I Was There Too is a unique multimedia performance about one woman’s inner revolution as she struggles to understand what it means to have been born into the Black Panther Party. Daughter of two Black Panthers (Emory Douglas and Gayle Dickson), Meres-Sia Gabriel shares a first-hand account of what it was like to grow up in a revolution that changed the course of history. 

This month, Spotlight Sundays welcomes guests to join artist Chelsea Ryoko Wong for a free, all-ages celebration in OMCA’s Oak Street Plaza. Wong’s colorful paintings amplify the diversity of her Asian heritage and the vibrant family histories of the AAPI women depicted in them. Under her playful mural, titled Calling Home, this lively event will explore rituals of community care with Wong and OMCA’s community partners Cut Fruit Collective and Teaphile. 

This month’s Spotlight Sundays invites you to a powerful exploration of Black fatherhood through the lens of three visionary artists, each offering a unique perspective on its complexity and depth. Through film, conversation, and artistic reflection, we’ll engage with some of the most nuanced and resonant realities of Black fatherhood today.

Join us as Octubre’s Spotlight Domingo wades into the powerful story of Russell City with a film screening & panel discussion, moderated by Alexis Madrigal.

Please join us for an afternoon of storytelling centering Native fire practices from four visionary Native Californian memory keepers. The program will begin with a film screening of Fire Tender, co-directed by Roni Jo Draper, PhD (Yurok) and Marissa Lila Kongao, which shares context on settler colonial fire suppression, highlights the work of Yurok firelighters to reclaim and pass on traditional eco-cultural knowledge, and meditates on the power of fire to heal land and communities. 

Coinciding with the Winter Solstice, this month’s Spotlight Domingo celebrates Yalda Night, an ancient Persian holiday marking the longest night of the year. With performances by internationally acclaimed Iranian Bay Area-based singers Mahsa Vahdat and Marjan Vahdat, accompanied by musician and writer Atabak Elyasi, we will weave together stories of renewal and awakening. 

OMCA’s Spotlight Sundays is excited to continue our Community Conversations series. The year’s installment will explore radical public imagining. In alignment with OMCA’s special exhibition, Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain, project partners will include Dominique Walker and Alia Phelps of Moms4Housing, Brandi T. Summers of Archive of Urban Futures, and Junio Grant of blink!LAB architecture. Through performance, interactive engagement, movement, and conversation, this immersive experience will examine what it means to build our muscles for audacious dreaming during difficult times. Please join us for this inspiring event!

The Black Church has long been a cornerstone of Black culture, shaping movements, inspiring iconic music and art, and carrying forward enduring traditions. OMCA is honored to welcome guests to join the creators of the Black Joy Parade for a thoughtful exploration of how the Black Church has served as both a space of resistance and celebration, and why the presence of the Black Joy Choir remains central to the parade’s spirit. The afternoon opens with a soul-stirring performance by the acclaimed Black Joy Choir, followed by a premiere screening of the documentary short Total Praise: The Blueprint Behind the Black Joy Parade.