With support from the California Arts Council, Artist As First Responder (AAFR) will strengthen its organizational capacity and sustain community-centered arts programming that amplifies the work and leadership of artists who heal communities and save lives. CAC funding will support general operations, including staffing, administration, and core programs across Exhibitions, Artist Residencies, Public Forums, and Community Archive Building. This support will enable AAFR to deepen its impact, advance equity, and expand opportunities for collective healing and creative leadership within the San Francisco Bay Area’s cultural landscape.
Exhibitions: Salt to Catch Ghosts (2022), Collective Arising: The Insistence of Black Bay Area Artists (2022), and Black Joy Story Windows (2021 and ongoing), a self-guided multi-media public art exhibition installed in 30+ storefronts in Downtown Oakland that highlights the work of more than 20 local Black Artists, Cultural Organizations, and businesses.
Site-specific Ceremonies: A Meditation for Black Lives (2020) and Art of Defense #Shield Build (2020) took place to honor Black Lives in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, and Ahmaud Aubrey, and Black Women in Mourning & Joy Collective (2022-ongoing) offers space for Black Femmes, Trans, and Non-Binary family to process their mourning through different arts rituals and practices.
Print and Public Talks: Since 2000, AAFR authored and facilitated the forum and live zine series Blatant. It centers on the radical imagination of Black women artists and cultural workers creating across disciplines and geography. The series has been sold at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, the Berkeley Museum of Fine Art, Bandung Books, and the San Francisco Museum of Fine Art.
The AfroPortals Project Space & Archive: an experimental, interactive Art and Design Lab rooted in the principles of Afrofuturism, Black Memory, and Collective Liberation, housed in two retrofitted shipping containers in East Oakland. AfroPortals fosters resilience and builds power within communities by cultivating belonging, storytelling, and radical imagination. The space blends art and technology to inspire community healing.
A monthly Men’s Wellness Fellowship gathering, a space of courage and safety for Black and Brown men in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2024, Artist As First Responder produced two print publications, created a site-responsive ceremony, hosted 64 public forums and 13 exhibitions, partnered with five global activation sites, and facilitated five community activations through the Climate Justice Artist in Residence.

