Directions to 2285 International Blvd.
Eastside Arts Alliance and Cultural Center
Art and activism are two things that Oakland is known for worldwide. In times of strife and repression, it is usually the artist who activates the public into organizing for change. From slave songs, to work songs in the field, to Depression-era murals, to revolutionary poetry, the arts have always lifted the spirits of and set the course for communities around the globe. From the late 1960s to the 1980s, the Black Arts Movement fueled Oakland and the East Bay with an unprecedented energy and artistic expression that supported the social and political change movements of the time. The arts have always served as a vehicle to express the soul of the individual but also what is happening in and to one’s community.
The Eastside Arts Alliance and Cultural Center is an eleven-member collective of Third World artists, cultural workers, and community organizers who work to improve the quality of life in Oakland and to advocate for progressive, systemic change. Their stated aim is to be “dedicated to [a] vision of arts being a platform for fighting social injustice and to bring together communities of all ages, races, genders and backgrounds, to teach people to celebrate every individual and their talents.”
Elena Serrano is the co-founder and program director of the Eastside Arts Alliance and Cultural Center which offers art exhibits, dance performances, youth programs, the Bandung Bookstore, lectures, an annual art & book fair, film screenings, and the annual Malcolm X JazzArts Festival, now in its 23rd year. The jazz festival takes place at San Antonio Park, one of Oakland’s oldest parks, and is free. The collective chose jazz to bring the community together because, as Elena says, it is “a universal cultural language.” The park has a community center, a garden, boxing ring, oak grove, and after-school program which draw people from the multiethnic neighborhood around it.
Elena has over 40 years of experience working with nonprofit arts organizations such as the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts in downtown Oakland and La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley. She works to build a “cultural infrastructure,” to create more places that bring people together. Two years ago, she became a member of the Friends of San Antonio Park (FoSAP). The group recently defeated a plan of the Oakland Fire Department to build a new fire house on the park site, claiming that no one used the park, which, according to Elena, was far from true. The San Antonio community and FoSAP are working to establish a cultural center and a library in the park. (She and others had earlier approached the City of Oakland to buy the unused Miller Avenue library building but it was too expensive to rehabilitate. Unfortunately, the old branch library, around the corner from the Eastside Arts Alliance, burned down in 2018.) The Eastside Arts collective bought their building in 2008, alleviating the economic pressure many arts organizations face, a move that Elena describes as “tremendously impactful” as ownership of space promises safety and stability.
In 2022 Eastside Arts collaborated with Nomadic Press to document the artistic groundswell that arose from protests after the murder of George Floyd and other people of color. The resulting book, “Painting the Streets: Oakland Uprising in the Time of Rebellion,” is a full-color, hardcover book that features nearly 100 murals.
The Eastside Arts Alliance and Cultural Center collective helped establish the Black Cultural Zone to foster an environment for creatives of diverse backgrounds, and to economically enrich East Oakland. Now stationed at Liberation Park at the Eastmont Town Center, Elena says there are plans to develop cultural zones throughout East Oakland.
Listen to an interview with Elena Serrano: