EastSide Arts Alliance

EastSide Arts Alliance is a multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to community empowerment and cultural development for residents of East Oakland. Its activities reach over 30,000 community members each year, primarily through on-site programming at its facility in the Fruitvale/San Antonio neighborhood. Programs include classes for youth, exhibitions, theater productions, open mic events, film screenings, and community discussions. EastSide also presents programming in public spaces, including public art projects and the annual Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival. Support for EastSide Arts Alliance advances the Performing Arts Program’s Communities strategy.

In recognition of the Hewlett Foundation’s 50th anniversary, the Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions initiative supports the creation and premiere of 50 exceptional works of performing arts. This grant will support EastSide Arts Alliance in developing and presenting "This Too Shall Pass," a multi-site, ritual dance theater performance by artist Amara Tabor-Smith. "This Too Shall Pass" will address the displacement, well-being, and sex trafficking of black women and girls in Oakland.

The East Side Arts Alliance (ESAA) is a community arts center presenting low and no-cost live performances, conducting free music, dance, theater, and visual art after-school workshops for youth and 10,000 residents in Oakland’s Lower San Antonio/Fruitvale neighborhood. Founded by artist and activists from East Oakland, ESAA partnered in 2005 with Affordable Housing Associates to build the Eastside Cultural Center that includes a 120-seat performance space, a visual arts studio, a recording studio, a video-editing suite and administrative offices for ESAA in addition to 16 affordable housing units and two ground floor businesses, one of which is an early childhood educational center. Partial financing for the Center was provided to ESAA by the Hewlett Foundation in partnership with the Northern California Community Loan Fund (NCCLF). While $250,000 has been repaid to NCCLF, a further $626,000 is outstanding and efforts to raise funds to meet this obligation have stalled in significant part due to the recession and the freezing of support for capital projects by many funders. ESAA management has reduced its expenses this year but because repaying and servicing its debt to NCCLF will cost $75,000 this year, it is projected to create a $60,000 deficit on their $670,000 operating budget. Under the able leadership of founder/director Elena Serrano ESAA has delivered high quality programs to a very diverse population (35% Asian, 35% Latino, 20% African-American) and thus far operated without operational deficits despite the challenges presented by creating work for, and by, a very low income community (30% of neighborhood residents live below the poverty line). With a one-time grant the organization will repay its debt to NCCLF (saving $154,000 in interest), fulfill its obligation to buy-out its partner (a non profit affordable housing developer) and fully own its property, maintain a positive cash balance, and have the liquidity necessary to further invest in the community based arts programs which are critical to advancing our program’s objective to increase access to the arts for a historically underserved population. ($313,000 from Performing Arts; $313,00 from Special Projects; 100% project grant).