AAFR directly supported Bay Area BIPOC Creatives via The Reflection Fund for Artists

AAFR presented 10 Blatant live zine forums centering the lived experiences of Black women artists across genre & geography in partnership with the Museum of the African Diaspora.

AAFR partnered with institutions such as the Oakland Museum of CA, California College for the Arts, the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive and others to highlight BIPOC artists' community-based interventions.

Watch BLATANT on YouTube here

AAFR Blatant Zine - Winter 2021/2022 — features 25 San Francisco Bay Area Creatives including Chef Bryant Terry, muralists Jess Sabogal + Shanna Straus, choreographer Sarah Crowell,
poet Tongo Eisen-Martin & More!

Black Joy StoryWindows — AAFR mounted our 1st multi-media Public Art exhibition featuring 24 Black artist works installed in 30+ business storefronts in Uptown Oakland, CA in collaboration with Oakland Central and the Black Joy Parade!

More Here

Monumental Tour — AAFR partnered with Kindred Arts to Co-Present "Monumental Tour" featuring monumental artworks by Hank Willis Thomas, Kehinde Wiley & Artur Jafa in Oakland, CA

More Info Here

The Reflection Fund for Artists — AAFR completed its
2-year regranting pilot project The Reflection Fund for Artists by granting over $65,000 in general operating mutual aid funds to BIPOC Oakland-based artists with priority given to
Disabled and LGBTQI creatives.

Learn More About the Artists Here

AAFR was honored to support the "AfterSchool Jazz" program at the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music and the work of UMBER Publishing celebrating music education and media publishing from the Black & Brown perspective respectively.

9 days of #RadicalPractice — AAFR Offered “9 Days of Radical Practice” online Call To Action/Study Guide & Guided Meditation to commemorate #BlackAugust

See #RadicalPractice Campaign Here

Black Women Wail — AAFR supported the Black Women Wail Collective in a public ceremony to mourn our loss, engage in our healing and plan our resistance and demand an end to violence against Black women and girls in the Bay Area.

AAFR stewarded 2 invite-only artist residency programs in San Francisco this year and hosted 15 creatives through Black [Space] Residency and the Omi Arts Poet-In-Residence both of which offer a physical container for imagination, inquiry, activity & rest.

In 2022 an Open Call will accept applications for the Summer slots.

More Here

AAFR Welcomes Chef Ietef  “DJ Cavem” Vita as our Inaugural Social Justice / Social Practice Artist-In-Residence

Chef Ietef is an Climate Justice Activist, Organic Gardener, Vegan Chef, Educator and Eco-Hip-Hop Performer - www.chefietef.com

AAFR is honored to rejoin the Human Services Department
at City of Oakland for Round 2 of the 5-Year ReCAST Grant supporting community wellness through creative arts practice joy-informed pedagogies.