Lunar New Year x Black History Month 2025: Celebrating Asian & African-American Solidarity
Saturday, February 1, 2025
11 AM – 4 PM
FREE
Join us on Saturday, February 1, 2025, as we partner with the Malonga Arts Residents Association (MARA), Eastwind Books of Berkeley, Marcus Books, and the Alameda County National Council of Negro Women for the Oakland Asian Cultural Center’s third annual Lunar New Year x Black History Month Community Celebration.
We are so excited to welcome our community back for another celebration of Asian and African-American solidarity through art, music, and dance, including an incredible lineup of Black and Asian martial artists, musicians, and dance groups, including Dimensions Dance Theater, Destiny Arts Center, Amihan, the Great Wall Youth Orchestra, and others.
In addition to a full day of performances, we are bringing back:
A local vendors’ marketplace
Children’s Zone with Eastwind Books of Berkeley and Marcus Books
An exhibition on Black and Asian solidarity
This event is part of OACC’s ongoing Open E.A.R.S. for Change initiative, which started in 2020 to build stronger relationships among local APIA and Black communities.
This event is funded by the CA State Grant for Stop the Hate (CDSS), the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, and sponsored by Dr. Raymond L. Eng.
Getting to OACC:
There is an underground parking lot below the Pacific Renaissance Plaza. There are two entrances to the parking lot; one located on Franklin & the other on Webster. Parking is $3 per hour. To get to our suite, take the elevator to the 2nd floor. OACC is the first suite on the left when you leave the elevator.
The area has multiple bus lines, and we are within walking distance of 12th Street BART and Lake Merritt BART station.
There are also a few other parking lots nearby:
Aki Parking
435 8th St (4-minute walk to OACC)
$3 an hour, $10 for the day
East Bay Parking
726 Harrison St, Chinatown (8 minute walk to OACC)
$4 an hour
Douglas Parking Lot #475
420 Washington St Old Oakland (13-minute walk to OACC)
$4 an hour
Program Emcee
Miko Lee
Miko Lee is an activist, storyteller, and educator. She believes in the power of stories to amplify voices. Miko is the Director of Programs for Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality and is the lead producer of APEX Express on KPFA Radio, focused on AAPI activists and artists. She is also on the National Advisory Committee of Teaching Artists Guild. Miko’s career has been rooted in the nonprofit world, first as a theater actor, director and writer and then as an artistic director and an arts education leader.
Performer Spotlights
HeadlinerS: Dimensions Dance Theater &
Destiny Arts center
Photo by Edward Miller Photography
Dimensions Dance Theater (DDT)
Under the artistic leadership of co-founder Deborah Vaughan, Dimensions Dance Theater is one of the oldest contemporary dance companies in the U.S. At 52 years old, DDT has become widely recognized for its presentation of traditional dances and contemporary choreography drawn from African, Jazz, and Modern dance idioms. The diversity and inclusiveness of DDT’s repertoire are unique to the company and have contributed greatly to its reputation for innovative dynamism.
Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company (DAYPC)
Based in Oakland, California, the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company (DAYPC) is a diverse group of teens collaborating with professional artists to create dynamic, original dance and theater productions.
Additional Performers
Cal VSA Lion Dance
Cal VSA Lion Dance, founded in 2012 through the Vietnamese Student Association’s Culture Show, is UC Berkeley’s one and only student-run lion dance team. Earnestly serving the local Bay Area for the past 11 years, they’ve developed a tight-knit team of students and alumni connected by culture, passion, and camaraderie.
Photo by William Lee
Carla Service Dance-A-Vision Entertainment Group
Carla Service is a performer, choreographer, teacher, booking agent, and, for over thirty years, a mentor to Oakland youth. She helps them find empowerment through dance.
Carla’s Dance-A-Vision school is about more than steps, technique, choreography, and performance; it’s about positive relationships, fostering communication, and building confidence and self-reliance.
Voices Of A Dream (VOAD)
VOICES OF A DREAM (VOAD) stands as one of today’s most compelling a cappella ensembles, masterfully preserving and reimagining the profound legacy of African American spirituals under the dynamic leadership of Amikaeyla Gaston. VOAD creates an immersive tapestry of sound that honors the African American spiritual tradition while speaking powerfully to contemporary audiences. Their performances offer more than music – they provide a transformative journey through history, heritage, and healing.
Singers include Amikaeyla Gaston, Amber McZeal, Karen A. Smith, Elizabeth Sayre, and Rashida Oji.
The Great Wall Youth Orchestra
The Great Wall Youth Orchestra is part of the Purple Silk Music Education Foundation. They are an Oakland-based, non-profit organization that supports music education for youth. Their mission is to give students in their community the chance to learn from professional musicians, perform in public, and become skilled musicians themselves. Their program includes lessons from performing artists, teaching music theory, playing in a Chinese orchestra, and performing in the Bay Area and beyond.
Kkirikkiri
Kkirikkiri is a community-based Samulnori group. Samulnori is a performance practice based on traditional percussion music from farming communities in Korea. In addition to Samulnori, Kkiikkiri is dedicated to learning, sharing, and celebrating other Korean and Korean-American traditions and culture.
Amihan
Amihan (translates to harvest wind) is a self-taught poet, producer, and musician born & raised in San Francisco, reppin the Excelsior district. She was named after the peasant women’s organization based in the countryside of the Philippines. Rooted in their struggle for land and freedom, Amihan’s music fuses hip-hop & rnb flows with chants of the people.
Toishan Benevolent Association
The Toishan Benevolent Association has served the greater Bay Area community for the last 22 years with different cultural programs. They promote Chinese ethnic culture in different forms of performances: lion’s dance, dragon dance, traditional art dance, tai chi demonstration, kung fu demonstration, and youth kung fu.
VSCK Filipino Martial Arts
VSCK Filipino Martial Arts was created by the late and great ancestor, Maestro Sonny Umpad. The VSCK Global Oakland chapter is led by Guro Jay Jasper Pugao, a direct student of Maestro Sonny. Jay has been teaching and working with youth in the Oakland community, the greater Bay Area, nationally, and internationally since 2003, integrating martial arts for empowerment, culture, wellness, restorative justice, situational awareness, and self-defense.
