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Abstract or Project Description

Abstract or Project Description

Supported by a production support grant, artist Mildred Howard will partner with 500 Capp Street to create three temporary site specific sculptural installations that will examine the history of white supremacy, patriarchy and colonialism reflected in national monuments. Using the sculptures as a catalyst for community engagement, dialogue and healing, the piece aims to address historical preservation, shifting cultural norms and social and racial justice.

Abstract or Project Description

Afro-Play Oakland is an early learning program focused on Black families, offering Afrocentric playgroups for children ages zero to five in East and West Oakland. The grant supports their ability to provide high-quality, community-driven programming in a sacred space that fosters intergenerational healing and connection.

Abstract or Project Description

The Rest and Care Award is a one-time, invite-only program for current and past Education and Arts nonprofit grantees, offering six-week sabbaticals with pro-rated salary, benefits, leave expenses and organizational support, recognizing the dedication and resilience of leaders in our grantee community. AfroSolo Theatre Company nurtures and presents African American and African Diasporan art and culture through solo performance and the visual and literary arts. Founder and Artistic Director Thomas R. Simpson has led the organization for 30 years.

Abstract or Project Description

To support Oakland’s second-leading educator preparation program, Alder Graduate School of Education, aligning with California’s new educator preparation standards for literacy instruction.

Abstract or Project Description

A devised theater piece that brings together local community members across generational and cultural divides to theatrically explore critical questions about our existence and provide a space for the community to courageously exchange their thoughts and creative explorations.

Abstract or Project Description

A duet of choreographed and contemporary dance, drag artistry and live full body tracking in Virtual Reality (VR) featuring Cy Berspace that explores how mixed reality can serve as an integration tool for people inhabiting a trans/queer body and how we can build socially diverse digital worlds.

Abstract or Project Description

Choreographer Deborah Slater and playwright Eugenie Chan unite with a multigenerational collective of diverse women storytellers/artists to create a series of devised dance/theater vignettes around loss, grief and hope using movement, film and acting based on intergenerational legacy in both a western Chinese-American family and the gathered collaborators.

Abstract or Project Description

Provides TK-2 literacy intervention for students and coaching and training for educators in Aspire’s Oakland schools.

Abstract or Project Description

BANANAS, Inc. supports families and childcare providers with resources, referrals and professional development for informal care networks like Family Child Care (FCCs) and Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFNs). The grant supports their efforts to enhance professional development opportunities, early learning experiences and safe programming spaces for families and caregivers.

Abstract or Project Description

A month-long series of interactive vertical dance, music and intergenerational social art practice that enlivens a Flight Path for birds and people in the heart of Oakland. Supported by a production support grant, “Somewhere To Land” invites artists and the public to engage personally and socially in themes of migration, belonging and ecological inter-being.

Abstract or Project Description

To support the MediaMaker Fellowship Program for emerging social issue documentary filmmakers. Bay Area Video Coalition inspires social change by empowering media makers to develop and share diverse stories through art, education and technology.

Abstract or Project Description

To support the production of “GOD SENT US ALAN,” a feature documentary film.

Abstract or Project Description

A four-part theatrical series offering four unique and intimate Black experiences, inspired by four visionary African American artworks – Jacob Lawrence’s “The Great Migration”; Romare Bearden’s “Sunday After Sermon”; Kehinde Wiley’s “We Want Peace” and Jean Michel-Basquiat’s “Hollywood Africans.”

Abstract or Project Description

The Rest and Care Award is a one-time, invite-only program for current and past Education and Arts nonprofit grantees, offering six-week sabbaticals with pro-rated salary, benefits, leave expenses and organizational support, recognizing the dedication and resilience of leaders in our grantee community. Black Cultural Zone Community Development Corporation centers Black arts, culture and economics to collectively design, resource, transform and build collective power for the Black community of East Oakland. CEO Carolyn Johnson has led the organization for five years.

Abstract or Project Description

Males and females with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) differ in terms of incidence of disease, symptoms and response to treatments. The underlying reasons are largely unknown. Understanding why these sex differences exist could reveal why many patients develop IBD as they enter young adulthood. Sex hormones such as testosterone surge during adolescence and then circulate at very different levels in males and females. These hormones are powerful signaling molecules that regulate diverse aspects of physiology and may play a role in IBD. Clinical studies hint that testosterone signaling is protective in IBD, but it is largely unclear which cells this hormone signals to in the gut and how this signaling might influence intestinal inflammation. We have discovered that testosterone signals to an important population of nerve cells along the gut-brain axis, called nociceptors, that communicate information about the gut to the brain and regulate local immune responses. Using mice in which we can specifically disable testosterone signaling in nociceptors without altering it in the rest of the body, we will determine how testosterone influences inflammation and tissue repair in colitis. The results will advance the understanding of how sex hormones impact disease activity in IBD, potentially explain sex-dependent outcomes and inform therapeutic strategies.

Abstract or Project Description

Inappropriate and chronic inflammatory responses underly the development of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), including both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. This process is an intertwined, inter-cellular cascade among diverse immune cells and tissue stroma. The interactions between immune and stromal cells not only propagate inflammatory responses but also regulate resolution of inflammation. Yet, we do not understand how immune cells interact with tissue stroma when intestinal inflammation occurs and resolve. We propose to first develop cutting-edge technologies that discover interacting partners of immune cells in vivo in a high-throughput and unbiased manner. We will then apply these new tools to identify the interactomes of immune cells over the course of intestinal inflammation. Funding from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation will support our program to map out the path of immune-stromal interactions from a healthy intestine to an inflamed tissue to recovery and repair. Targeting immune-stromal interactions that cause inflammatory propagation as well as the resolution will establish a new strategy to alleviate inflammation. Our long-term goal is to leverage this knowledge to switch “inflammatory interactions” to “resolving interactions” in order to restore intestinal homeostasis, which will ultimately curtail IBD and its devastating health implications.

Abstract or Project Description

An immersive performance-exhibit exploring and exploding gender, race and spirituality through a Black Queer and Trans lens. “Suga'” will spark vital conversations within the SF Bay Area LGBTQIA+ communities and beyond, empowering folks to envision a gender-liberated future powered by Black joy.