YBCA 10 Podcast: Recent Episodes
YBCA
At the intersection of art and activism stands the 10 - a multidisciplinary cohort of artists brought together by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA). This podcast is dedicated to highlighting each member of the YBCA 10, making space for pivotal conversations about their cultural motivations, civic engagement, and how each are designing creative prototypes that directly address racial justice and climate equity for the betterment of community health and well-being.
In this episode, we beautifully wrap up this season of the YBCA 10 podcast with an invigorating extended conversation with YBCA 10 artist Deanna Van Buren and multidisciplinary artist Samora Pinderhughes. Seated front and center, these two offer a wealth of insight and grounded thought on topics including the agency of healing (both individual and collective), being in service to community, uplifting the stories of marginalized voices, eradicating systems of structural violence, and much more.
Learn more aboutdreamseeds, the YBCA 10 artist workshop now open and available through September 4, 2022!
Learn more about Deanna by visiting:
- Deanna’s YBCA 10 Profile Page
- Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS)
- Deanna’s Ted Talk “What a World Without Prisons Could Look Like”
Learn more about Samora:
- Samora’s YBCA artist page
- Samora’s website
- The Healing Project
- Samora featured in PBS NewsHour
Connect with YBCA:
- dreamseeds YBCA 10 artist exhibition
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
The dreamseeds exhibition at YBCA featuring the YBCA 10 artist workshop has launched and is open to the public til September 4! In this episode, we continue our extended conversations with YBCA 10 artist Leticia Hernández-Linares. Joining her in this intimate dialogue is YCBA Creative Cohort Artist Caleb Duarte. Listen to hear the group flesh out conceptual ideas around art, healing through storytelling, memory work, and being historians of our own history through dialogue.
Learn more about Leticia by visiting:
- Leticia’s YBCA 10’s Profile Page
- Leticia’s website
- Order Leticia’s book of poems: Mucha Muchacha, Too Much Girl
- Order Leticia’s most recent book Alejandria Fights Back! / ¡La Lucha de Alejandria!
Learn more about Caleb:
- Caleb Duarte’s website
- Caleb’s Creative Cohort Artist Profile
- Inside the Aesthetics of Revolt: Caleb Duarte’s The Monument as Living Memory
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- Learn more about dreamseeds exhibition
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
In this episode, we keep our extended conversations going with select members of the YBCA 10 and likeminded community doers and practitioners in the space. We reconnect with YBCA 10 member Alex J. Bledsoe, a multidisciplinary artist whose work focuses on Black liberation and dismantling exploitative systems. Paired with her is the eminent and renowned Cara Page, Black Queer Feminist cultural/memory worker, curator, and organizer. Together we discuss stories of healing, creation of sacred spaces, art as a supplement of healing, grief, and collective care and much, much more.
Learn more about the dreamseeds exhibition running at YBCA from May 14–September 4, 2022!
Learn more about Alex by visiting:
- Alex’s YBCA 10 Profile
- Breaktide Productions
- Oaklead documentary
- Healing Justice London
- Check out Alex on Instagram
Learn more about Cara Page:
- Cara Page website
- Changing Frequencies on Instagram
- Healing Histories Project
- What is Healing Justice? Cara Page on GMA
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
More extended conversations with the YBCA 10? Yes please! In this episode, we reconnect with organic farmer, memory keeper, and YBCA 10 artist Nikiko Masumoto. We hear an update on the Plant Library, the prototype collaboration between Nikiko and fellow YBCA 10 artist Darryl Ratcliff. We also welcome to the table Galería de la Raza, a non-profit dedicated to promoting Xicanx/Latinx art and culture. Galería de la Raza’s Ani Rivera, Executive Director and Ivette Diaz, Curatorial Programs Coordinator join the conversation for a synergetic dialogue about memory keeping and cultural work, thinking of artists as professional feelers and essential to community development, the importance of maintaining relationship with elders, deeply personal intergenerational stories with land, and so much more!
Learn more about Galeria de la Raza
- Linktree for Galería de la Raza with full list of upcoming events, resources, artist toolkits, and more
- Caravan For the Children:Uncage, Reunify, and Heal Migrant Children Separated at the Border
- SIGN THE PETITION for the reunification of families
- Pedagogy of Hope exhibit in YBCA
- Galería de la Raza website
- Galería de la Raza on Twitter
- Galería de la Raza on Instagram
Learn more about Nikiko:
- Visit the Masumoto Family Farm website!
- Masumoto Family Farm on Instagram
- Buy the book! Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming
- Yonsei Memory Project website
- Nikiko's YBCA 10 profile
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
This podcast has introduced audiences to the artists who comprise The YBCA 10. Now we keep it rolling with extended conversations about the deployment of artist work! In this episode, we reconnect with acclaimed photographer a member of the 10 Hasain Rasheed and get an update on his creative prototype titled Too Experienced to be Taken for a Stroll, a home structure that captures the spirit, sights, scents, and sounds shared by immigrant families who migrate to the Bay Area. We also meet Fay Darmawi - Founder and Executive Producer of the SF Urban Film Fest. Together this synergetic pairing discusses social reform and urban planning, Bay Area history with immigration, the power of story across different arts, and placing artists and their enterprises at the center of community investment strategies.
Learn more about Fay:
- SF Urban Film Fest
- Fay’s YBCA profile
- Fay’s IG: @faymawi
- @sfurbanfilmfest on TW and IG
Learn more about Hasain:
- Hasain’s YBCA 10 profile page
- Hasain’s website
- Shot Shop Oakland
- Photography Portfolio
- View more photograph on Hasain’s various project specific Instagram pages @hasainrasheed @theshotshop @oaklandphoto
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
“As a visual artist I really think that I’m most inspired by composers…In my practice, I try to take a few notes that you don't normally recognize as being blended and create a new chord.” - Binta Ayofemi
Visual artist Binta Ayofemi creates urban forms inspired by Black abstraction, transforming overlooked spaces through sound, movement, and material. In this charming episode, Binta shares with us her artistic journey, the rehearsal of everyday spaces to create radical possibility and imagination, and her work to celebrate Afro-indigineous spaces and rituals of celebration and healing.
Learn more about Binta by visiting:
- Binta’s YBCA 10 Profile
- COMMONS Oakland
- Binta’s Twitter
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
“When I discovered the power in words, was when I began to take the idea of making art and make worlds and understand that’s what it was – world making – that it was powerful. Really, really powerful.” - Dr. Ayodele Nzinga
Sometimes, words just hit different. And this episode explains why. Settle in and listen to an intimate conversation with this episode’s featured guest, City of Oakland's first poet laureate Dr. Ayodele Nzinga. Hear from this renowned director, playwright, poet, and community advocate as she shares her introduction into theater, storytelling and imagination, the power of words, language, and ebonics in world making, and MUCH more.
Learn more abut Ayodele by visiting:
- Ayodele’s website
- YBCA 10 Profile Page
- BAMBD CDC
- BAMBD Fest
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
"When I look at turfing by itself […] it's already a whole database. It's already a genre of study. We think that scientific method is the only way of knowing something, and that's just simply not true. Our bodies know so much." - My-Linh Le
Largely influenced by 80s popping and hip-hop, My-Linh’s career positively exploded in different directions once she fully committed to dance. Now as a choreographer, competitive freestyle dancer, and Founder/Director of the turf dance project known as Mud Water Theater, My-Linh views her artistry as physical explorations of family, identity, and culture through dance and movement. Listen in this genuine conversation to hear My-Linh share details about her work in auto-ethnography, in addition to honestly tackling complex topics such as cultural appropriation, the craze around Tik-Tok dancing, Black cultural influences, and intergenerational trauma and joy.
Learn more about My-Linh by visiting:
- YBCA 10 Artist Profile
- My-Linh on instagram
- Mud Water Theater website
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
“I think there’s been great impact in at least having people think that we can be, as architects, we can be folks who address social change rather than propping up systems of oppressions, which is what we’ve been doing since the dawn of time, even to change systems like mass incarceration.” - Deanna Van Buren
As one of only 500 licensed Black female architects in the United States, Deanna Van Buren is committed to racial equity in the built environment. In this episode, Deanna shares with us the intentions behind her creative practice in applying architecture and public interest design movements to restorative justice work. Also, Deanna offers her experiences thus far within the YBCA 10 and her ongoing advocacy for community equity investment models and ownership to be of service to the Black and Brown communities that have been most impacted by structural inequities and mass incarceration.
Learn more about Deanna by visiting:
- Deanna’s YBCA 10 Profile Page
- Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS)
- Deanna’s Ted Talk “What a World Without Prisons Could Look Like”
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
“It’s a constant desire to want to be better…When I hear the other artists in the 10 talk, I feel motivated to learn more. And not only about myself, but about them and their art and the value of working in community.” - Hasain Rasheed
In this episode, acclaimed photographer Hasain Rasheed is the featured guest. Co-hosted by singer, composer, and YBCA’s Chief of Program Meklit Hadero, this episode not only grounds us at the intersection of creative practice and social impact, but also invites us into Hasain’s journey in emotional storytelling and an esteemed member of the YBCA 10.
Learn more about Hasain by visiting:
- Hasain’s YBCA 10 profile page
- Hasain’s website
- Shot Shop Oakland
- Photography Portfolio
- View more photograph on Hasain’s various project specific Instagram pages
- @hasainrasheed @theshotshop @oaklandphoto
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
“A lot of my own practice, I make things based on feeling because sometimes that’s where the greatest kernels or nuggets come from.” - Dorothy R. Santos
Writer, artist, educator, and Ph.D. candidate in Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Dorothy R. Santos stars as the featured guest. In this upbeat episode, Dorothy openly shares a wealth of detail about her interests in art, technology, sound, spell books, and much more. Listen in as this YBCA 10 cohort member offers us a look inside her inspirations behind writing and what it means to be a true collaborator.
Learn more about Dorothy by visiting:
- Dorothy’s YBCA 10’s Profile Page
- Dorothy’s website
- Dorothy’s social media: Instagram and Twitter
- Archive of daily letters: Cosmic Propulsions
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
“...this has been one of the biggest honors and gifts that I've received and the timing of it couldn't have been better. I think it's a gift to be able to have all this time with such an amazing group, not just the 10, but everybody who's part of this.” - Leticia Hernández-Linares
Alongside being a valued member of the YBCA 10, Leticia Hernández-Linares is also a bilingual interdisciplinary writer, artist, and racial justice educator. In this episode, hear from Leticia as she vibrantly shares with us her storyful inspirations and familial roots, thoughts on being a community leader, her latest works of authorship, and so much more related to all things art and activism.
Learn more about Leticia by visiting:
- Leticia’s YBCA 10’s Profile Page
- Leticia’s website
- Order Leticia’s book of poems: Mucha Muchacha, Too Much Girl
- Order Leticia’s most recent book Alejandria Fights Back! / ¡La Lucha de Alejandria!
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
“We have a lot to learn from one another, especially when we’re tapping into our ancestral roots and our understanding of the land and our connections with land.” --Alex J. Bledsoe.
Featured guest is Alex J. Bledsoe, multidisciplinary artist, activist, and strategist whose work is inspired by dismantling exploitative systems. In this episode, listen in as this YBCA 10 member shares insight on her journey of building community around intention, film production work centered on healing justice, and other various Black liberating ventures.
Learn more about Alex by visiting:
- Alex’s YBCA 10 Profile
- Breaktide Productions
- Oaklead documentary
- Healing Justice London
- Check out Alex on Instagram
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
“Sometimes I say I do the work of justice because I'm actually really interested in being free. And every time I try to be free, I run into these structures that keep getting the way of me being as free as I want to be.” -- Darryl Ratcliff
In this episode, hear from award-winning artist, poet, and YBCA 10 member Darryl Ratcliff. You’re invited behind the curtain of his artistry and activism to hear about Darryl’s intention to root culture in his creative practice, motivation behind inserting joy within Black art culture, and desire behind his current creative prototypes.
Learn more about Darryl by visiting:
- Darryl’s YBCA 10 Profile
- Ash Studios
- Gossypion Investments
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs
“I want the people who work the land, the people who feed us, to be valued.”
In the kickoff episode for the YBCA 10 Podcast, this episode introduces you to Nikiko Masumoto - a yonsei (4th generation) farmer at the Masumoto Family Farm. Listen in as she describes reigniting the soul of farming, radical resilience, community engagement, and much more about her creative enterprises in art and activism.
Learn more about Nikiko by visiting:
- Masumoto Family Farm
- Nikiko’s Ted Talk “Reigniting the soul of farming”
- Book shop
- YBCA 10 profile
Connect with YBCA:
- Official Website
- YBCA Social Media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Make a contribution to YBCA to support our artist programs