Art

Women and hip-hop: A discussion in downtown Oakland

On Friday, the Betti Ono art gallery in downtown Oakland hosted a panel discussion about women and Hip-Hop. The “My Art, My Culture: Women, media, and Hip-Hop” three-part discussion was the product of the combined efforts of a number of Bay Area arts organizations including Beats, Rhymes, and Life, which uses Hip-Hop to empower young people, and the Daughters of Dilla Project, which offers media arts programs for girls.

Reggie Bailey’s Barbershop

“My last trip in the penitentiary, I had to make a decision on what I wanted to do with my life,” said Reggie Bailey, sitting in the swiveling barber chair in his small shop in the heart of downtown Oakland. “I just decided to go to barber college.”

Oakland celebrates Lunar New Year

The Oakland Asian Cultural Center welcomed the Year of the Snake at its annual Lunar New Year event in downtown Oakland on Saturday. The 2013 festival showcased dance and musical performances from groups throughout the Bay Area’s Asian community, including the Rising Dragon Culture Center Lion Dance Troupe, who opened the show with dragons prancing around.  Students of Seibi Lee, the center’s artist-in-residence preformed Kathak, a classical dance from India, while Winnie Wong and Diana Rowan played the harp and the piano. Throughout…

Musical tour offers new approach to exhibits at the Oakland Museum

With its new series, “In-the-Mix: Music Tour,” the Oakland Museum of California is offering a new way for lovers of the arts to experience the works of visual arts, masters and musicians. Each part of the series is the musical tour of the museum’s galleries given by musicians who will stroll through them and interpret the objects and the experience for themselves.

An ancient Japanese tradition lives on in Oakland

You won’t often come across three accomplished koto players in one place—let alone in the same family. But Oakland is home to three generations of musicians who have dedicated their lives to the music of the Japanese harp.

After shooting, First Friday organizers discuss how to keep future events safe

Nearly a week after the post-First Friday festival shooting that killed 18-year-old Kiante Campbell and wounded 3 others, event organizers say they’re waiting for a cue from the city about how to proceed. City of Oakland officials have called a meeting with the festival’s key stakeholders for Thursday to examine ways to keep future events safe. The art festival that takes over swaths of downtown Oakland on the first Friday of each month started as a humble gallery walk in…

The Black Fatherhood Project premieres in Oakland

Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre will host the world premiere of the newly released documentary “The Black Fatherhood Project” on Thursday evening. Director Jordan Thierry said the film has been in the making for more than five years, but tells a story that has been in the making since the formation of this country.

Forty Blocks: Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue in photos

A photography class at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism documented the Oakland stretch of Telegraph Avenue last fall in photos. This photo series follows Telegraph Avenue from 51st Street in Temescal to the heart of downtown Oakland at 14th Street.