Oakland Voices alumna and contributor Ayodele Nzinga has been named a Rainin Arts Fellow. The fellowship from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation gives $100,000 in unrestricted money to each person selected. Nzinga is one of four Bay Area artist fellows this year.
For Nzinga, the award goes beyond the money; it is recognition for the years of work. “It is a weighted experience,” Nzinga stated. “I feel held – somebody sees the vision, the sincere effort, the sacrifice it takes to get from where it started to here.”
She added that the money will help her stay rooted as an artist in the Bay Area, to support her art practice, and to allow her to “keep dreaming in Oakland.”
Nzinga, poet laureate of Oakland, is also Executive Director of Lower Bottom Playaz, Lead Curator of BAM House in downtown Oakland, and Executive Director of BAMBD, CDC. Lower Bottom Playaz is celebrating its 25th year, and opening the season with Biko Eisen-Martin’s Pac & Biggie are Dead. BAM House will be hosting events throughout the year, including a live event featuring poets from Cuba and beyond.
The other artists are Oakland filmmaker Adrian L. Burrell, dancer Antoine Hunter, and TNT Traysikel with public artists Michael Arcega, Paolo Asuncion, and Rachel Lastimosa.
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