Oakland Futures is a project of the Center for Cultural Power that uplifts, shares and connects stories about our city’s complex history, current moment and future promise, through the lens of BIPOC storytellers in Oakland.
Our goal is to create and catalyze public narratives that compel our city to invest in Oakland’s BIPOC arts and culture communities in unprecedented ways.
ABOUT
In year one of our project we brought together a cohort of 18 Oakland Artists with Whole Story Group and The Center for Cultural Power and workshopped the narrative shifts we wanted to see in stories about Oakland.
From that, 5 pieces of art were created and we aim to create more with this Artist call. We hope more Oakland Artists are inspired to join the cohort in hopes of using their art to strengthen the positive narratives we want to see about Oakland. We want to move from just talking about cultural shift to allowing our work to be the cultural shift.
History of Oakland Futures
ABOUT
Oakland Futures is a project of the Center for Cultural Power that uplifts, shares and connects stories about our city’s complex history, current moment and future promise, through the lens of BIPOC storytellers in Oakland.
Our goal is to create and catalyze public narratives that compel our city to invest in Oakland’s BIPOC arts and culture communities in unprecedented ways.
IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE OUR
Artist Call for Oakland Artists!
Our call is simple. Be inspired by our Story Threads in our Creative Brief or our Issue Areas and submit a proposal idea for short form content. Artists chosen will receive a $500 - $1000 Award and a platform for their work on our social media @culturestrike.
In year one of our project we brought together a cohort of 18 Oakland Artists with Whole Story Group and The Center for Cultural Power and workshopped the narrative shifts we wanted to see in stories about Oakland.
From that, 5 pieces of art were created and we aim to create more with this Artist call. We hope more Oakland Artists are inspired to join the cohort in hopes of using their art to strengthen the positive narratives we want to see about Oakland. We want to move from just talking about cultural shift to allowing our work to be the cultural shift.
History of Oakland Futures
In year one of our project we brought together a cohort of 18 Oakland Artists with Whole Story Group and The Center for Cultural Power and workshopped the narrative shifts we wanted to see in stories about Oakland.
From that, 5 pieces of art were created and we aim to create more with this Artist call. We hope more Oakland Artists are inspired to join the cohort in hopes of using their art to strengthen the positive narratives we want to see about Oakland. We want to move from just talking about cultural shift to allowing our work to be the cultural shift.
History of Oakland Futures
IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE OUR
Our call is simple. Be inspired by our Story Threads in our Creative Brief or our Issue Areas and submit a proposal idea for short form content. Artists chosen will receive a $500 - $1000 Award and a platform for their work on our social media @culturestrike.
Artist Call for Oakland Artists!
EXPLORING STORY THREADS
We invite you to create new works of art that builds on any one of Oakland Futures’ Story Threads, or Issue Areas developed by Oakland BIPOC artists of the Oakland Futures project. These threads serve to manifest BIPOC artists’ future visions for Oakland, where BIPOC artists are cherished, celebrated and wildly invested in.
Woven together, the four Story Threads create a shared narrative throughline about who we are as artists in Oakland, and our role in building a future where we’re all celebrated and cared for.
STORY THREADS
NARRATIVE THROUGHLINES OR STORY ‘TOPICS’
WE INSPIRE
THE WORLD
WE ARE INNOVATORS
OF NEW ECONOMIES
OAKLAND IS FULL OF CULTURAL TREASURE
CULTURAL POWER
IS RACIAL JUSTICE
Oakland Artists create new economies. We manifest the resources that proliferate creativity. Our marketplaces reflect abundance, a diversity of skills and knowledge, and opportunities for young artists to learn about community-based economies. We know our city is rich in resources so we build upon our natural ecosystems rather than outsourcing, extracting and creating excess. Oakland Artists hold the power to create new networks when the olds ways stop serving the People.
Oakland Artists create art that is globally recognized. From the Pointer Sisters, to MC Hammer, to Bruce Lee, to Emory Douglas, to Too $hort, to En Vogue, to Sheila E., to Ryan Coogler, to Chinaka Hodge, to Raphael Saadiq, to Goapele, to Digital Underground, to Hieroglyphics, to Keyshia Cole, to Zendaya, to Daveed Diggs, to Alphabet Rockers, to Kehlani and every artist of the Oakland Futures project. Oakland Artists are beloved by fans and audiences across the world for our power to break and create new molds, while never losing our ethos of radical love and belonging.
Oakland BIPOC artists are our city’s cultural treasure. In times of peace, as well as in times of crisis, BIPOC artists use our magic to heal the city, and the worlds we touch and yet we have not benefited from our city’s economic or political wins. Gentrification, displacement, racial injustice and the whitening of local histories has made it easy to fall into a ‘cultural amnesia.’ Oakland BIPOC artists dream about what more we might create with real resources, with the trust and backing of city leaders, with the right platforms and venues. Oakland must invest in cultural infrastructure that protects its cultural creators. Our call is to everyday Oaklanders to invest and uplift in BIPOC artists in unprecedented ways as we move into a new future.
One of our greatest powers as BIPOC artists is that we understand that the fight for racial justice cannot be achieved without cultural power. We call out the names of injustices that hope to go unseen. We dance and process in ritual movement on sidewalks where police have beaten Black and Brown bodies. We make a kind of noise the world cannot resist.
REQUIREMENTS
Be an Oakland Artist or artist predominately practicing or performing in Oakland
Applications open ➜ September 1 - September 30
Application Review ➜ October 1 - October 15
Artist Grant Award Notification ➜ October 15
Artist Art Development ➜ October 15 - November 15
Art Distribution ➜ Throughout Winter 2022
TIMELINE
ISSUE AREAS
SUBMIT PROPOSAL BY SEPTEMBER 30
& ISSUE AREAS
EXPLORING STORY THREADS
We invite you to create new works of art that builds on any one of Oakland Futures’ Story Threads, or Issue Areas developed by Oakland BIPOC artists of the Oakland Futures project. These threads serve to manifest BIPOC artists’ future visions for Oakland, where BIPOC artists are cherished, celebrated and wildly invested in.
Woven together, the four Story Threads create a shared narrative throughline about who we are as artists in Oakland, and our role in building a future where we’re all celebrated and cared for.
STORY THREADS
NARRATIVE THROUGHLINES OR STORY ‘TOPICS’
WE INSPIRE
THE WORLD
WE ARE INNOVATORS
OF NEW ECONOMIES
OAKLAND IS FULL OF CULTURAL TREASURE
CULTURAL POWER
IS RACIAL JUSTICE
Oakland Artists create new economies. We manifest the resources that proliferate creativity. Our marketplaces reflect abundance, a diversity of skills and knowledge, and opportunities for young artists to learn about community-based economies. We know our city is rich in resources so we build upon our natural ecosystems rather than outsourcing, extracting and creating excess. Oakland Artists hold the power to create new networks when the olds ways stop serving the People.
Oakland Artists create art that is globally recognized. From the Pointer Sisters, to MC Hammer, to Bruce Lee, to Emory Douglas, to Too $hort, to En Vogue, to Sheila E., to Ryan Coogler, to Chinaka Hodge, to Raphael Saadiq, to Goapele, to Digital Underground, to Hieroglyphics, to Keyshia Cole, to Zendaya, to Daveed Diggs, to Alphabet Rockers, to Kehlani and every artist of the Oakland Futures project. Oakland Artists are beloved by fans and audiences across the world for our power to break and create new molds, while never losing our ethos of radical love and belonging.
Oakland BIPOC artists are our city’s cultural treasure. In times of peace, as well as in times of crisis, BIPOC artists use our magic to heal the city, and the worlds we touch and yet we have not benefited from our city’s economic or political wins. Gentrification, displacement, racial injustice and the whitening of local histories has made it easy to fall into a ‘cultural amnesia.’ Oakland BIPOC artists dream about what more we might create with real resources, with the trust and backing of city leaders, with the right platforms and venues. Oakland must invest in cultural infrastructure that protects its cultural creators. Our call is to everyday Oaklanders to invest and uplift in BIPOC artists in unprecedented ways as we move into a new future.
One of our greatest powers as BIPOC artists is that we understand that the fight for racial justice cannot be achieved without cultural power. We call out the names of injustices that hope to go unseen. We dance and process in ritual movement on sidewalks where police have beaten Black and Brown bodies. We make a kind of noise the world cannot resist.
REQUIREMENTS
Be an Oakland Artist or artist predominately practicing or performing in Oakland
Applications open ➜ September 1 - September 30
Application Review ➜ October 1 - October 15
Artist Grant Award Notification ➜ October 15
Artist Art Development ➜ October 15 - November 15
Art Distribution ➜ Throughout Winter 2022
TIMELINE
ISSUE AREAS
SUBMIT PROPOSAL BY SEPTEMBER 30
& ISSUE AREAS
We invite you to create new works of art that builds on any one of Oakland Futures’ Story Threads, or Issue Areas developed by Oakland BIPOC artists of the Oakland Futures project. These threads serve to manifest BIPOC artists’ future visions for Oakland, where BIPOC artists are cherished, celebrated and wildly invested in.
Woven together, the four Story Threads create a shared narrative throughline about who we are as artists in Oakland, and our role in building a future where we’re all celebrated and cared for.
EXPLORING STORY THREADS
& ISSUE AREAS
REQUIREMENTS
Be an Oakland Artist or artist predominately practicing or performing in Oakland
SUBMIT PROPOSAL BY SEPTEMBER 30
Applications open ➜
September 1 - September 30
Application Review ➜
October 1 - October 15
Artist Grant Award Notification ➜
October 15
Artist Art Development ➜
October 15 - November 15
Art Distribution ➜
Throughout Winter 2022
TIMELINE
Gender Justice
Climate
Immigration
ISSUE AREAS
STORY THREADS
NARRATIVE THROUGHLINES OR STORY ‘TOPICS’
Oakland Artists create new economies. We manifest the resources that proliferate creativity. Our marketplaces reflect abundance, a diversity of skills and knowledge, and opportunities for young artists to learn about community-based economies. We know our city is rich in resources so we build upon our natural ecosystems rather than outsourcing, extracting and creating excess. Oakland Artists hold the power to create new networks when the olds ways stop serving the People.
WE ARE INNOVATORS OF NEW ECONOMIES
Oakland Artists create art that is globally recognized. From the Pointer Sisters, to MC Hammer, to Bruce Lee, to Emory Douglas, to Too $hort, to En Vogue, to Sheila E., to Ryan Coogler, to Chinaka Hodge, to Raphael Saadiq, to Goapele, to Digital Underground, to Hieroglyphics, to Keyshia Cole, to Zendaya, to Daveed Diggs, to Alphabet Rockers, to Kehlani and every artist of the Oakland Futures project. Oakland Artists are beloved by fans and audiences across the world for our power to break and create new molds, while never losing our ethos of radical love and belonging.
WE INSPIRE THE WORLD
Oakland BIPOC artists are our city’s cultural treasure. In times of peace, as well as in times of crisis, BIPOC artists use our magic to heal the city, and the worlds we touch and yet we have not benefited from our city’s economic or political wins. Gentrification, displacement, racial injustice and the whitening of local histories has made it easy to fall into a ‘cultural amnesia.’ Oakland BIPOC artists dream about what more we might create with real resources, with the trust and backing of city leaders, with the right platforms and venues. Oakland must invest in cultural infrastructure that protects its cultural creators. Our call is to everyday Oaklanders to invest and uplift in BIPOC artists in unprecedented ways as we move into a new future.
OAKLAND IS FULL OF CULTURAL TREASURE
One of our greatest powers as BIPOC artists is that we understand that the fight for racial justice cannot be achieved without cultural power. We call out the names of injustices that hope to go unseen. We dance and process in ritual movement on sidewalks where police have beaten Black and Brown bodies. We make a kind of noise the world cannot resist.
