La Peña Cultural Center

Welcome to La Peña! Promoting social justice & intercultural understanding through the arts since 1975.

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“Birds in the Moon” & Friends: FREE Outdoor Festival!

Join us for this amazing FREE Downtown Berkeley Festival of Opera, Music, Spoken Word and Dance! Six performances in two days, curated by SLAM, La Peña Cultural Center, California Institute for Community, Art & Nature, and California Jazz Conservatory.

Among incredible poets, culture bearers, opera singers and jazz musicians, we will be able to enjoy the music of latin fusion band CALMAO accompanied by Cumbia Dancers from Colombia. We cannot wait! See the full program below.

 

Saturday 28th August

3:00 PM SPOKEN WORD IN ACTION Poets from SPARC poetry by Bay Area Creative perform an hour long set of spoken word.

5:00 PM CALMAO A latin fusion band that blends traditional Colombian and Caribbean sounds with New Soul, Hip Hop, Funk and Latin Jazz. Plus: special guest Cumbia Dancers from Colombia.

6:45 PM BIRDS IN THE MOON Exclusive Berkeley Preview of a mobile chamber opera featuring Maria Elena Altany, Austin Spangler & The Friction Quartet www.birdsinthemoon.org

Sunday 29th August

3:00 PM RE-INDIGENIZING CALIFORNIA California ICAN presents three remarkable California Indian culture bearers: Cafe Ohlone Co-Founders Vincent Medina (Chochenyo Ohlone) & Louis Trevino (Rumsen Ohlone) together with Storyteller Eric Wilder (Kashia Pomo) for a profoundly beautiful presentation with California’s first peoples via words, image and song.

5:00 PM THE ELECTRIC SQUEEZEBOX ORCHESTRA San Francisco Bay Area’s own 17-piece big band that plays music composed and arranged by its members, which include some of the very best of the Bay Area’s jazz musicians.

6:45 PM BIRDS IN THE MOON Exclusive Berkeley Preview of a mobile chamber opera featuring Maria Elena Altany, Austin Spangler & The Friction Quartet.

 

When?

Saturday, August 28 & Sunday, August 29, 2021
3:00 – 8:00 pm PST

Where?

2210 Harold Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

 

Sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,The Downtown Berkeley Association & Meyer Sound.

“Birds in the Moon” & Friends: Outdoor Festival!

Join us for this amazing FREE Downtown Berkeley Festival of Opera, Music, Spoken Word and Dance! Six performances in two days, curated by SLAM, La Peña Cultural Center, California Institute for Community, Art & Nature, and California Jazz Conservatory.

Among incredible poets, culture bearers, opera singers and jazz musicians, we will be able to enjoy the music of latin fusion band CALMAO accompanied by Cumbia Dancers from Colombia. We cannot wait! See the full program below.

Saturday 28th August

3:00 PM SPOKEN WORD IN ACTION Poets from SPARC poetry by Bay Area Creative perform an hour long set of spoken word.

5:00 PM CALMAO A latin fusion band that blends traditional Colombian and Caribbean sounds with New Soul, Hip Hop, Funk and Latin Jazz. Plus: special guest Cumbia Dancers from Colombia.

6:45 PM BIRDS IN THE MOON The West Coast premiere of a mobile chamber opera featuring Maria Elena Altany, Austin Spangler & The Friction Quartet www.birdsinthemoon.org

Sunday 29th August

3:00 PM RE-INDIGENIZING CALIFORNIA California ICAN presents three remarkable California Indian culture bearers: Cafe Ohlone Co-Founders Vincent Medina (Chochenyo Ohlone) & Louis Trevino (Rumsen Ohlone) together with Storyteller Eric Wilder (Kashia Pomo) for a profoundly beautiful presentation with California’s first peoples via words, image and song.

5:00 PM THE ELECTRIC SQUEEZEBOX ORCHESTRA San Francisco Bay Area’s own 17-piece big band that plays music composed and arranged by its members, which include some of the very best of the Bay Area’s jazz musicians.

6:45 PM BIRDS IN THE MOON The West Coast premiere of a mobile chamber opera featuring Maria Elena Altany, Austin Spangler & The Friction Quartet.

When?

Saturday, August 28 & Sunday, August 29, 2021
3:00 – 8:00 pm PST

Where?

2210 Harold Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

Sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,The Downtown Berkeley Association & Meyer Sound

“Batey Boricua in the Pandemic”

“Batey Boricua in the Pandemic” is the pilot episode of our new digital program “La Peña Community Stories.” In this short film, we hear amazing songs & testimonies from cultural workers of Puerto Rican Bomba 15 months after La Peña—and most cultural venues in the world—had to physically close its doors due to the pandemic.

The protagonists, Shefali Shah, Héctor Lugo, and Ito Carrillo are pillars of the Puerto Rican culture in the Bay Area. Lugo & Shah co-founded the Bay Area Bomba y Plena Workshop years ago, and have been gathering and collaborating at La Peña to serve the community with classes, workshops, community jams, performances, fundraisers and more.

The focus of this video is the energy of the Batey Boricua Community Jam, which has been held at La Peña for many years. The intention is to honor this community-lead gathering practice which brings together Bomba practitioners, teaching artists, students, families, and enthusiasts to celebrate and preserve this over 400 hundred year old Puerto Rican tradition.

Watch the TRAILER:

Watch the FULL LENGTH VIDEO:

Produced by Jeremy Allen and Bianca Torres

Special thanks to:
Aguacero – Bomba y Plena Workshop | https://bomba-aguacero.org
Gavin Jones, Duvateen Sound
Raul Varela, camera
Marina Romani, photography
Bethanie Hines, photography |  www.bethaniehines.com
Preservation Park, Oakland
William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

Jobs at La Peña

Thank you for your interest in working with us! La Peña Cultural Center is currently hiring for the following positions:

Part-Time Event Staff (on a rolling basis): House Manager, Box Office Manager, Sound Engineer

See details of the positions and application process below. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@lapena.org. Also, stay in touch with us for updates through our newsletter and check out our volunteer/intern opportunities!

House Manager (Part-Time / As Needed)

House-Manager-Job-Description-2022Download

Box Office Manager (Part-Time / As Needed)

Box-Office-Manager-Job-Description-2022Download

Batey Boricua in the Pandemic – Online Video Premiere!

“Batey Boricua in the Pandemic” is the pilot episode of our new digital program “La Peña Community Stories.” In this short film, we hear amazing songs & testimonies from cultural workers of Puerto Rican Bomba 15 months after La Peña—and most cultural venues in the world—had to physically close its doors due to the pandemic.

The protagonists, Shefali Shah, Héctor Lugo, and Ito Carrillo are pillars of the Puerto Rican culture in the Bay Area. Lugo & Shah co-founded the Bay Area Bomba y Plena Workshop years ago, and have been gathering and collaborating at La Peña to serve the community with classes, workshops, community jams, performances, fundraisers and more.

The focus of this video is the energy of the Batey Boricua Community Jam, which has been held at La Peña for many years. The intention is to honor this community-lead gathering practice which brings together Bomba practitioners, teaching artists, students, families, and enthusiasts to celebrate and preserve this over 400 hundred year old Puerto Rican tradition.

RSVP HERE  |  JOIN THE EVENT HERE.

Watch the TRAILER below:

Photograph by Bethanie Hines www.bethaniehines.com