Alameda County recently honored six arts leaders, including four Oakland residents, with the Alameda County Arts Leadership Award.
The award, granted by the county’s Arts Commission, recognizes individuals for their artistic achievements and contributions.
The commission honored six artists this year due to a tie in District 5. The Oakland residents include: Eric Murphy, Ashara Ekundayo, Alex Jaga Sousa, and amara tabor-smith.
Eric Murphy
A photographer, curator, and arts advocate, Eric Murphy’s worked in Oakland’s arts community for 25 years. He most recently curated Joyce Gordon Galley in downtown Oakland. Currently on the Oakland Public Art Advisory Committee, he previously served on the Alameda County Arts Commission. Eric Murphy said he previously nominated six prior award recipients. He said he was grateful to be nominated. “It’s an honor to be celebrating this moment with you,” Murphy said.
Ashara Ekundayo
Ashara Ekundayo is a curator, archivist, and arts organizer who’s called Oakland home for 16 years. Her eponymously-named gallery, Ashara Ekundayo Gallery, served Black women creatives in Uptown Oakland before moving to an online space. She leads the Artist as a First Responder collective as its curator and creative director. She thanked her “muses, guides, mentors, and friends” of Oakland’s artists community.
“We are honored to create and hold space for imagination, experimentation, curiosity and rest in District 4 in Alameda County and beyond,” she said, before ending her remarks, “Free Palestine!”
A tie in District Five
District Five, which includes Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, and North and West Oakland had a tie. Supervisor Nikki Fortunata Bas introduced two artists.
Bas said she once attended an arts gathering and heard someone state that artists and culture keepers “help imagine a world that does not yet exist.”
“Thank you all for providing that imagination,” Bas said to the awardees.
Alex Jaga Sousa
Alex Jaga Sousa is an Afro-Brazilian artist and Capoeira instructor. He migrated from Salvador Bahia, Brazil in 2001. For 17 years, he’s been an instructor at the International Capoeira Angola Foundation in West Oakland. Capoeira Angola is an African-Brazilian art form which combines martial arts, dance, and acrobatics.
amara tabor-smith
amara tabor-smith thanked the commission and supervisors for supporting art in “challenging times,” and “my beloved Oakland community” for supporting her for 30 years.
Tabor-smith is a choreographer, cultural worker, and the artistic director of Deep Waters Dance Theater. She currently leads a monthly gathering, “The Call IN” at Bandaloop Studios.
“I was born in San Francisco, but it’s Oakland that’s raised me as an artist and cultural worker,” tabor-smith said. “My Oakland community continues to inspire me, hold me accountable, and is my collaborator” for “our collective healing, joy, and homefulness.”
Other, past awardees
The other awardees were Doris Green of Fremont and Jayendra (Jay) Singh of Hayward.
Alameda County started the program in 2003. Since then, the commission has recognized 125 arts leaders throughout the county. Oakland’s other 35 awardees include James Gayles, Joyce Gordon, Favianna Rodriguez, Ayodele Nzinga, Naru Kwina, J.K. Fowler, Khalil Shaheed, Greg Morozumi and Elena Serrano, and the late conductor Michael Morgan.
The Board of Supervisors appoints members of the Alameda County Arts Commission. Every year, the commission calls for and reviews nominations submitted by the public for the award. At the meeting, the Board of Supervisors also proclaimed October as “National Arts and Humanities Month.”
Editor’s Note: Oakland Voices received two grants from the commissions ARTSFund, one in 2023 and 2025 to support arts & culture coverage.
Rasheed Shabazz is a multimedia storyteller. He is a journalist, educator, urban planner, and historian. He is director of Oakland Voices' Community Journalism Program.
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