Conference Information

Explore all of the details and context for O&B 2024 below.

You can find information on registration, logistics, and attendee experience below. Additionally, you can read about the three "tracks" that guided programming for the conference: places of belonging, belonging economies, and bridging for a shared future. Lastly, we give thanks to the organizing teams responsible for making this conference happen.

Date and Time

The 2024 Othering & Belonging Conference is a two-and-a-half-day event that will take place April 25-27, 2024 (see our agenda here). The theme of the conference is Belonging Without Othering. Attendees should plan on the following conference hours:

Thursday, April 25:
12:00 pm (doors open) - 6:30 pm
Friday, April 26: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday, April 27: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm

Location

The 2024 Othering & Belonging Conference will be held at:

Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts
10 10th St Oakland, CA 94607

We are thrilled to bring back our first in-person, US-based conference in 5 years to this historic venue where both Dr. Martin Luther King and Maya Angelou have spoken— the historic Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium. Now called HJK Arts, the building first opened in 1915 and operated for 90 years until the city closed it down in 2005. After undergoing a lengthy renovation, much of the building’s key features have been restored and maintained. O&B24 will be one of the inaugural events held at HJK Arts Center.

The O&B Conference will feature an expansive indoor-outdoor campus that weaves between HJK and its neighbor, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA). This classic Oakland institution, and a proud partner of our 2024 conference, will be a place for conference-goers to enjoy OMCA’s extensive outdoor gardens and fantastic exhibits and galleries.

Find out more about the location and venue here.

Transit Options for the Conference
Please see here for transport options for getting to the conference venue. Onsite parking at the HJK Center will not be available to attendees. If you plan to drive to the conference, there are a number of paid public parking garages and lots nearby.

Travel Safely in Oakland
Visitors coming to Oakland should use the same caution as when traveling to any metropolitan destination. Like many cities nationwide, Oakland has experienced an increase in property crime and theft in the past year. Visitors should use the same personal safety precautions and to stay vigilant just as they would at home or in any urban destination.

Safety Tips for Visitors

• Travel in groups when possible, and choose well lit busy streets if walking alone at night. If assistance is needed, contact our Oakland Community Ambassadors who offer the following services: Buddy escorts, Umbrella escorts and Provide directions. Downtown/ Uptown Ambassador escorts are available between 7:00am-10:30pm, 7 days a week, by calling 510-898-8592. A call 10 minutes in advance is appreciated.
• Be aware of your surroundings and other people. Keep your head up, your eyes and ears open, and your phone down in public.
• Do not leave your purse, backpack or briefcase unattended, especially not on the back of your chair.
• Carry your personal items in front of you and closer to your body. Try not to carry more than you can handle.
• Trust your instincts. If you find yourself feeling unsafe, find a nearby safer location with access to people who can help like an open business, an ambassador, parking lot attendant, etc.
• When driving, parking in a secure garage is recommended. In downtown, we suggest taking advantage of the newly launched “Five After Five” Program with discounted parking at the Franklin Plaza Parking Garage.
• When parking your vehicle, remove all luggage and valuables - especially electronics. Do not leave any objects, including empty bags, in view, or even in a locked trunk, if possible.

Vehicle Lodging and Safety Tips can be found here.

Registration and Fees

Tickets for the Othering & Belonging 2024 Conference attendee registration have SOLD OUT.

However, you can still register for our free live stream here.

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The registration levels were developed to make the conference as accessible as possible to a wide range of attendees. OBI does significant fundraising to provide different fee levels as well as full scholarships. 

Please select the highest level that your organization or you are able to afford.  In this way, we are able to stretch our conference funding further and provide additional high quality content and more scholarships to those who would otherwise not be able to attend. 

Belonging Champion: $2,425*
You are an organization or individual who wants to spread Belonging to as many people as possible by supporting those who are not able to afford the full conference registration fee. This registration level will support yourself and two scholarship applicants to attend the Conference. Please note that you are not able to specify which scholarship applicants you would like to support; if you would like to register multiple specific people (a group), please choose the Architect of Belonging rate. 

Pay It Forward Foundations and Businesses: $1,225*
You work for a foundation or business that has a budget for conferences or are an individual with the means to cover the actual per person cost of the conference plus supporting one other attendee at the subsidized Co-Creator rate. Please note that you are not able to specify which other attendee you would like to support; if you would like to register multiple specific people (a group), please choose the Architect of Belonging or Co-Creator rate based on your budget. 

Architect of Belonging: $825*
You work for a medium to large non-profit, government, or educational institution, and your organization is paying for the cost of your registration. By registering at this level, you are paying the actual per person cost to attend the conference. 

Co-Creator: $425*
This subsidized registration level is for those who cannot afford the actual per person cost of the conference. This rate may be appropriate for UC staff and faculty, employees from organizations/ institutions that do not have sufficient conference or professional development budgets, or individuals who are covering the registration cost out of their own funds and who cannot afford the Architect of Belonging rate.

Bridge Builder: $195* (Limited availability)
This highly subsidized registration option is for individuals who are unable to pay the Co-Creator rate such as staff of nonprofits with very small budgets and underemployed/low-paid individuals who are covering the cost out of their own funds. Please only select this level if you do not have the capacity to pay the Co-Creator rate.

*There will be a 3.5% credit card processing fee charged on top of all registration fees listed above. 

**If you registered you should receive a confirmation email within a few minutes of completing registration and payment. If you did not, be sure to check your spam or junk folder of the email you registered under. 

Group Registration
If you are registering/paying for a group, you must register yourself first (or choose one group member to serve as the primary registrant) and then you will be prompted to add additional members to the registration prior to payment. If members of your group are paying individually (for example, with different credit cards), each member must register separately.

Group Registration Rate/Discount
If you work for a medium to large non-profit, government, or educational institution, and your organization is paying for the cost of your registration, register your group under the Architect of Belonging rate; the $825 rate is per group member. For groups that cannot afford the Architect of Belonging rate, register under the Co-Creator rate; again, the $425 rate is per group member. These are the discounted group rate options.

Family and Youth Registration
Attendees with children are welcome at O&B24! Please note the following with respect to registering conference attendees 17 years and under. Please include names and ages of children who will be attending with you during registration. Children who are registered as attendees with a caregiver will not have access to childcare services. Childcare interest should be expressed during the registration process and will require a separate registration with our childcare provider. Contact obconf@berkeley.edu if you need assistance adding a youth attendee to your registration.

• Youth attendees aged 14-17 receive free attendance, they must be registered with an adult aged 18 or over.
• Youth ages 13 and under receive free attendance. They must be registered with an adult aged 18 or over and they must be accompanied at all times by a registered adult in the conference venue. Children under 13 will not have access to the childcare room.

A note on Day Rates
The conference is meant to be experienced as a whole and as such, we are not extending day rates as a registration option.  Attendees can of course attend only one day or any length of time, at any of the selected registration levels.  

Cancellation and Substitutions Policy
Please email cancellation or substitution requests to obconf@berkeley.edu.

Cancellations requested before February 29, 2024 are eligible for a refund minus a $50 cancellation fee for each registration. After March 1, 2024 cancellations will be refunded at 50% of the registration fee. No refunds will be issued after April 12, 2024. Failure to appear at the conference will result in forfeiture of the full registration fee. Requests to substitute registrations can be processed until April 12.

If you are unable to attend the conference after receiving a scholarship, please let us know so we can offer the scholarship to the next applicant.  Scholarship recipients will be responsible for coordinating their own travel to and lodging during the conference.  

After completing this form, you will receive a response from a member of our team within 2-3 weeks about your application and instructions on how to register.

Scholarships
The deadline to apply for scholarships is Mon, April 1 at 10am PT. See this link to the scholarship application. If your application is accepted, there will be a $35 processing fee that must be paid upon acceptance of the scholarship/registration. Scholarship recipients will be responsible for coordinating their own travel to and lodging during the conference.

If you do not accept the scholarship by registering/paying the fee within 14 days, the scholarship may be made available to the next applicant. 

If you are unable to attend the conference after receiving a scholarship, please let us know so we can offer the scholarship to the next applicant.  Scholarship recipients will be responsible for coordinating their own travel to and lodging during the conference.  

After completing this form, you will receive a response from a member of our team within 2-3 weeks about your application and instructions on how to register.

Payment Methods

We accept all major credit cards, and credit card payments are strongly preferred. 

Select the “Invoice” payment option ONLY if your organization is paying your registration and they are not using a credit card. Upon selecting the Invoice option, you must print out your registration invoice and send it along with a check made payable to the "The Regents of the University of California". Please write “Othering & Belonging Conference" in the memo line and mail to:

Charlotte Taylor
Othering & Belonging Institute
460 Stephens Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-2330

Your registration will be finalized upon receipt of your check. All checks must be received by March 25, 2024 to activate your registration for the conference. Please contact obconf@berkeley.edu if you are unable to meet this deadline.

If you are a campus group in the UC system and are paying via chartstring, please contact Puanani Forbes.

Lodging

There are four hotel blocks available to choose from which offer special discounted rates for Othering & Belonging 2024 Conference attendees. Rates are for the nights April 25, 26, and 27, 2024.

Hotel room rates are subject to applicable state and local taxes (currently 14% and subject to change).

AC Hotel Oakland Downtown (SOLD OUT)
1431 Jefferson St, Oakland, CA 94612

Single/double: $199.00/night.  To reserve a room, visit our dedicated booking website to make, modify, and cancel your hotel reservations online, as well as take advantage of any room upgrades, amenities or other services offered by AC Hotel. If you wish to reserve a room by phone, please call (510) 994-5000 and mention that you would like to book a room in the Othering & Belonging Conference block. The cutoff date for booking is April 1, 2024.

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Residence Inn Oakland Downtown (SOLD OUT)
1431 Jefferson St, Oakland, CA 94612

Single: $199.00/night.  To reserve a room, visit our dedicated booking website to make, modify, and cancel your hotel reservations online, as well as take advantage of any room upgrades, amenities or other services offered by Residence Inn. If you wish to reserve a room by phone, please call (510) 994-4000 and mention that you would like to book a room in the Othering & Belonging Conference block. The cutoff date for booking is April 1, 2024.

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Courtyard Oakland Downtown
988 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94607

Single: $179.00/night (Thurs, April 25 and Fri, April 26 only). To reserve a room, visit our dedicated booking website to make, modify, and cancel your hotel reservations online, as well as take advantage of any room upgrades, amenities or other services offered by Courtyard Marriott. If you wish to reserve a room by phone, please call (510) 625-8282 and mention that you would like to book a room in the Othering & Belonging Conference block. The cutoff date for booking is April 4, 2024.

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Kissell Uptown Oakland (SOLD OUT)
2455 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612

Single: $214/night.  To reserve a room, visit our dedicated booking website; you will need to select exact dates, April 25-28, for the rooms to populate. You can also visit the booking website to modify and cancel your hotel reservations online, as well as take advantage of any room upgrades, amenities or other services offered by Kissell. The cutoff date for booking is March 25, 2024.

Sponsor

If you'd like to join a growing roster of supporters who have supported the Othering & Belonging Conference, please contact Erika Prasad.

Accessibility

It is our goal that the Othering & Belonging conference is accessible to all who want to attend and to support attendees to engage as fully as possible. We are constantly working to be better stewards of accessibility and disability justice. We encourage attendees who require mobility aids to bring their canes, walkers, and wheelchairs to the conference. Our venue is designed to accommodate everyone, and we want to ensure that you can move around comfortably and fully enjoy the enriching experience we have prepared for you.

If you have specific accessibility needs that are not addressed in this statement or if you have any other concerns during the event, please contact our accessibility coordinator Jake Tompkins at jaketompkins97@berkeley.edu.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The conference venue is ADA compliant with elevator access to each floor. All conference offerings are wheelchair accessible with accessible parking nearby along with several drop-off locations.

American Sign Language (ASL) Interpretation: ASL interpretation will be available upon request for the mainstage and at least one breakout session. Please inform us during the registration process or by emailing the accessibility coordinator at least three weeks prior to the event if you require ASL interpretation or have any specific requests. 

Live Captioning: Live captioning will be provided. Please inform us during the registration process or by emailing the accessibility coordinator at least three weeks prior to the event if you have any specific captioning requests.

Seating Accommodations: To ensure your comfort during sessions, please let us know if you require specific seating accommodations for mobility access or hearing/visual impairments. Provide details about your seating needs or preferences in the registration process or by emailing the accessibility coordinator Jake Tompkins at jaketompkins97@berkeley.edu.

Participant Experience

Fragrance-Free: We strive to create a comfortable space for all attendees, including those with fragrance sensitivities or allergies. We kindly request that all attendees refrain from using scented products such as perfumes, colognes, and heavily scented lotions during the conference.

Food: Lunch will be available for paid registrants on Friday and Saturday. A variety of food preference options (vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, nut free, etc.) will be made available at our conference lunch offerings. Please inform us during the registration process and/or by emailing the accessibility coordinator at jaketompkins97@berkeley.edu if you have any severe food allergies that we should be aware of. 

We recognize that some of our community is observing Passover during the conference. Many nearby restaurants offer a wide array of food options, but the food provided on site will not be supervised kosher for Passover items.

We welcome your bringing personal food items which meet your dietary needs and/or traditions.

Family Friendly: The conference venue this year offers a blend of indoor and outdoor spaces that are family friendly. The HJK Center is connected with easy access to the Oakland Museum of California, which has rich programming for all ages. O&B24 will feature a large area with arts and crafts, a lounge area, and interactive exhibits which children and families may enjoy. All youth attendees must be registered with an adult attendee at the time of registration. See more info under Registration and Fees.

Spaces where mainstage and breakout sessions are taking place will have dedicated zones where families and young children are welcome to gather. You are not required to sit there, but we will have zones dedicated for the comfort of attendees with young children.

Childcare & Nursing: 

We will be partnering with KiddieCorps to provide high quality children's programming for children ages 6 months to 12 years during all three days of the conference at a highly subsidized rate. Please note that the childcare room will be at the Oakland Museum of California's Children's Learning Center, which is about a 3 min walk (or quicker depending on how fast you walk!) from the HJK Center for the Arts conference venue.

A waitlist has been started for as capacity has been reached. Space is still available on Saturday for children 3 and up. You can register at this link if you would like to reserve a spot for your child. All the information you need can be found in the registration form. Childcare is limited and will be provided on a first registered first serve basis. If you have any questions not found in the form, please reach out to pforbes@berkeley.edu.

O&B24 will also have dedicated private spaces for lactation, nursing, and families with babies should they want a quiet space to step away from the conference activities.

Prayer and Meditation Room: A nondenominational prayer and meditation room will be made available for attendees.

Photo and Video Usage: We will be documenting our conference to spread our message of belonging as far and wide as possible! Any photograph, sound recording, motion picture, or video taken during the conference is for the explicit purpose of collecting and/or representing factual information in the interest of serving our mission of research, education, and public service, and for promoting the public good. Attendee assigns to the conference organizers, including the University of California, all rights, title, and interest, including copyright, in and to any and all such photographs, sound recordings, motion pictures, or videos, and hereby irrevocably authorizes conference organizers, without limitation, to reproduce, copy, exhibit, publish, or distribute any and all such photographs, sound recordings, motion pictures, or videos in perpetuity for the purposes expressed above. Attendee further releases and forever discharges the conference organizers from any and all claims and demands arising out of or in connection with the use of any photographs, sound recordings, motion pictures, or videos, including but not limited to any and all claims for invasion of privacy, defamation, or infringement of copyright.

Health & Safety: Attendees will be expected to follow health and safety guidelines provided by the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts. In consideration of voluntary participation in the Othering & Belonging Conference, attendees acknowledge awareness of the possible risk of exposure to COVID-19 and any other communicable or infectious disease by being in a public place where people are present.  Masking and vaccinating and staying boosted against COVID-19 is highly encouraged. We implore everyone to remain vigilant in protecting the health of our shared space by staying home if you are experiencing any symptoms. Face masks, sanitizing stations, and a limited number of testing kits will be available for attendees on-site.

For those who would like to understand the decision to not require universal masking at our event: as an Institute that is part of the public University of California system, OBI is also a public entity.  We are obligated to follow our public university’s policies and directives that currently have no requirements related to COVID-19 that exceed local health department requirements and the UC system-wide COVID-19 vaccine policy.  As such, OBI is not independently authorized to exceed these requirements at this event.

Gender Neutral Bathrooms will be available throughout the venue.

Conference Medium of Language: The 2024 conference will be presented in English and American Sign Language. All post-conference recordings will be posted on our YouTube page and can be translated into other languages by the viewer through YouTube's translation function.

Organizers

The O&B Conference is organized by the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley. See the planning teams for our 2024 conference here. 

O&B 2024 Organizing Committee:

Rachelle Galloway-Popotas, Conference Director
Sarah Crowell, Arts Lead
Tanya Diaz, Breakout Sessions Lead
Christian M. Ivey, Attendee Experience Lead
Ashley Gallegos
Ashlin Malouf
Basima Sisemore
Cecilie Surasky
Erfan Moradi
Hossein Ayazi
Olivia Araiza
Puanani Forbes

See more of the people helping organize O&B 2024 here. 

Contact

If you have any questions about registration, accessibility, or any of the above, please email obconf@berkeley.edu or leave a message at (510) 642-3326. Please note that email is our strongly preferred method of contact (if possible); most of our team is still working remotely and may not be as responsive to voice messages.

Our conference theme for 2024 is belonging without othering. That theme has touched every aspect of our conference program, from commissioned performances to custom exhibits, to mainstage conversations and breakout sessions.

From that overarching theme we have developed three “tracks” that weave through the conference program and help draw threads down from the overall theme. The purpose of these tracks is to serve as guideposts and relationship-building containers for those looking to follow a focused line of inquiry at O&B 24. We recognize there is no one way to experience a large conference or event. By identifying sessions organized through tracks, we hope to bring people in new and closer relationships with each other and strengthen areas of our work.

Please find below our three tracks.

Places of Belonging Track

The Places of Belonging track illuminates speakers, sessions, art, and experiences that shine light on the growing belonging movement, with an invitation to all participants to contribute to its advancement. A rich variety of ways of building places of belonging are happening in a myriad of ways all over the world. This track will highlight many of these efforts through mainstage talks, breakout sessions, and opportunities to connect and share at O&B 2024. Participants are encouraged to build connections through sharing more about their work together to intentionally expand the network of people across the globe committed to advancing belonging. Whether they are new to belonging or already well on their journey, all are invited and welcome to join on this track of fellowship, network building and learning.

Belonging Economies

Belonging means having the opportunity to co-create the structures, institutions, and norms that shape our lives to build a world based on inclusion, fairness, justice, and care for the Earth. This track explores three interrelated questions: What would economies built on belonging look like? If we are to build Belonging Economies, what about our economic systems—as well as our political, social, and cultural arrangements—might need to be re-envisioned and reorganized? What are the challenges to building Belonging Economies, and what efforts and successes can we look to for guidance? These questions are explored through mainstage conversations that elevate the role of repair in Belonging Economies, considering historical and ongoing injustice, and through breakout sessions that explore topics including public finance and community-governance and resilience.

A Greater Story of We: Bridging for A Shared Future

Humans are hardwired for stories. They help us make sense of the world, give our lives meaning, and shape how we perceive our identities. The “Greater Story of We” track recognizes the profound ways we create meaning with stories, as well as examines the stories and narratives that are currently circulating about our present, collective past, and our future. Stories can be told to limit our sense of the possible, mobilize our fears, and divide us into powerful, but illusory hierarchies of zero-sum competition and who belongs.

Bridging recognizes the inherent humanity of everyone, while not ceding essential values of dignity and care. This track elevates the role of narrative and the power that bridging plays on a fundamentally interdependent planet. Mainstage discussions starred in this track include how to recenter our social movement work to build a long bridge for democracy, exploring solidarity as a verb, how values such as deep listening and curiosity shape stories, and the role of collective memory in building a shared future based on belonging.

This track aims to illuminate that by embracing our dynamic, changing, and multifaceted identities, that make us better equipped to cultivate narratives that promote a world where all belong. When we bridge, we create not only a bigger we, but a different we. Rather than reinforcing the notion of an “other,” these conversations strive toward the collective we, offering pathways toward structures that serve everyone An antidote to the division on which authoritarianism thrives.