Only nonprofit and fiscally sponsored organizations may apply; individuals may not.

Eligibility Requirements

•       Project must have strong artistic and cultural component(s).*
•       Event must take place within Oakland city limits.
•       Event must be open and free to the public (although a limit on number of attendees related to venue is acceptable).
•       Project must demonstrate a commitment to celebrating communities of color in Oakland.
•       Project must be completed within one year of the grant award date.
•       Date of event(s) must be after the award notification date (see award dates below).
•       Funds awarded must be spent only on the project specified in the grant application.
•       An organization may not receive more than one Beloved Community Fund Grant in a calendar year.
•       Akonadi prioritizes investments in cultural strategies that:
  • are shaped by, and reflect, the lives of youth of color.
  • develop young people’s collective expression of their experiences and visions for their communities;
  • support systems change efforts and transform structures.

The Foundation makes grants to organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are classified as “not a private foundation” under Section 509(a). Organizations may also submit applications through a sponsoring organization if the sponsor has 501(c)(3) status, is not a private foundation under 509(a), and provides written confirmation of its willingness to act as the fiscal sponsor.

*By artistic and cultural component we mean the event involves art, artists, and /or cultural workers as an integral part of the event, and/or the event centers indigenous or traditional cultural knowledge and expression rooted in communities of color.

Akonadi Foundation awards project-specific grants ranging from $2,000 – $15,000 for events and projects that advance racial justice in Oakland. In 2017, the average grant size was $7,700 with a total of $500,000 awarded to 65 projects.

• Racial trauma and healing
• Representations of youth of color that combat stereotypes
• Short- and long-term structural effects of police brutality and racial inequity on Black communities in particular and people of color generally.

Funding is not limited to these areas. We also invite proposals from projects/events that meet the eligibility requirements and the purpose of the Beloved Community Fund but fall outside these specific areas.

What kind of events do you fund?

• Community celebrations/gatherings
• Cross-racial/multi-racial/cultural exchanges
• Festivals
• Exhibits
• Readings
• Healing clinics
• Performances
• Symposia
• Historic commemorations
• Media projects that include a public cultural event
• Series of arts/cultural workshops that include a public cultural event
• Public art projects that include a public cultural event

What will not receive funding?

• Political advocacy efforts for or against a candidate, ballot measure, or bill
• Events conducted solely or primarily as fund-raisers
• Requests for general operating support
• Requests from religious, labor, fraternal, athletic, or political organizations
• Projects based in public or private educational institutions (K-12, private schools, and universities)
• More than one proposal per organization (except for fiscal sponsors applying on behalf of more than one organization)
• Multiple proposals for components of the same festival, event, or project

To apply

1. Complete the Eligibility Quiz to see if you qualify.
2. If you successfully complete the eligibility quiz, you will receive a link to our online application. Applications are accepted only through Akonadi Foundation’s online grants system.
3. Once you complete and submit the application, you will receive an email with the grant status on the Award Notification Date.
4. If a project was not awarded funds, an organization may not reapply for the same project but may apply for funding for a completely new and separate project.
5. If you are approved, you will receive your grant award once you return the signed grant contract to us.

2018 Deadlines and Award Notification Schedule

The Beloved Community Fund application process is highly competitive, as we manage finite funds with growing demand. 

• Review the BCF APP GUIDE to learn about our review criteria to support you in submitting a strong and competitive application.
• BCF FAQ to see a list of frequently asked questions.

July 2018 BCF Grant Award List
8 Grants, Total Dispersed: $70,500

The Black Woman Is God: Assembly of the Gods, The Black Woman is God $11,000
Date: August 16, 2018 & October 3, 2018 (Date Confirmation Pending)
Location: West Oakland, North Oakland, & Uptown

The Black Woman Is God: Assembly of the Gods is a series of events throughout Oakland that center Black women with the premise that when Black women are given value at the highest order, the community as a whole rises with them. Events include artist talks, workshops, and a procession in West Oakland. Exhibitions will feature artists Renee Cox,  Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Dana King, and Michele Elizabeth Lee at Betti Ono from August 16th-October 16th, Ashara Ekundayo Gallery from October 3rd-26th, and Thelma Harris Gallery from August 31st-Sept 31st.

BAMBDFEST 2019, Black Arts Business District Community Development Corporation of Oakland $11,000
Date: TBA
Location: West Oakland

BAMBDFEST 2019 is a month-long arts and culture festival reclaiming Oakland’s historic Black Arts Movement and is led by Artistic Director Ayodele Nzinga. The Festival will include the Mandela Blues Festival at the Mandela Median in West Oakland and BAMBD FamilyFest Day Lowell Park.

Nisa’ Raqs- Women’s Fall Gathering, Afro Urban Society $11,000
Date: October 27, 2018
Location: Uptown

Nisa’ Raqs- Women’s Fall Gathering will take place at Fox Courts Housing. The gathering creates a space for Yemeni, Arab, Muslim women and women of African descent to build community and solidarity through dialogue, dance, and storytelling.

Iwa Pele, Path, and Destination, Lower Bottom Playaz Inc $10,500
Date: November 2018
Location: West Oakland

Iwa Pele Path, Destination, and Collaborative Art Project will take place at various locations in West Oakland during the 3rd Annual Orisha Urban World Festival. The Project will engage a group of artists of color in a series of art-making workshops that expose them to the practice of Iwa Pele, a Yoruba term that means finding one’s destiny and good fortune through the building of good character. Lead Artists Ayodele Nzinga and Adimu Madyun will craft workshops and lectures based on their practice of Iwa Pele and their life experiences as artists doing social justice work. The workshops will culminate in a community event where participating artists will share the work created collectively and report back to the community on the experience of participating in the workshops.

You Never Know – Community Offerings, Dimensions Dance Theater $8,000
Date: November 17-18, 2018 & December 1, 2018
Location: Eastside Arts Alliance (East Oakland) & Oakland Peace Center (North Oakland)

You Never Know, a play written by Latanya d. Tigner looks at the impacts of homelessness especially with respect to African American narratives and the variety of societal impacts that lead to homelessness. The play will include community roundtable discussions that will engage Oakland residents impacted by homelessness, service providers, activist, and community members interested in discussing homelessness in Oakland.

Oakland’s Black Cultural Innovators, Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice $7,000
Date: February 2019
Location: West Oakland TBD

Oakland Black Culture Innovators will catalog Black Oakland artists and venues. The findings will reflect those cultural influencers of the Black Arts Movement (local, national and international) and the progeny that came from it. The Project will culminate in a series of exhibitions of the findings. Exhibitions will take place from February 2019 through June 2019.

Liberate Our Minds – Black August 40th Year, Black August Organizing Committee $6,000
Date: August 10 & August 11, 2018
Location: East Side Arts Alliance & East Oakland Youth Development Center, East Oakland

Liberate Our Minds – Black August 40th Year Gathering and Festival will take place at East Side Arts Alliance on Friday, August 10, 2018, and at East Oakland Youth Development Center on Saturday, August 11, 2018. August 10th will be a half day gathering for healing and conversation about creating strategic unity to organize and activate our communities to end the mass imprisonment of our youth. There will be a community talking circle, complementary healing treatments, dinner, and artists presentations about using art as a way to educate, activate, and heal community and family. August 11th will be a day-long festival hosted by BAOC, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and Hip Learning, featuring a prison art exhibition and local artist performances including Kev Choice, Spear of the Nation, Naru Kwina, Ras Ceylon, Alia Sharrief, dancing, drumming and more.

Rasanble! Haitian Arts & Culture Festival, Rara Tou Limen Haitian Dance Company $6,000
Date: September 21-23, 2018
Location: Eastside Arts Alliance (East Oakland) and The Humanist Hall (North Oakland)

Rasanble! Haitian Arts & Culture Festival creates a space for Haitian communities to come together with ally communities to discuss the situation of the Haitian people living in Haiti and those in Oakland. The events will include dance, food, and dialogue to help dispel negative stereotypes about Haitian people and African diasporic spiritual traditions such as Vodou. The Festival offers participants an opportunity to connect to cultural workers and activists supporting local Haitian immigrant communities.

April 2018 BCF Grant Award List
16 Grants, Total Dispersed: $137,500.00

Nuestras Historias: Healing through ARTivism, 67 Sueños, American Friends Service Committee, $15,000
Date: July 28, 2018
Location: East Oakland

The project will enlist twelve young people of color from Oakland including Black, Latinx, and Muslim youth to take part in a two-tiered program aimed at addressing trauma and healing through the use of talk circles and artmaking. Youth will be immersed in music therapy, indigenous sweat lodges, drumming circles, poetry writing, and be exposed to decolonial pedagogy. The program will teach the youth about interlocking systems of oppression that impact their lives. They will gain an understanding of intergenerational trauma and the similarities/differences within the group. The curriculum is intended to allow the youth to break away from their prejudices and build cross-racial solidarity that will enable them to transition into the project’s 2nd tier, a large-scale mural. Youth will brainstorm a theme, engage in participatory research, paint the mural, and host an arts-based event where they will unveil the mural and release a poetry book containing their poems written throughout their healing experience.

The Fire Next Time Project, Betti Ono, $15,000
Date: Multiple Events from August 2018 to April 2019
Location: Betti Ono, Downtown Oakland

The Fire Next Time Exhibit and Community Visioning Project will take place at Betti Ono with several events occurring between Aug 2018-April 2019. The program is focused on issues facing communities of color and will utilize art and activism as a tool for building cross-generational dialogue in Oakland in order to advance racial justice. The project includes several elements including a think tank, youth summit, multidisciplinary arts exhibition, and community visioning process. The focus of the project is to create an Oakland-centric cross-generational space of creativity, dialogue, and action to lift up the next generation of citizen changemakers and artists as activist by honoring those who paved the way and have been our shining examples.

One Fam Art and Culture Program, One Fam, $15,000
Date: Various Dates
Location: One Fam, West Oakland

A local hub for community organizing and community gathering, One Fam will present One Fam Arts and Culture Program (OFAC). It will be held at the Revolution Cafe and will feature an ongoing weekly open mic for the community of West Oakland. Other events include a Garden Party and Ceremony with the newly established community garden; a Spring Community Gathering; and a Fall Harvest Festival. The constituents of One Fam are over 70% people of color who live in the West Oakland neighborhoods. As an incubator for community connection, the Art and Culture Program provides space for expression and positive interactions. The vision of the OFAC Program is for the events to be a catalyst for organizing our constitutes in the pursuit of progressing One Fam goals of inspiring community members to become politically active and build the social justice movement.

Malcolm X Jazz and Arts Festival, Eastside Arts Alliance, $11,000
Date: May 19, 2018
Location: San Antonio Park, East Oakland

Malcolm X JazzArts Festival (MXJAF) will serve communities of color living and working in East Oakland, offering the community a culturally-affirming space and celebration of shared histories, social identities, and expressive cultures by producing a daylong, free festival of performance, exhibitions, artisan vendors of color, and youth activities. The goal has been to promote both jazz and Malcolm X as critical components of an understanding of unity and connections between communities of color. The Festival promotes Malcolm X’s message of unity and self-determination. Information regarding the progress of building a Black Cultural Zone (BCZ) in East Oakland as a part of an overall community empowerment strategy will be disseminated. BCZ partners are proposing the historic building on International and 57th street (the old Safeway headquarters) be the hub or epicenter for the BCZ, and are currently in the process of trying to secure this site.

The 5th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, Omnira Institute, $10,000
Date: Sept. 15, 2018
Location: Oakland Technical High School, North Oakland

The Black-Eyed Pea Festival is a multigenerational celebration for the Black community highlighting Black and African Diasporic traditions and culture through live performances, local Black storytellers, musicians, and dancers. It will be a space for Black commerce with crafters and visual artists vending their handcrafted wares. Community resource providers concerned with health, education, and other subjects concerning the Black community will be invited to share critical resources with our communities.

African Liberation Day: Justice, Art & Community, All African People’s Revolutionary Party, $5,000
Date: May 26, 2018
Location: Tassafaronga Recreation Center, 975 – 85th Avenue, East Oakland

This year’s theme of African Liberation Day 2018 (ALD) is focused on “Justice, Art, & Community.” A core value of the event is unity and struggle. The planned performances, speakers, and workshops will all elevate the theme, values, and historic legacy of African Liberation Day. ALD will have a host of local Oakland performances, bringing strong voices of solidarity from the American Indian Movement, Haiti Action Committee, and the Philipino group Anakbaya. Other highlights will include Aztec Dancers, African Drumming, Tyrone Stevenson Jr. and the Original Scraper Bike Team, Val Surant & Kujichagulia, Kele Nitoto and Baba Ustadi and Cuauhtli Mitotiani Dancers. Organizing an African centered event in deep East Oakland does not happen often, especially an event that speaks to local and global issues impacting the displacement of people of African descent in Oakland and abroad.

Mālama Honua Kaleponi , Kua`aina Associates, Inc., $8,000
Date: June 10, 2018 & Other Dates TBD
Location: Eastside Arts Alliance & Academy of Hawaiian Arts, East Oakland

Mālama Honua Kaleponi (California caring for Mother Earth) will take place at the Academy of Hawaiian Arts and East Bay Art Alliance. The event will serve the Native Hawaiian, Pacific Island, and Native American communities with respect to the mission of the Hōkūle`a’s Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage – to be good stewards in the care of Mother Earth. The project will include workshops and presentations profiling the work of cultural practitioners. This will be a cross-cultural exchange to support and promote the heritage of the Bay Area’s Pacific Islanders and the Indigenous California community through a series of workshops and community presentations focused on indigenous canoe culture, indigenous language and its role in the maintenance of traditional knowledge, cultural identity and contributing to the well being of humankind.

Reclaiming Cinco De Mayo, “Dream Beyond Bars,” Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), $7,500
Date: May 6, 2018
Location: Josie de la Cruz Park, East Oakland

The 5th annual Reclaiming Cinco de Mayo is in partnership with Urban Peace Movement, 67 Suñeos, and Black Organizing Project. The event will include the release of CURYJ’s Dream Beyond Bars youth researcher report, live performances by local artists, community resources, free food, a live mural painting, and a kids zone. Led and designed by Oakland youth, Reclaiming Cinco De Mayo is taking back culture and history by honoring the resistance of the people of Puebla, Mexico for their victory over the French army on this day, while connecting the issues we resist against today through art. The event will speak to the reclamation of space in Oakland during a time where ongoing state violence, gentrification, and the Trump administration is placing all of our communities under direct attack. Reclaiming Cinco De Mayo is a part of a week-long series of events titled The Week of Love, Rage & Resistance. In an effort to create solidarity across all cultures and communities, CURYJ staff and youth are leading and participating in advocacy actions, community events, and marches to unite in our healing.

Young Activists for May Day, Abundant Beginnings, $6,500
Date: May 1, 2018
Location: Oscar Grant Plaza, Downtown Oakland

As part of the Oakland May Day: March & Strike for Immigrant and Worker Rights, a cohort of Oakland-based Youth of Color-serving organizations, schools, artists, and educators will provide a full-day of arts and cultural activities for Oakland Native, Black, and Brown young activists ages 3 to 18 years old. The children and youth will participate in and lead various sessions including story time with local authors of color, art-making and dance activities, Kingian Nonviolence, and teach-ins on topics such as labor movement timeline, Beyond the Moment Immigration/Sanctuary, and appreciation for our domestic workers and caregivers. Activities will be tailored to each age group.

Reclaiming the Sacred, The Pasifika Center, $7,000
Date: October 26, 2018 & Date TBD
Location: Chinatown & East Oakland

Reclaiming the Sacred: Healing our Ecosystems through the Sacredness and Mana of Leimaking, Dance & Wayfinding will take place in various venues throughout Oakland, culminating with a Ho’ike [talent showcase] at the Lake Merritt Boat House on October 26, 2018. This 6-month project will serve Oakland’s Pasifika – Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian communities as well as the Oakland’s larger community. It will center the value of Pasifika cultural preservation and evolution as a means to healing traumas in Pacific Islander communities that have been caused by social, environmental, and economic injustices. The project will offer free public workshops in dance and lei making. In October, during the Ho’ike week, there will be lectures and activities in wayfinding, profiling the work of Leimaker Scholar Tiffany Rose Naputi Lacsado, Pasifika Dance Choreographer Lenna Malieituala of Le Ala Polynesian Dance Company, master leimaker and weaver Regina Raigatel, Pwo Navigator Larry Raigetal, master canoe builder Mario “Sakman” Borja, and indigenous marine conservationist Angelo Villagomez.

Fifth Annual Oakland People’s Pride Wellness Expo, Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, $5,000
Date: September 8, 2018
Location: Lake Merritt Boathouse

The Fifth Annual Oakland People’s Pride Wellness Expo celebrates the lives and wellbeing of Queer and Trans People of Color, differently-abled people, and other people excluded financially or otherwise from Pride festivities. The Pride Expo will support the healing of marginalized LGBTQ people and their allies by offering a fair that connects attendees with representatives from Bay Area service and advocacy nonprofits; holding a 5K/10K walk/run/roll around the Lake; and by hosting a music, art, and comedy stage that celebrates all LGBTQ people, especially focusing on Queer and Trans People of Color.

AYPAL 20th Annual May Arts Festival, AYPAL: Building API Community Power, $7,000
Date: May 12th
Location: Lincoln Square Park

AYPAL’s 20th Annual May Arts Festival “From the Soil” will serve Oakland Chinatown, Eastlake, West Oakland, and East Oakland communities by centering culture as a tool for resistance against gentrification. The Festival will include youth and adult cultural performances, community services, games and activities for young children, free food for attendees, and an outdoor exhibit centered on uplifting underrepresented Asian and Pacific Islander voices and profiling the work of AYPAL Youth Leaders and adult allies.

Black Girls Dreaming Magic: Rituals & Performance with Amara Tabor Smith, MISSSEY, Inc., $7,000
Date: October 5, 2018
Location: Eastside Arts Alliance

Black Girls Dreaming Magic: Rituals & Performance is a series of workshops and a culminating performance led by Bay Area Black artivist Amara Tabor-Smith. Tabor-Smith will work with a group of young women in a series of rituals/workshops that are focused on themes such as racial trauma and healing; representations of youth of color that combat stereotypes; and LGBTQ identity and gender justice in communities of color. The project is intended to offer the youth a space to build strength together, provide a platform for healing, and create an opportunity for the youth to see themselves as social change agents.

Empowerment Project: 9th Annual Youth Open Mic, S.H.A.D.E Movement, $5,000
Date: April 27th, 2018
Location: Betti Ono, Downtown Oakland

The 9th Annual Youth Open Mic-STOP THE P.I.M.P (Prostituting Innocent Minors for Profit) will take place during Alameda County Sexually Exploited Minors (SEM) Awareness Week April 23-29, 2018. The event is specifically focused on how child sex exploitation disproportionately affects African-American girls while uplifting the impact on other vulnerable and marginalized communities such as transitional age youth, the LGBTQ community, and the Latino community. The event is a space for young people of color to showcase their talent through singing, rapping, spoken word, and art. It is also a space to gather the community to educate one another on the issue of human trafficking. This event is youth-focused and youth-organized and it is co-coordinated with survivor-thrivers, local non profits, and the young people in the community.

510 Day, Urban Peace Movement, $5,000
Date: May 10, 2018
Location: Lake Merritt

510 DAY intends to serve Oakland youth of color from the flatlands, as well as long-time Oakland residents who have either resisted displacement or who have already been pushed out. UPM will  create a youth-centered presence at the 3rd Annual 510 Day, while also calling attention to the impact of gentrification on long-time Oakland residents, address police accountability, and celebrate authentic Oakland youth culture by having various Oakland cultural elements, such as local dancers and performers, scraper bikes, visual artists, and Oakland history, while also profiling the work of The Black Panthers. Organizing groups will be invited to share literature and information on how residents can help resist gentrification. A collective youth base across organizations will be activated and prepared to speak out on gentrification issues, as well as over-policing of communities of color.

Brujalyfe Fest, Brujalyfe, $5,000
Date: June 22, 2018
Location: Redbay Coffee Roastery

Brujalyfe Fest provides a space for women, LGBTQI artists, and communities of color to be in dialogue and community with each other. The Festival will center music and dance as a way to revive and rejuvenate these communities. The Festival will include a panel discussion on issues impacting target communities with local artists and organizers, a marketplace, and a closing healing ritual rooted in Afro-Latinx dance traditions.

February 2018 BCF Grant Award List
5 Grants, Total Dispersed: $34,500.00

Drumluck: An Ancestral Gathering, Boomshake Music, $8,500
Date: March 18 and May 1, 2018
Location: Uptown & East Oakland, Humanist Hall and Fruitvale Plaza, respectively

Drumluck is an intergenerational gathering centering Oakland’s womxn, youth, and families to share/learn ancestral traditions and drum for cultural survival and social change. By sharing the history and context of each activity, we remind ourselves that we are seen, heard, and our ancestors not forgotten, so we can strengthen community, celebrate our cultures, and heal racial trauma.

Las Hociconas Performance Showcases & Open Mic, Las Hociconas Lab Theater Arts Residency 2018, $10,000
Date: March 8th (International Womxn’s Day) & March 9th, 2018
Location: Grand Lake, Studio Grand

Las Hociconas Lab Residency is a sacred creative space for transitional age young adult cis-womxn, queer, trans and gender expansive artists of color (20 – 35 yrs old) to share their stories and family histories; examine themes of home, gentrification, migration, and changing communities; and develop new works to be shared with the community. Las Hociconas Culminating Performance Showcases will take place at Studio Grand on March 8th (International Womxn’s Day) and March 9th, 2018. The performances are free and intended to serve and welcome local residents of Oakland with a focus on creating open public performances that are accessible to all, including families and individuals, especially artists, of working class to low-income backgrounds, people of color native to the Bay Area, and immigrant communities. Our public performances will profile the Lab’s cohort of young emerging artists of color, as well as some of the guest artists of the Residency, and will include an open mic portion to amplify other voices of color in the community. Many of the Lab participants are Oakland residents.

Disrupting Displacement through Accessible Arts, Oakland Peace Center, $8,500
Date: TBD
Location: North Oakland, Oakland Peace Center

Black Artist, writer, and Pasteur Marvin K. White, a native of Oakland, began to envision how a community series highlighting lesser known but radical and innovative artists of color could help community members enter into a conversation on displacement through a different lens; a lens of celebration of the gifts that make our community rich. The Series led by Oakland-native artists of color will take place at the Oakland Peace Center and raise the theme of cultural preservation in order to connect community members with what makes Oakland so vibrant and provide opportunities for them to engage in a conversation on displacement, featuring visual, musical, and spoken word art. It will also feature the work of Marvin K. White and other queer artists of color from the community.

The Oakland International Film Festival, The Oakland Film Society, $6,500
Date: April 3 – 7, 2018
Location: Uptown/Downtown, Various Locations

The 16th Oakland International Film Festival will take place at various venues in the City of Oakland. The theme this year is MLK 50 – Representing 50 years Since the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, with the question: “Where Do We Go From Here?,” the title of Martin Luther King’s last book he authored 51 years ago, after the Civil rights bill was signed. Films that promote social justice will be highlighted to inspire future generations to learn from our collective past of struggle as we move forward. Free screenings will take place at Oakland’s City Hall and other venues in the downtown area including Geoffrey’s Inner Circle. Free screenings will also take place at various venues on April 7th.

Dance of the Holy Ghosts by Marcus Gardley, Ubuntu Theater, $7,500
Date: March 9 – 31, 2018
Location: North Oakland, Oakland Peace Center

The Ubuntu Theater Project’s West Coast Premiere production of Marcus Gardley’s Dance of the Holy Ghosts intends to serve Oakland and Bay Area audiences, especially the African American community and other communities of color. Dance of the Holy Ghosts examines racial trauma and healing across multiple generations of a Black family, through the lenses of narrative, gospel music, and memory. The production profiles the work of West Oakland native African American playwright Marcus Gardley and features a 29-person ensemble of African American artists.

In 2017, the average grant size was $7,700 with a total of $500,000 awarded to 65 projects.