP. “Unprecedented economic investment … has introduced a new dynamic in the cultural landscape that, left unaddressed, endangers this mosaic,” reads the chapter introduction. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13863001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"The 13th Street Commons project shows the extraordinary power of Business Improvement District organizations to shape, and police, public space.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13863001\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/13th-Street.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 13th Street Commons project shows the extraordinary power of Business Improvement District organizations to shape, and police, public space. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The plan proposes formalizing unofficial cultural districts such as Chinatown and the cluster of galleries near the Oakland First Fridays street festival, plus allocating resources to the already-established Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD). These districts would be incorporated into a network of public spaces with culturally-relevant streetscape elements. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the ten intersections listed for potential redesign is 13th Street between Broadway and Franklin Street. There the Downtown Oakland Association, a consortium of area property owners, plans to create a plaza to dissuade loitering, raising concerns about the organization’s swelling power to shape and police public space, as KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13862998/to-reduce-loitering-a-plaza-downtown-oakland-landlords-plan-to-annex-a-street\">previously reported\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also proposed is requiring developers that displace arts and culture businesses to offer replacement space on-site or else offer relocation assistance; supporting land trusts and other collective ownership models to acquire and preserve properties for arts uses (along the lines of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13838421/with-luxury-development-on-all-sides-oakland-artists-buy-the-right-to-stay-put\">Shadetree\u003c/a>); and offering more below-market-rate leases to galleries in city-owned properties similar to its deals with Pro Arts and Betti Ono. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan lists difficulties for entertainment venues to comply with special-events regulations including prohibitive costs and “racial bias in permitting and enforcement,” a reference to \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/blacklisted-how-the-oakland-police-department-discriminates-against-rappers-and-music-venues/Content?oid=6482231\">reports\u003c/a> of Oakland cops’ double standards for hip-hop nightclubs that draw largely black audiences. In March city officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13853547/new-karibbean-citys-after-hours-permit-revoked-prompting-discrimination-accusation\">revoked\u003c/a> New Karibbean City’s after-hours permit at the urging of Oakland police in what proprietor Richard Ali considered the latest example of discrimination against hip-hop venues. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proposed regulatory fixes for downtown entertainment include a streamlined “one-stop shop” for permitting and revising what critics call selectively-enforced aspects of the municipal code pertaining to events. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Acknowledging tensions between nightlife operators and residents, the plan also floats an idea—similar to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10632258/legislation-passes-to-protect-sf-nightclubs-from-complainy-pants-neighbors\">legislation\u003c/a> San Francisco adopted in 2015—to protect entertainment venues against noise complaints from residents of newly-constructed buildings. For example, Oakland could proactively require developers to disclose the presence of entertainment venues near new apartments to prospective tenants or buyers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13853569\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"New Karibbean City proprietor Richard Ali is among the downtown nightlife operators to accuse Oakland police of discriminating against hip-hop venues that draw largely black audiences.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13853569\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/RichardALID8A4025.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New Karibbean City proprietor Richard Ali is among the downtown nightlife operators to accuse Oakland police of discriminating against hip-hop venues that draw largely black audiences. \u003ccite>(Stephanie Lister/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The document incorporates ideas from the Cultural Plan published last year, the special events task force formed after the Dec. 2, 2016 Ghost Ship fire in East Oakland and an artist housing and workspace task force report published in 2015. Local arts figures laud many of the proposals, but worry Oakland lacks the resources and political will to follow through with investment and implementation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eric Arnold, BAMBD spokesperson and community advisor to the DOSP authors, called the document “aspirational,” noting many of the “Culture Keeping” strategies date back years. “The outcomes listed all sound great, but how do we get there?” He said, “There isn’t the urgency we need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the DOSP proposals have gained momentum only to stall: The Black Arts Movement and Business District was established in 2016 but just recently received city funding—$75,000 for signage. Stakeholders in the Art + Garage District, as some call the First Fridays gallery cluster, campaigned for formal recognition in 2015, only to have the plan scuttled after area property owners objected, according to supporters. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lonnie Lee, a key Art + Garage District promoter whose Vessel Gallery was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13843911/vessel-gallery-oakland-art-murmur-fixture-to-close-following-lease-termination\">displaced\u003c/a> earlier this year, said she’s baffled that cultural districts are so prominent in the plan after her disheartening experience attempting to form one. “They just want the marketing value,” Lee said. “The districts are nothing without policies—a sign’s not going to keep you.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DOSP specifically identifies the city-owned Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts—a longtime hub for performing arts of the African diaspora, currently housing companies including SambaFunk! and Dimensions Dance Theater—as needing significant upgrades, noting tenants of the facility have complained of deferred maintenance and inadequate staffing since 1999. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many in the arts community recommended increasing overall funding for arts and culture programs, as well as direct financial assistance to local artists and artists of color,” the plan reads. As \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13861153/its-criminal-cultural-funding-cuts-frustrate-oakland-artists\">KQED previously reported\u003c/a>, the Cultural Affairs Unit has launched new initiatives—embedding artists in city departments, reestablishing an arts commission—under the leadership of Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya since 2016, yet earlier this year officials cut its grant-making budget by 17 percent. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13840998\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-800x514.jpg\" alt=\"Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya present the city's first-ever Cultural Plan.\" width=\"800\" height=\"514\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13840998\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-800x514.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-768x493.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-1020x655.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-1200x770.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-1920x1232.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-1180x757.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-960x616.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-240x154.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-375x241.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED-520x334.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf-and-Cultural-Affairs-Manager-Roberto-Bedoya-present-the-citys-first-ever-Cultural-Plan.-Credit-Chloe-Veltman-KQED.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya present the city’s first-ever Cultural Plan. \u003ccite>(Chloe Veltman / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these strategies require a huge infusion of support for Cultural Affairs,” Arnold said. “If you don’t increase their funding, projects requiring their input aren’t really going to happen.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One solution, according to the plan, is to increase the Cultural Funding Program’s share of Oakland’s hotel or transient occupancy tax, although this would require a ballot measure. “That’s a big lift,” said Arnold. “You have community support, but you need political will, money to get it on the ballot and a campaign to draw attention—and the hotel industry will fight back.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DOSP also proposes contributing public funds to another round of real-estate holding nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://cast-sf.org/\">Community Arts Stabilization Trust\u003c/a>’s “Keeping Space—Oakland,” which launched late 2016 to provide precarious local arts organizations financial and technical assistance; the first round was philanthropically financed. Oakland’s increasingly close partnership with CAST has previously \u003ca href=\"https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2018/06/culture-cash-oaklands-struggle-to-support-the-arts/\">stirred concerns\u003c/a> of Cultural Funding Program responsibilities being outsourced or privatized. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DOSP, developed with input from community advisory and stakeholder groups and public surveys, is still subject to change and requires approval from the Oakland City Council for adoption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Events for the public to \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/meetings/related-to/topics/downtown-oakland-specific-plan?range%5Bdate%5D=1567321200000%3A1569913199999\">learn more and provide feedback\u003c/a> on the document are scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 19 at Latham Square Plaza and Sunday, Sept. 29 at the Jack London Farmers Market. The Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Jack London Improvement District and Old Oakland Neighbors are also hosting informational events throughout September. \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "its-criminal-cultural-funding-cuts-frustrate-oakland-artists",
"title": "'It’s Criminal': Cultural Funding Cuts Frustrate Oakland Artists",
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"headTitle": "‘It’s Criminal’: Cultural Funding Cuts Frustrate Oakland Artists | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>At 14th and Alice Streets in downtown Oakland, the “Universal Language” mural traces the city’s black performing arts heritage. The late dancer Ruth Beckford, an influential promoter of Afro-Haitian styles, looms above performers with her mentee Deborah Vaughan’s Dimensions Dance Theater, which operates nearby at the \u003ca href=\"http://mccatheater.com/\">Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts\u003c/a>. The center’s namesake, Congolese artist and teacher Malonga Casquelourd, beats a drum at the center of another wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arts are but one theme of the 2,500 square foot mural, which also references organized labor and grassroots activism in Oakland’s black and Asian neighborhoods. Lead artists Desi Mundo and Pancho Peskador worked with the nonprofit Community Rejuvenation Project to conduct research and community outreach for six months before beginning to paint—an undertaking significantly buoyed a $40,000 grant from the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fewer than five years after its completion in 2014, though, the mural is disappearing behind a housing development on what was previously a parking lot. At the same time, the city program that supported the mural, plus many individual artists and Malonga tenants, recently had its grant-making budget reduced by 17 percent. “It’s criminal,” said Theo Aytchan Williams, director of Malonga tenant \u003ca href=\"https://sambafunk.com/\">SambaFunk\u003c/a>. “How can that happen while the city is beginning to prosper?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13861188\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13861188\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-800x450.jpg\" alt=\""Universal Language," a mural depicting Oakland's black performing arts heritage, will soon be completely obscured.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Universal Language,” a mural depicting Oakland’s black performing arts heritage, will soon be completely obscured. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland artists and activists have long agitated for boosting the Cultural Funding Program’s budget and infrastructure, holding it up as an important front in the fight against displacement. The grant-making operation rates applicants with an equity lens, supporting work that lifts up communities at risk of cultural erasure as the affordability crisis reshapes the city. “The roster of those top-ranked organizations is the backbone of the Oakland arts community,” said Mundo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, the Cultural Funding Program supported individual artist projects such as murals, performance series and documentaries; art-in-schools programs run by nonprofits including Destiny Arts Center and Women’s Audio Mission; and general operating subsidies for Creative Growth Art Center, Eastside Arts Alliance and the Oakland Ballet, among other institutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, the program has lately grown: Roberto Bedoya became the first Cultural Affairs Director in 2016, announcing an agenda of redressing historical injustice in the Cultural Plan last year. He also secured funding for a staffer to help reestablish an Art Commission; Oakland City Council approved related legislation Tuesday. And soon Bedoya will announce the first “cultural strategists in government”—artists embedded as “thought partners” in city departments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13861187\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13861187\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-800x481.jpg\" alt=\"Another panel of "Universal Language," showing the Congolese artist Malonga Casquelourd, in front of Oakland's changing skyline.\" width=\"800\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-800x481.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-160x96.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-768x462.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-1020x614.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-1200x722.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another panel of “Universal Language,” showing the Congolese artist Malonga Casquelourd, in front of Oakland’s changing skyline. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13840996/oakland-introduces-expanded-art-grants-program-announces-2018-awardees\">previously reported\u003c/a>, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has described Bedoya’s initiatives as part of the Cultural Affairs Unit’s rebound from the “devastating cuts of the recession,” but the budget City Council approved last month leaves his agency with more plans and less money: The annual grants budget is approximately 1,030,000, comprised of $730,000 from the general purpose fund and an anticipated $300,000 from hotel tax revenue, compared to $1,243,120 earmarked in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Organizational support and arts in schools are the cornerstones of the creation of a future for the arts in our beloved city, and given the rapid, dizzying gentrification we’re experiencing it’s fundamental that you remove not one dollar from our cultural funding program,” said Angela Wellman, director of the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, at the June 24 meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The councilmembers included a policy directive in their budget urging city staff to “identify ways to restore and make permanent additional funding for cultural affairs” by May of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the Cultural Plan, Oakland’s inflation-adjusted grant-making budget is nearly half of what was in 2001, and in recent years the number of applications has dramatically increased. This year, according to Bedoya, there were 25 percent more grant applicants than in 2018. “People are asking for support,” he said. “We’re still hoping the budget will increase along with the need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13861183\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13861183\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"The Cultural Funding Program supports many tenants of the city-owned Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cultural Funding Program supports many tenants of the city-owned Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mundo, head of the Community Rejuvenation Project, believes declining grant dollars reflects the “privatization of public artwork.” In downtown Oakland, there are more murals than ever; housing developers tout them as amenities, and sports teams sponsor them for promotion in the guise of grassroots fandom. Instead of the deeply-researched “Universal Language” mural, Mundo said, public artwork is increasingly advertisements or corporate commissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mundo noted the bureaucracy of the Cultural Funding Program is its own frustration: Artists shouldn’t have to also be lobbyists and nonprofit administrators. Still, he called it a reliable supporter of projects with a point of view and rich cultural texture. The CFP’s support of “Universal Language,” for example, offset the cost of a Cantonese translator to interview neighbors, and to study performances to capture dancers’ expressive gestures on the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Universal Language” also depicts artists at a City Council meeting in 2003 to protest then-Mayor Jerry Brown’s attempt to shutter the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts (then the Alice Arts Center)—content that isn’t likely to appear in public artwork sponsored by the city’s tourism bureau, Visit Oakland. “But now we’re moving towards a patronage system,” Mundo said. “Less cultural stories, less of the struggle, more of the commercial and abstract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13861182\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13861182\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A Community Rejuvenation Project on Grand Ave in Oakland depicts the Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Community Rejuvenation Project on Grand Ave in Oakland depicts the Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The budget passed last month does include a $100,000 “community murals” fund, but it mostly continues a preexisting “graffiti abatement” fund by another name. Mundo’s organization tracked the abatement dollars, finding some councilmembers didn’t use them for public artwork at all. “It’s really a slush fund,” he said. “They’re almost appropriating money from cultural funding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bedoya acknowledged the new fund is similarly aimed at deterring graffiti, but said his department will more closely oversee councilmembers’ projects. And Councilmember Dan Kalb said at the June 24 meeting that he welcomes the greater involvement from Bedoya’s department. “It’s better government to do this through cultural affairs,” Kalb said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also new in the city’s budget is $75,000 for signage and “capacity building” in the Black Arts Movement Business District, which Oakland established downtown in 2016. Ayodele Nzinga, founding director of Lower Bottom Playaz, said it’s the first time the city has funded the district at all. “The point is they created a district three years ago without so much as a plan or budget for a banner,” she said, adding that district stakeholders will use the money to seek private grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10139725\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/Mural-Wide-300x199.jpg\" alt='The \"Universal Language\" mural on Alice Street in downtown Oakland in 2014. ' width=\"300\" height=\"199\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10139725\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/Mural-Wide-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/Mural-Wide-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/Mural-Wide.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The “Universal Language” mural on Alice Street in downtown Oakland in 2014. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Community Rejuvenation Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As much as the “Universal Language” mural shows what Oakland stands to lose by reducing its investment in the arts, it also illustrates the power of cultural groups united by a common grievance. In 2016, when the project set to block “Universal Language” was first approved, the mural’s creators joined with neighborhood activists and Malonga tenants to appeal the development, citing concerns that it would further destabilize the scrappy cultural center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They won a community benefits agreement—and modeled a negotiating tactic \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13861121/kaiser-auditorium-redevelopment-proceeds-with-permanent-affordability-for-arts-groups\">recently used\u003c/a> by critics of Orton Development’s plan to renovate the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center—that required the developer to donate money to the Malonga, and also to help pay for a replacement mural nearby. Eric Arnold, who helped negotiate the deal, said the replacement mural will deal with similar themes, and that it will be on the wall of the Greenlining Institute two blocks away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Arnold, the way the mural’s removal spurred a powerful coalition of arts and neighborhood groups is a heartening example of frustrated community members taking matters into their own hands. “Whatever you think is against you, developers, city hall—there’s a way to change the narrative,” he said. The new mural, he added, might incorporate the tale of the old one.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "'It’s Criminal': Cultural Funding Cuts Frustrate Oakland Artists | KQED",
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"headline": "'It’s Criminal': Cultural Funding Cuts Frustrate Oakland Artists",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At 14th and Alice Streets in downtown Oakland, the “Universal Language” mural traces the city’s black performing arts heritage. The late dancer Ruth Beckford, an influential promoter of Afro-Haitian styles, looms above performers with her mentee Deborah Vaughan’s Dimensions Dance Theater, which operates nearby at the \u003ca href=\"http://mccatheater.com/\">Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts\u003c/a>. The center’s namesake, Congolese artist and teacher Malonga Casquelourd, beats a drum at the center of another wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arts are but one theme of the 2,500 square foot mural, which also references organized labor and grassroots activism in Oakland’s black and Asian neighborhoods. Lead artists Desi Mundo and Pancho Peskador worked with the nonprofit Community Rejuvenation Project to conduct research and community outreach for six months before beginning to paint—an undertaking significantly buoyed a $40,000 grant from the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fewer than five years after its completion in 2014, though, the mural is disappearing behind a housing development on what was previously a parking lot. At the same time, the city program that supported the mural, plus many individual artists and Malonga tenants, recently had its grant-making budget reduced by 17 percent. “It’s criminal,” said Theo Aytchan Williams, director of Malonga tenant \u003ca href=\"https://sambafunk.com/\">SambaFunk\u003c/a>. “How can that happen while the city is beginning to prosper?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13861188\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13861188\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-800x450.jpg\" alt=\""Universal Language," a mural depicting Oakland's black performing arts heritage, will soon be completely obscured.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-2.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Universal Language,” a mural depicting Oakland’s black performing arts heritage, will soon be completely obscured. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland artists and activists have long agitated for boosting the Cultural Funding Program’s budget and infrastructure, holding it up as an important front in the fight against displacement. The grant-making operation rates applicants with an equity lens, supporting work that lifts up communities at risk of cultural erasure as the affordability crisis reshapes the city. “The roster of those top-ranked organizations is the backbone of the Oakland arts community,” said Mundo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, the Cultural Funding Program supported individual artist projects such as murals, performance series and documentaries; art-in-schools programs run by nonprofits including Destiny Arts Center and Women’s Audio Mission; and general operating subsidies for Creative Growth Art Center, Eastside Arts Alliance and the Oakland Ballet, among other institutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, the program has lately grown: Roberto Bedoya became the first Cultural Affairs Director in 2016, announcing an agenda of redressing historical injustice in the Cultural Plan last year. He also secured funding for a staffer to help reestablish an Art Commission; Oakland City Council approved related legislation Tuesday. And soon Bedoya will announce the first “cultural strategists in government”—artists embedded as “thought partners” in city departments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13861187\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13861187\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-800x481.jpg\" alt=\"Another panel of "Universal Language," showing the Congolese artist Malonga Casquelourd, in front of Oakland's changing skyline.\" width=\"800\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-800x481.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-160x96.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-768x462.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-1020x614.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development-1200x722.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Universal-Language-Mural-Obscured-by-Development.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another panel of “Universal Language,” showing the Congolese artist Malonga Casquelourd, in front of Oakland’s changing skyline. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13840996/oakland-introduces-expanded-art-grants-program-announces-2018-awardees\">previously reported\u003c/a>, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has described Bedoya’s initiatives as part of the Cultural Affairs Unit’s rebound from the “devastating cuts of the recession,” but the budget City Council approved last month leaves his agency with more plans and less money: The annual grants budget is approximately 1,030,000, comprised of $730,000 from the general purpose fund and an anticipated $300,000 from hotel tax revenue, compared to $1,243,120 earmarked in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Organizational support and arts in schools are the cornerstones of the creation of a future for the arts in our beloved city, and given the rapid, dizzying gentrification we’re experiencing it’s fundamental that you remove not one dollar from our cultural funding program,” said Angela Wellman, director of the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, at the June 24 meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The councilmembers included a policy directive in their budget urging city staff to “identify ways to restore and make permanent additional funding for cultural affairs” by May of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the Cultural Plan, Oakland’s inflation-adjusted grant-making budget is nearly half of what was in 2001, and in recent years the number of applications has dramatically increased. This year, according to Bedoya, there were 25 percent more grant applicants than in 2018. “People are asking for support,” he said. “We’re still hoping the budget will increase along with the need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13861183\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13861183\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"The Cultural Funding Program supports many tenants of the city-owned Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Malonga-Casquelourd-Center-for-the-Arts.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cultural Funding Program supports many tenants of the city-owned Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mundo, head of the Community Rejuvenation Project, believes declining grant dollars reflects the “privatization of public artwork.” In downtown Oakland, there are more murals than ever; housing developers tout them as amenities, and sports teams sponsor them for promotion in the guise of grassroots fandom. Instead of the deeply-researched “Universal Language” mural, Mundo said, public artwork is increasingly advertisements or corporate commissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mundo noted the bureaucracy of the Cultural Funding Program is its own frustration: Artists shouldn’t have to also be lobbyists and nonprofit administrators. Still, he called it a reliable supporter of projects with a point of view and rich cultural texture. The CFP’s support of “Universal Language,” for example, offset the cost of a Cantonese translator to interview neighbors, and to study performances to capture dancers’ expressive gestures on the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Universal Language” also depicts artists at a City Council meeting in 2003 to protest then-Mayor Jerry Brown’s attempt to shutter the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts (then the Alice Arts Center)—content that isn’t likely to appear in public artwork sponsored by the city’s tourism bureau, Visit Oakland. “But now we’re moving towards a patronage system,” Mundo said. “Less cultural stories, less of the struggle, more of the commercial and abstract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13861182\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13861182\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A Community Rejuvenation Project on Grand Ave in Oakland depicts the Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/CRP-Mural-on-Grand-Showing-Garvey-Community-Rejuvenation-Project.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Community Rejuvenation Project on Grand Ave in Oakland depicts the Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The budget passed last month does include a $100,000 “community murals” fund, but it mostly continues a preexisting “graffiti abatement” fund by another name. Mundo’s organization tracked the abatement dollars, finding some councilmembers didn’t use them for public artwork at all. “It’s really a slush fund,” he said. “They’re almost appropriating money from cultural funding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bedoya acknowledged the new fund is similarly aimed at deterring graffiti, but said his department will more closely oversee councilmembers’ projects. And Councilmember Dan Kalb said at the June 24 meeting that he welcomes the greater involvement from Bedoya’s department. “It’s better government to do this through cultural affairs,” Kalb said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also new in the city’s budget is $75,000 for signage and “capacity building” in the Black Arts Movement Business District, which Oakland established downtown in 2016. Ayodele Nzinga, founding director of Lower Bottom Playaz, said it’s the first time the city has funded the district at all. “The point is they created a district three years ago without so much as a plan or budget for a banner,” she said, adding that district stakeholders will use the money to seek private grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10139725\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/Mural-Wide-300x199.jpg\" alt='The \"Universal Language\" mural on Alice Street in downtown Oakland in 2014. ' width=\"300\" height=\"199\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10139725\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/Mural-Wide-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/Mural-Wide-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/Mural-Wide.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The “Universal Language” mural on Alice Street in downtown Oakland in 2014. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Community Rejuvenation Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As much as the “Universal Language” mural shows what Oakland stands to lose by reducing its investment in the arts, it also illustrates the power of cultural groups united by a common grievance. In 2016, when the project set to block “Universal Language” was first approved, the mural’s creators joined with neighborhood activists and Malonga tenants to appeal the development, citing concerns that it would further destabilize the scrappy cultural center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They won a community benefits agreement—and modeled a negotiating tactic \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13861121/kaiser-auditorium-redevelopment-proceeds-with-permanent-affordability-for-arts-groups\">recently used\u003c/a> by critics of Orton Development’s plan to renovate the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center—that required the developer to donate money to the Malonga, and also to help pay for a replacement mural nearby. Eric Arnold, who helped negotiate the deal, said the replacement mural will deal with similar themes, and that it will be on the wall of the Greenlining Institute two blocks away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Arnold, the way the mural’s removal spurred a powerful coalition of arts and neighborhood groups is a heartening example of frustrated community members taking matters into their own hands. “Whatever you think is against you, developers, city hall—there’s a way to change the narrative,” he said. The new mural, he added, might incorporate the tale of the old one.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-introduces-expanded-art-grants-program-announces-2018-awardees",
"title": "Oakland Introduces Expanded Art Grants Program, Announces 2018 Awardees",
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"headTitle": "Oakland Introduces Expanded Art Grants Program, Announces 2018 Awardees | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Oakland officials introduced a restructured and expanded art grants program at a press conference Monday, delivering on changes envisioned in the city’s new Cultural Plan. The announcement came as city council prepares to approve \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/FY1819-GRANTS.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">80 projects selected\u003c/a> for the first round of 2018 funding, totaling $1,136,253.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initiatives in the expanded program include a residency program for artists to embed as creative problem-solvers within city agencies such as transportation or planning, as well as funds for nonprofits to partner with local cultural organizations on projects fostering neighborhood identity. The former will support 3-5 artists, with the duration and award figure to be determined. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The categories reflect proposals in the city’s Cultural Plan, “Belonging in Oakland,” a roadmap for the Cultural Funding Program under the leadership of poet and longtime arts administrator Roberto Bedoya, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11976824/oakland-hires-its-first-cultural-affairs-manager\">started\u003c/a> as the Oakland’s first-ever cultural affairs manager in September of 2016. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101864466/oakland-releases-plan-to-support-arts-residents-expressive-life\">Oakland’s first since 1988\u003c/a>, describes focusing Bedoya’s agency on the roots, and not merely the symptoms, of cultural erasure at a time of widespread displacement. “What’s paramount to this process and putting the plan together is to have a vision of cultural equity at the heart of what we do,” Bedoya said at the press conference. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget and infrastructure of the Cultural Affairs Unit, which funds projects by organizations as well as individual artists, dramatically downsized during the Great Recession. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf described today’s news as part of an agency rebound. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we rebuilt our cultural arts program following the devastating cuts of the recession, we knew that we needed a leader who not only understood government arts programs, but was uniquely position to address the cultural needs of the city,” Schaaf said of Bedoya. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups such as the Oakland Creative Neighborhoods Coalition have in recent years pleaded for more robust cultural funding, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/oaklands-new-budget-whats-in-it-for-the-arts/Content?oid=7963862\">calling attention\u003c/a> to dwindling space and resources for local artists. According to a 2017 staff report, the number of applications to the individual artist project category has increased 50-60 percent since 2012, but the cultural plan notes Oakland’s inflation-adjusted grant-making budget is nearly half of what it was in 2001.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first annual grants round overseen entirely by Bedoya, which Oakland’s city council is set to approve Monday, distributes $1.1 million to 70 artists and organizations. An additional $100,000 is earmarked for the residency and neighborhood-based programs, which have an application deadline of Dec. 15. The combined figure for both rounds—$1,236,253—is a nudge more than in recent years, reflecting onetime funds set aside by city council last summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Awardees in the most recent round include Spencer Wilkinson, who’s finishing a documentary centered on the downtown Universal Language mural; Eric Arnold, who’s researching a book and exhibition about Oakland’s boogaloo dance subculture; Josephine Lee, who oversees the Jazz on Sunday program at Golden Gate Library; and youth programs from organizations such as Hip-Hop for Change and Women’s Audio Mission. The staff report notes 16 percent of the 138 proposals came from first-time applicants. (See the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/FY1819-GRANTS.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">full list of awardees here\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other initiatives in the Cultural Plan include overhauling “context-impervious” grant requirements such as insurance and full-time paid staff, which Bedoya said would be incorporated into the process next year, and securing permanent funding for the mayor’s policy director for art spaces, a position currently held by Kelley Kahn and backed by a two-year grant from the Oakland-based Kenneth Rainin Foundation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last June, Oakland’s city council also allocated $150,000 for Bedoya to hire a staffer to oversee recreating the defunct arts commission, which would add another peer-based layer to the grant-making process. Bedoya said he’s interviewing candidates for the role. The plan suggests that the process, which currently involves five steps, warrants “streamlining.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 119-page Cultural Plan, a draft of which appeared in March, incorporates feedback received at 14 community meetings, 450 responses to an online survey, and recommendations from the Artist Housing and Workspace task force convened in 2016. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let us be clear,” Schaaf said on Monday. “The plan is over the finish line, but implementation is at the starting line.” \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Oakland officials introduced a restructured and expanded art grants program at a press conference Monday, delivering on changes envisioned in the city’s new Cultural Plan. The announcement came as city council prepares to approve \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/FY1819-GRANTS.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">80 projects selected\u003c/a> for the first round of 2018 funding, totaling $1,136,253.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initiatives in the expanded program include a residency program for artists to embed as creative problem-solvers within city agencies such as transportation or planning, as well as funds for nonprofits to partner with local cultural organizations on projects fostering neighborhood identity. The former will support 3-5 artists, with the duration and award figure to be determined. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The categories reflect proposals in the city’s Cultural Plan, “Belonging in Oakland,” a roadmap for the Cultural Funding Program under the leadership of poet and longtime arts administrator Roberto Bedoya, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11976824/oakland-hires-its-first-cultural-affairs-manager\">started\u003c/a> as the Oakland’s first-ever cultural affairs manager in September of 2016. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101864466/oakland-releases-plan-to-support-arts-residents-expressive-life\">Oakland’s first since 1988\u003c/a>, describes focusing Bedoya’s agency on the roots, and not merely the symptoms, of cultural erasure at a time of widespread displacement. “What’s paramount to this process and putting the plan together is to have a vision of cultural equity at the heart of what we do,” Bedoya said at the press conference. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget and infrastructure of the Cultural Affairs Unit, which funds projects by organizations as well as individual artists, dramatically downsized during the Great Recession. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf described today’s news as part of an agency rebound. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we rebuilt our cultural arts program following the devastating cuts of the recession, we knew that we needed a leader who not only understood government arts programs, but was uniquely position to address the cultural needs of the city,” Schaaf said of Bedoya. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups such as the Oakland Creative Neighborhoods Coalition have in recent years pleaded for more robust cultural funding, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/oaklands-new-budget-whats-in-it-for-the-arts/Content?oid=7963862\">calling attention\u003c/a> to dwindling space and resources for local artists. According to a 2017 staff report, the number of applications to the individual artist project category has increased 50-60 percent since 2012, but the cultural plan notes Oakland’s inflation-adjusted grant-making budget is nearly half of what it was in 2001.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first annual grants round overseen entirely by Bedoya, which Oakland’s city council is set to approve Monday, distributes $1.1 million to 70 artists and organizations. An additional $100,000 is earmarked for the residency and neighborhood-based programs, which have an application deadline of Dec. 15. The combined figure for both rounds—$1,236,253—is a nudge more than in recent years, reflecting onetime funds set aside by city council last summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Awardees in the most recent round include Spencer Wilkinson, who’s finishing a documentary centered on the downtown Universal Language mural; Eric Arnold, who’s researching a book and exhibition about Oakland’s boogaloo dance subculture; Josephine Lee, who oversees the Jazz on Sunday program at Golden Gate Library; and youth programs from organizations such as Hip-Hop for Change and Women’s Audio Mission. The staff report notes 16 percent of the 138 proposals came from first-time applicants. (See the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/FY1819-GRANTS.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">full list of awardees here\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other initiatives in the Cultural Plan include overhauling “context-impervious” grant requirements such as insurance and full-time paid staff, which Bedoya said would be incorporated into the process next year, and securing permanent funding for the mayor’s policy director for art spaces, a position currently held by Kelley Kahn and backed by a two-year grant from the Oakland-based Kenneth Rainin Foundation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last June, Oakland’s city council also allocated $150,000 for Bedoya to hire a staffer to oversee recreating the defunct arts commission, which would add another peer-based layer to the grant-making process. Bedoya said he’s interviewing candidates for the role. The plan suggests that the process, which currently involves five steps, warrants “streamlining.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 119-page Cultural Plan, a draft of which appeared in March, incorporates feedback received at 14 community meetings, 450 responses to an online survey, and recommendations from the Artist Housing and Workspace task force convened in 2016. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let us be clear,” Schaaf said on Monday. “The plan is over the finish line, but implementation is at the starting line.” \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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