Events

The Fight Against Gentrification: Qilombo’s Upcoming Art Gallery

Published

8 years ago

January 21, 2016

Qilombo Community Center of the Afrikatown and McClymonds district has teamed up with local Oakland artist and photographer Danté-Alexander to launch a monthly Art Showcase & Gallery on First Fridays.

Join the community center for its groundbreaking event on Friday, Feb. 5 at Qilombo, located at 2313 San Pablo Ave in Oakland, starting at 7 p.m.

The community center encourages people to submit art of any expression (from paintings and sculpture to spoken word and performances). The first place winner will win cash prizes.

Last November, Qilombo hosted its first Anti-Gentrification Block Party. The event celebrated the importance of communities standing together in solidarity against gentrification and announced that the community center won its fight against its own eviction.

According to Qilombo’s volunteers, in the subsequent months the center was paid a visit from a representative from the Planning and Building Department of Oakland. The representative laid out a pamphlet of what Oakland will look like over the course of five to ten years, which included a Black Arts District.

Volunteer Chaga Kwa Nia, an Oakland native and community organizer, said he agreed that Oakland needed development, but the kind of economic development that would not displace low-income residents in the process.

Another volunteer, Van Dell, said the Black Arts District that the city is designating would be more of a museum to the past.

“How can you have a Black Arts District without Black people,” said Dell. “These plans are designed around investors and developers and are trying to plug in social justice out of the concerns of Oakland residents rather being designed around human lives.”

“It’s time to make our own Black Renaissance and Black Arts District, one that Afrikans can be able to fight to stay in Oakland to enjoy what we have created,” said Dell.

Guidelines for submitting art can be found on the Qilombo Art & Gallery Showcase Facebook page. Submission deadline is Wednesday, Feb. 3 at midnight.

Contest themes include gentrification, ceremony, Black & Indigenous solidarity, Afrofuturism and resistance.

For more information, contact info@qilombo.org

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Arts and Culture

Richmond Preps for Full Weekend of Cinco de Mayo Festivities

Cinco de Mayo festivities in Richmond and San Pablo are some of the bests in Bay, and organizers say that tradition will be alive and well at this weekend’s annual parade and festival. The action kicks off Saturday, May 4, with the 16th Annual Cinco de Mayo Richmond/San Pablo Peace & Unity Parade. The parade of floats, performances, and community organizations starts at 10 a.m. at 24th Street and Barrett Avenue and Richmond and ends at 12:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 1845 Church Lane in San Pablo.

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Scene from the 2023 Cinco de Mayo parade from Richmond to San Pablo. Photo courtesy The Richmond Standard.

By Mike Kinney

The Richmond Standard

Cinco de Mayo festivities in Richmond and San Pablo are some of the bests in Bay, and organizers say that tradition will be alive and well at this weekend’s annual parade and festival.

The action kicks off Saturday, May 4, with the 16th Annual Cinco de Mayo Richmond/San Pablo Peace & Unity Parade. The parade of floats, performances, and community organizations starts at 10 a.m. at 24th Street and Barrett Avenue and Richmond and ends at 12:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 1845 Church Lane in San Pablo.

The parade’s Grand Marshall this year will be community organizer Diego Garcia, owner of Leftside Printing.

The festivities continue Sunday with the Cinco de Mayo Festival along 23rd Street, which last year drew over 100,000 people, according to the 23rd Street Merchants Association. This year’s festival will again run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. between the intersections of Rheem Avenue and Clinton Avenue. It will feature two entertainment stages, one sponsored by La Raza 93.3 FM at 23rd and Rheem, and another sponsored by Radio Lazer FM at 23rd and Clinton.

Both events are important for the city and the region’s Latino community.

San Pablo Mayor Genoveva Calloway, who co-chairs the parade alongside John Marquez, president of the Contra Costa Community College District Board of Trustees, says Saturday’s festivities are about bringing the Richmond and San Pablo communities together in unity.

“This truly connects the spectators and people in the parade as one,” Calloway said. “The parade showcases the real communities of Richmond and San Pablo – our nonprofits, schools, horse riders, classic cars and trucks, our local businesses. All of these people represent the heartbeat of our community.”

Rigo Mendoza, vice president of the 23rd Street Merchants Association, said that at its heart, Richmond’s Cinco de Mayo Festival celebrates the date the Mexican army’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

But John Marquez started up the popular festival to bring the community together and also to exhibit the community’s businesses and culture to visitors, Mendoza said. The gathering was also a way to promote peace in the community.