Life is Living Opening and Media Party

2020 | Virtual

PROJECT PARTNERS:

Eastside Arts Alliance
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
YMCA of the East Bay
Oakland Museum of California
Oakland’s Life is Living festival
Youthspeaks
The Downtown Oakland Association
Friends of DeFremery Park
City of Oakland’s Parks and Recreation and Cultural Arts & Marketing Division

Beginning with a welcome by Life is Living co-founder Marc Bamuthi Joseph, this event kicked off the 2020 virtual festival with video, photography, and conversation. Brett Cook, filmmaker and director Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi, and photographer Bethanie Hines share a conversation about Eli and Bethanie’s fundamental roles in historicizing the festival. They share how they approach their work, namely the practice of documenting their beloved Oakland community, and how the festival has informed their individual practices.

Life is Living is an eco-equity, interdisciplinary event that centers neighborhoods and communities that are historically underserved, produced in public spaces that have been otherwise neglected. It is from this space and intention that Life is Living becomes a catalyst for larger discussions; environmental racism, social ecology and social responsibility in an era of tremendous change (climate and otherwise). The result is an intergenerational kaleidoscope of life in Oakland; an acclaimed celebration of resistance, love and the art that brings us together.

Fieldworks: Reflections of Healing

Watch the Recording

Time Stamps

5:49 — Festival welcome by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
21:35 — Media Party welcome by Brett Cook and series of Life is Living photographs and videos through the years
51:32 —Conversation hosted by Brett Cook with Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi and Bethanie Hines