Dear LP Community,
After 8 years of service, I am transitioning out of La Peña and passing on the baton to our incredible professional team that we’ve worked hard to develop over the years. It’s been an honor and a privilege to work in service of this extensive and powerful community and I take away many memories and much respect for everyone who has shown up to support. I leave La Peña feeling more inspired and certain that arts and culture are essential to our well-being.
Running a nonprofit and serving the community through the arts is a true labor of love and we’ve overcome roadblocks together as a coalition of sorts. I am especially proud of the team culture we have developed; it is our greatest asset in uplifting this community ecosystem. Each of us brings our own set of skills, lived experiences, cultures and communities of origin to represent the voices of the people we seek to serve.
We came together both in the good and the challenging times, supporting each other during the pandemic and, before that, recovering from the ripple effects of the 2008 recession. The fact that La Peña endured these crises, when many arts organizations closed, is a major testament to the great work we’ve carried out. Former co-director Bianca Torres and I strove to find solutions to a slew of challenges, breaking through systemic barriers of funding access. The effects of racism, colonization and other forms of oppression have left BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) arts organizations under-resourced and undervalued. Over the years we joined forces with many other groups to fight to change that and had many successes. From being selected into the LANE program, to co-chairing the Berkeley Cultural Trust’s (BCT) Equity & Inclusion Committee, to joining forces with multiple coalitions to bring in more arts funding to our city, region and state, we worked hard to have our community’s voices heard at decision-making tables for more equitable arts funding. It is important that we continue to push to position La Peña not at the bottom of the pyramid of funding, but rather, to be considered an important actor in how this landscape gets more equitable. When La Peña is better-resourced, our extensive community networks of artists, cultural workers, community organizers and activists wins.
I’m proud of the fact that during my tenure we were able to lean into this hunger for justice to bring in resources and grow the professional team from three to six people. We established liberatory structures so the team could catch up between seasons, and supported them by establishing living wages, health insurance, increased vacation time and other important benefits to offer better work-life balance. These changes were implemented at the pace that funding and collective decisions allowed, resulting in the conditions you see today.
Simultaneously, we successfully fundraised and executed the replacement of a dilapidated roof; installed solar panels; brought the building up to code; repaired the restaurant, upgraded to better sound and AV equipment; invested in the next generation of artists and cultural workers; grew our volunteer program tenfold based on manageable shift times, reciprocity and attractive programming; grew our events team while retaining and hiring exemplary community leaders; created intentional programming and set up conditions to combat systems of oppression; established community agreements; institutionalized land acknowledgements with action; and deepened our relationships with our community through partnership and collaboration.
I know you will continue carrying this collective vision for this space and the great work that it creates.
While I’ll be shifting my focus to other community-driven projects where I will continue to advocate for equity and justice for our community, I will continue to support La Peña and all of you. Thank you to everyone who participated and showed up for one another. I see you and appreciate you.
Lastly, but most importantly, I want to give a heart-felt thanks to my family, my ancestors, my mentors, my friends, and my partner Arturo for nourishing me so that I could show up for us.
All the LOVE, all the POWER, and all the NEWEN to each one of you.
Natalia Neira Retamal
Executive Director
Lapena.org
