Save The Date!

The 2021 Life is Living Festival is taking place October 8-10 online and with limited in-person open-air events including activations from The Peoples Kitchen Collective, Town Park, Oakhella, ArtEsteem, Youth Speaks, Joyce Gordon Gallery, and more of your favorite local CBO's.

The Life is Living Festival has been 'Keeping Oakland, Oakland Since 08' as a staple in the West Oakland community beyond. This multi-generational, multi-disciplinary festival celebrates and highlights everything that is beautiful about Oakland – the joy, diversity, adversity, and revolutionary spirit that vibrates through the streets of the city.

Join us as we continue the legacy and tradition of celebrating The Town.

Register here for insider access to the Life is Living Online (Insider's) Platform OhYay.

You will be sent the schedule as well as access information after you're registered. You can also view Life is Living Online on Youth Speaks YouTube Channel located here : https://www.youtube.com/c/YOUTHSPEAKS

Friday October 8th - Sunday October 10th, 2021

Life is Living Online

Register on Eventbrite, or view on Youth Speaks YouTube Channel

Featuring:

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8TH

4:00PM LIL 2021 "B2P (Barter to The People) Marketplace" | Youth Speaks Bigger Picture Campaign - "Survival Pending Revolution", and The Life is Living Altar

4:30PM YOUTH SPEAKS UNDER 21 OPEN MIC & TEEN POETRY SLAM - If you're a youth 21 years old and under, Register for the open mic and slam at bit.ly/registerforys22 . Are you not a Bay Area teen but want to volunteer to help judge the event? Register at bit.ly/oldspeaks

7:00PM The Center for Cultural Power’s Oakland Futures Project

SATURDAY OCTOBER 9TH

9:00AM Peoples Kitchen Collective | Biscuit Breakfast Cook-A-Long on PKC IG Live

10:00AM Life Is Living Kids Zone Virtual Program | Hostess: Ms. Emily Butterfly feat. Manny Lieras with the American Indian Child Resource Center | The Sunflower Liones | Mikal Hemmingway with West Oakland Library | Lance Mcgee aka Unique Derique | Jilchristina of the West Oakland Mural Project and Special Guests

11:00AM Peoples Kitchen Collective | Feeding the Revolution: A Conversation between Mila Terry-Koon and Ericka Huggins Honoring 55 years of the Black Panther Party

12:00PM Diamond & Bullets: An Audio Play is reminiscent of radio programs in the early 20th century, designed to inspire empathy. Participants will listen to the piece, which is a combination of dialogue and music performed by beatboxing combo Antique Naked Soul, allowing their minds to create images for reflection and examination. Participants will receive a free download of Diamond & Bullets: The Album.

3:00PM 7th Annual Life is Living Theater Stage: ROOTED IN RESILIENCE Act I: All That We Touch, We Change (3PM) and Act II: Sowers + Seeds (5PM) Inspired by the prophetic words of Octavia Butler and the wisdom of trees, the Life is Living 'Rooted in Resilience' Theater Stage explores Black & Brown strategies for surviving catastrophe and moving together toward the world(s) we need. Presented by Youth Speaks & Cal Shakes, this two-part program features a prismatic line up of local artists and activists, commissioned performances, readings from Butler, and excerpts from Toshi Reagan’s Parable of the Sower opera. “All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change.” -Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower

7:00PM Destiny Arts' "LOW TIDE RISING" - Join Destiny Arts Center screening of the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company’s original dance production Low Tide Rising + artist talk-back. In the spring of 2021, Destiny's Youth Performance Company performed for small audiences in the outdoor, immersive environment of the Cal Shakes Bruns Amphitheater and grounds. In collaboration with Bandaloop and The Elders Project, youth company performers explored themes of self-discovery in the pandemic, Black/AAPI solidarity, and change. Using metaphor and imagery of the rising and receding tide, they asked: what is exposed when the tide goes out? What happens when the waters rise?

9:00PM OAKHELLA's Celebrations & Dedications

SUNDAY OCTOBER 10th

11:00AM ALPHABET ROCKERS - Join 2x GRAMMY Nominees Alphabet Rockers in a Life is Living family dance party on OhYay.co platform! DJ Roza will spin remixes PLUS new songs with emcees Tommy Soulati Shepherd, Kaitlin McGaw and special guests from the collective dropping in. YOU will have the chance to dance, be on cam and chat with the crew just like you would at a show, or keep it rolling in the background while you hang with your family.

12:00PM LIFE IS LIVNG DANCE BATTLE

3:00PM LIFE IS LIVING/OAKHELLA MAINSTAGE WITH EMCEE RYAN NICOLE and Red Corvette featuring ;

Youth Speaks Unified Mixtape Artists Zouhair Mussa and Shanga Gorman

Obasi Davis

Tofu Jack

Kev Choice

Nai Palm (Hiatus Kaiyote)

IN-PERSON ACTIVATIONS

Saturday, October 9, 2021 @ Little Bobby Hutton Park

12:00 PM | Hoodgames @ Townpark

12:00 PM | Covid Testing @ The Blacktop

12:00 PM | Yak Dance Battle @ The Blacktop

Saturday, October 16, 2021

9:00 PM | Black Coffee/Moody Mann @ The Bridge Yard, 210 Burma Rd, Oakland

Saturday, October 23, 2021

11:00 AM | Black Panther Party 55th @ Little Bobby Hutton Park

Sunday, October 24, 2021

11:00 AM | Kids Walk Party @ Little Bobby Hutton Park

On October 24th, children and families are invited to a walking tour beginning at the West Oakland Library 1801 Adeline St. in Oakland to receive art bags from the AHC (Attitudinal Healing Connection) bus, bookmarks from the library and a magic gift from the Crucible. After receiving all this goodness, families are encouraged to walk from the park up to the Mandela Street greenway to visit the Women Of The Black Panther Party Mural and museum located at 831 Center Street in Oakland