Belonging and the Civic We, with Roberto Bedoya
The City of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya has been building belonging for decades, through his work in creative placemaking that expands our definitions of who belongs in the cultural and government sectors.
Roberto led the implementation of “Belonging in Oakland: A Cultural Development Plan,” for the city, its first in 30 years, a roadmap to elevate the role of culture in building a just and equitable city – so that every Oaklander in every neighborhood has access to cultural amenities. Roberto’s work has been deeply invested in how belonging in and to place contributes to the rights of individuals that is crucial in building healthy, pluralistic democracies of shared space and access to the commons and public resources.
Kicking off this year’s series of Belonging- and Bridge-Builder Talks, Roberto will illuminate how place is not just a space but an idea that needs to be animated through agency and co-creation in order to build sustainable, healthy communities.
The aesthetics of belonging happens in a variety of spaces—parks, schools, church, cultural venues, the city block—that animate the We. A pluralistic We, not the privatized we of me and my friends, but a We that includes people you don’t know. - Roberto Bedoya
Location: Calvin Simmons Theatre
Links:
- Belonging in Oakland: A Cultural Development Plan
- City Releases First Cultural Plan in 30 Years
- Belonging In Oakland: A Just City Cultural Fund, a partnership of the City of Oakland's Cultural Affairs Division, Akonadi Foundation, and East Bay Community Foundation
- Placemaking and the Politics of Belonging and Dis-belonging
- Spatial Justice: Rasquachification, Race and the City
- Podcast: Belonging in Oakland
- Belonging Is a Sticky Word: Roberto Bedoya in Conversation with Tom DeCaigny
- ArtPlace Reflection
