In Living Colors [1], a free community arts and cultural festival in West Alameda sponsored by Maya Lin PTA and Radium Presents, celebrates the multitude of ways our community expresses itself through the arts and culture…in living colors. From art to music to dance, the April 26 event at Radium Runway showcased the talent of artists from young to old whose common theme was joy.
[2]Children’s activities ranged from painting a collaborative art mural to face painting, to playing with a giant pile of hula hoops. The art mural project, founded by Maya Lin parent Fei Ouyang, is in its third year and will be on display in the multipurpose room at the school upon completion. Art from both students and parents was on display at the event as well. Schools with art on display included Maya Lin, Ruby Bridges, Franklin Elementary, Bay Farm, and Alameda High School. Some of the art pieces were for sale. Shoppers could also take part in a silent auction. Every person who placed a bid at the auction was entered into a drawing to receive a parents’ night out certificate. Alameda maker studio COLLAB was on hand to make keychains with kids and families. Former Maya Lin teachers Clarity Countryman and Maya Gordon and owners of a local arts education camp provided a paper sculpture activity for the entire family.
[3]Other booths featured local artists such as Joanne Johnson, a Maya Lin grandparent who came out of retirement to share her art, Expressions by Joanne. Another artist, Erica, sold a variety of art pieces all featuring the sun. Some booths focused on providing information to families about classes, summer camps, and tutoring programs. The Village Kids Club displayed a wide range of possibilities from art and math to music and language and dance. The Alameda Math Circle focused on mathematics. The 100K Trees for Humanity booth offered ways to increase the number of trees in our community as well as seed bombs and bee hotels. And of course, the PTA made sure there were booths with drinks and snacks, and the ever-popular shaved ice.
[4]The central stage provided continual entertainment for the crowd. The Bay Area Music Project [5], founded by Lorrie Murray, kicked off the event with a great performance by their youth orchestra. AGOS [6], an Alameda-based youth arts organization dedicated to teaching Filipino folkloric dance and its musical accompaniment, featured Sophie and Aurelia demonstrating a traditional Binasuan dance that displays their ability to balance glasses of water while dancing. Next up was Lenny San Jose—Ukulenny [7]—who can be seen leading ukulele jams at Fireside Alameda on the first Thursday of every month. Hālau Makana [8] is a professional Polynesian dance company based in Alameda. Their dancers shared the Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Maori cultures. Bay Area Tiniks got the crowd jumping with their integration of contemporary music and dance with traditional Filipino Tinkling Dance. Naby Bangoura [9] of Berkeley shared the high energy West African dances of Guinea. Maya Lin parent Vincent Mellone performed with his band Sweet Thing, featuring covers of Chaka Khan, the Pointer Sisters, and Teena Maria. The festival closed with an electric performance by Prospect, led by Maya Lin alumni and Grammy-award winning musicians Tommy Shepherd and Kali deJesus. Prospect is composed of musicians from Oakland School for the Arts, blending hip-hop, jazz fusion, soul, and R&B into a sound that’s uniquely their own.
[10]An additional interesting component of the festival was the inclusion of YouthBeat [11], an Oakland group that mentors youth in interviewing skills. They provided a “Share Your Story” booth, and the interviews will be featured on social media and the Radium Presents YouTube channel [12]. Rachel Campos de Ivanov of Radium stated how important it is to connect the community through the arts and provide outlets for people of all ages to participate in artistic expression. With the nice turnout to In Living Colors, we can hope to see similar events in the future where families and the community can come together to enjoy the arts right here on our little island.
Kelly Rogers Flynt contributes reviews of theatrical productions and feature articles to the Alameda Post. Reach her via [email protected] [13]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Kelly-Rogers-Flynt [14].