Lake Walking, Revolutionary Talking: From Page to Stage Campaign
Your contributions will not only amplify our work, but support the venue for our next performance at the woman-owned, community based BAM House theater.
Oakland, CA, US
$352
raised of
$2,999 goal
6 donations
-975438minutes left
Fiscally Sponsored by Fractured Atlas
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Thanks to you, we got a review!
We were excited by this unique review by Fred Nolan in the New Haven Independent. Please support our cause by sharing with your friends.
We Sold Out
Our May 5 preview was a tremendous success! Red Poppy House full with healing joy, poetry and Trans-Atlantic sharings! Please help us fund our next show. We just need to make $930 t0 break event!
Lake Walking, Revolutionary Talking The interactive, experimental performance included a live and virtual cast of spoken word artists from Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and the U.S. Set in Oakland's Lake Merritt, lost children of the African diaspora wander in an imaginary desert in hopes of discovering untainted water that will cleanse their spirit. This journey through space and time celebrates the power of imagination and connection.
Our last show sold out! Featuring Oakland Poet Laureate, Ayodele Nzinga, Karla Brundage, Duana Fullwiley, David Odiase, Sir Black, Rameses Setekh, Kevin Dublin, Wanda Sabir, Gemini, Amos White, Godfrey-Elvis Odianose, Zakiyyah G.E. Capehart, Joey Korgan, Ifeanyichukwu Onwughalu.
Zakiyyah G.E. Capehart Performs Fires in Oakland
West Oakland to West Africa is an international poetry organization that believes in transformative power of words. Our club is a vibrant community where creativity blossoms, voices are heard, and emotions find their expression through the art of linked poetry . From open mic nights and workshops to publishing anthologies and organizing poetry slams with our partners in Accra, we strive to use poetry as an accessible tool for crossing both physical and imagined borders.Most recently, we embarked on a new creative journey that prompted us to move our poetry off the page and on to the stage in our first ever theatrical performance:Lake Walking, Revolutionary Talking
Thank you for supporting our mission to continue fostering poetic exchanges for the community, for the culture, and for the creatives. See you at the next show!
Show Dates: August 9-10. Time:Location: BAM House, 1540 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
Rewards
Friends of WO2WA
Donate $10.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Become a friend of WO2WA and join our Mailing List
Supporter
Donate $25.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Become a supporter of Poetry between West Africa and Oakland Poets
Signed copy of an anthology of your choice
Donate $50.00 or more
Amount over $25.00 is tax-deductible.
West Africa Poetry Exchange (WO2WA), which has facilitated cross-cultural exchange between Oakland and West African poets and the publication of three books Our Spirits Carry Our Voices, which chronicles our first exchange with Ehalakasa in Ghana and international poetry slam. Sisters Across Oceans features Black women in exchange from Ghana to Hawaii in partnerships with Links, Hawaii Chapter. Black Rootedness: 54 Poets from Africa to America is culmination of exchanges with East Side Arts Alliance in Oakland, California, CIA_Lagos in Nigeria and Kistrech Poetry Festival in Kisii, Kenya.
Front row seats to the August show
Donate $150.00 or more
Amount over $50.00 is tax-deductible.
However, in order to continue to nourish both poets and poetry enthusiasts, we need your support. We are launching a fundraising campaign to sustain and expand our “page to stage” initiative and we invite you to be a part of our journey. Your contributions will not only amplify our work, but support the venue for our next performance at the woman-owned, community based BAM House theater.
Free poetry consultation with the editor/ founder of WO2WA
Donate $500.00 or more
Amount over $250.00 is tax-deductible.
Consultation on chapbook length manuscript (30-40 pages)
Karla Brundage is a poet, activist, and educator with a passion for social justice. Raised in the town of Ka’a’awa, Hawaii she developed a deep love of nature. After graduating from Hawaii Baptist Academy, she attended Vassar College before returning home to teach at Maryknoll for eight years. After receiving a Fulbright and teaching in Zimbabwe for a year, she began seeking bridges between Hawaii and Africa. In 2016, she founded West Oakland to West Africa Poetry Exchange (WO2WA), which has facilitated cross-cultural exchange between Oakland and West African poets. Karla is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and author of two books of poetry, Swallowing Watermelons and Mulatta- Not so Tragic, and a board member of the Before Columbus Foundation, which provides recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. Her editorial experience includes a pan-Africanist WO2WA poetry collection, Sisters Across Oceans (2021) and Our Spirits Carry Our Voices (2020), published by Pacific Raven Press; Oakland Out Loud (2007); and Words Upon the Waters (2006) both by Jukebox Press. Her poetry, short stories and essays have been widely anthologized and can be found in Hip Mama, Literary Kitchen, Lotus Press, Bamboo Ridge Press, Vibe and Konch Literary Magazine. She holds a BA from Vassar College, an MA in Education from San Francisco State University and an MFA from Mills College.
Dinner with the director and select cast members
Donate $1,000.00 or more
Amount over $500.00 is tax-deductible.
Enjoy a specially prepared West African meal for two, at the home of Karla Brundage, founder and director of West Oakland to West Africa along with select cast members. Date TBD
