Go beyond the walls of the Oakland Museum of California to experience Around the Block: A Day of Neighborhood Stories. Visit five engaging pop-up projects within a three-block radius of OMCA, for one day only on Saturday, September 29, 2018. Explore dynamic and interactive events created by artists and community organizers through shared storytelling, literature, dance, art, performances, and photography.
Listen, learn, and contribute your own story to these discussions about the many important issues facing of Oakland today, including cultural legacy, gentrification, homelessness, and processing emotions around loss of life. Pick up a map at OMCA to find your way to each of the five locations and be a part of a special one-day celebration of Oakland’s culture.
Schedule of events:
Somethings Last Forever: Messages to Our Future/Past - Yetunde Olagbaju / There is No Time
OMCA Oak Street Plaza, Level 3
Visitors can screen print their own posters with messages, letters, and advice to their past and future selves, and scan and print their meaningful photos to add to their letters.
11 am–5 pm Screen printing, letter writing, photo scanning
home is where - Greacian Goeke and Kaethe Weingarten / Center for Elders Independence
Laney College quad
A day of storytelling, Tai Chi, music, postcard-writing, and interactive dance performances based on interviews with elder residents in Downtown Oakland.
10-11:45 am Meet at 10th & Fallon Streets for umbrella procession over to Laney College. Interactive performance and surprise
12–2 pm Conversations About Home/Postcards
2-2:45 pm Meet at 10th & Fallon Streets for umbrella procession over to Laney College. Interactive performance and movement improvisation for all ages
3–3:30 pm Peaceful Warriors/T’ai Chi, Yang Short Form
3:30–4 pm Live Acoustic Blues Guitar and Song, Waxwing John Cowan
4–4:45 pm Meet at 10th & Fallon Streets for umbrella procession over to Laney College. Interactive performance and closing dance for all ages
Channeling - Emma Spertus and Johnna Arnold / Real Time & Space
Lake Merritt BART Plaza
Channeling, a pop-up art show of created in free outdoor workshops in Peralta Park, reflects on the experiential, dynamic practice of connecting art with everyday life.
11:30 am–2 pm Plein Air painting - Paulette Nichols
11 am–5 pm:
Infrastructure Stack - Emma Spertus
Imagination is Everything - Johnna Arnold
Re-sounding - Steven Garen
Sanctuary Print Shop - Sergio De La Torre + Chris Treggiari
Boundaries and Selves - Ymy Sfumato (performed by Miriam Dym)
BART Plaza Botanical Drawing - Anne Seeman
Bring on the Drums - Jahi / Microphone Mechanics and Making a Joyful Noise: Community and Belonging in Lake Merritt - Gayle “Asali” Dickson / African American Museum & Library at Oakland
OMCA Amphitheater
Explore African American histories and experiences around the contested definition of "noise" in the Lake Merritt neighborhood. There will be art, a presentation and discussion by community leaders, and a pop-up drum-making and rhythm workshop.
11 am-1 pm Drum making workshop with Jahi & Microphone Mechanics
1-2:30 pm Panel Discussion including artist, Gayle Dickson, Rev. Anthony Jenkins, Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church, retired educator, Electra Price, and others, with moderator, Susan D. Anderson, AAMLO
2:30-3 pm Q&A with panelists
3 pm Drum circle with Jahi & Microphone Mechanics
Neighbors' Edge - marksearch/Youth Beat
Oakland Public Library, Main Branch
Sidewalk interviews, spoken word performance, and a youth panel discussion highlighting the voices of Youth Beat journalists and Oakland Main Library Teen Zone Participants, focusing on change in our city.
11 am-5 pm Zine Making
12:30-1 pm Spoken word performances by the Main Library Teen Zone Participants
1:30-3 pm Youth Beat Journalists Sidewalk Interviews
3-3:30 pm Spoken Word performance II by Main Library Teen Zone Participants
3:30-4 pm Youth Beat Journalists Sidewalk Interviews
4-5 pm Youth panel
