The heart of Kala’s mission as a vital, California art-making hub is supporting artists and engaging the community. We have multiple projects happening in our communities.
Commons Archive is a creative grassroots history project organized by artist and cultural researcher Sue Mark of marksearch. With North Oakland community groups and the Golden Gate Branch Library, Commons Archive connects neighbors through stories, shared resources and celebrations.
Learn More
Kala Art Institute and Planting Justice are excited to collaborate to provide new artistic opportunities and art-making workshops for project participants from the Planting Justice community with support from the California Arts Council. There will be paid opportunities for Planting Justice members to participate in the visual arts workshops with lead teaching artists, Hiroyo Kaneko and Kate DeCiccio, and teaching artist assistant Malaya Tuyay. This series of creative workshops will be held at Planting Justice and will culminate in exhibition opportunities at Kala.
Learn More
Through Print Public, Kala aims to provide a platform for artists to work on interdisciplinary projects with digital or print media while animating public space, reaching new communities, building local partnerships, and deepening neighborhood ties. Print Public has been supported by California Arts Council’s Creative California Communities, The James Irvine Foundation, UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund, and the National Endowment of the Arts Our Town program.
We are thrilled to announce that Print Public has EVOLVED and is back with new funding from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) Our Town program. We will announce the artists for Print Public – Municipal Artist Residency at City of Berkeley & Print Public – Public Art Project Along San Pablo Ave soon. Stay tuned!
Learn More
Past Community Projects: Kala Gallery is proud to present Exinclusivity -Space of Inclusion by Taro Hattori. Exinclusivity -Space of Inclusion is a site-specific multi-media installation about immigration experiences translated through music, video, storytelling and performance. Working with several refugee support organizations in the Bay Area (ARTogether, Asian Refugee United, Burma Refugee Family Network (BRFN), the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI), and East Bay Refugee and Immigrant Forum), the project explores how cultural expressions such as singing and writing can support the process of psychological and physical survival over experiences of migration.
Learn More