Sharing memories at the Golden Gate Library Centennial Celebration, 2018
Community visioning banners at the Golden Gate Library Centennial Celebration, 2018

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.

The Bay Area Youth Storytelling Project

Kala Art Institute and Youth UpRising are excited to collaborate on a series of free youth workshops in 2021-2022.

In Reel Time: Intro to Digital Storytelling

Instructor: David Lee
Date: March 10- May 26, 2021
Wednesdays, 3-5pm
Ages: 13-24 years old

Students will participate in workshops led by a professional artist, Kala Lead Teaching Artist David Lee. Students will learn and develop an understanding of  the fundamentals of Digital Photography and Digital Storytelling. They’ll learn basic photo editing skills, engage in creating writing exercises, and explore various themes related to East Oakland. While building their visual and literacy skills, students will create a digital portfolio of images/text that will be exhibited online via social media of their choice. Students will share their stories to the world!

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Commons Archive

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.

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Reentry Through the Arts

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.

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Print Public – Artists in Berkeley

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!

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