Destiny Arts Center

🌞 Looking for some sunshine this fall? Register for classes at our center! We have space available for African Dance on Wednesdays, Teddy Bear Hip Hop on Thursdays, and Teen Hip Hop❣️

Visit the link in our bio for more information or go to destinyarts.org/at-our-center/

Still blooming from our spring production, Wildflower? Whether you missed the show or just want to relive the moment, let these photos by Layeelah Muhammad give you life 🌼

Take it further and listen to our playlist: http://tinyurl.com/WildflowerPlaylist

Join us this Saturday for our Spring Showcase, Moving for Peace: Unity Unleashed! - https://mailchi.mp/destinyarts/reminder-moving-for-peace-planting-seeds-for-healing-13364875

Grow with discomfort. Blossom through adversity. Join us on May 4 & 5, 2024, for WILDFLOWER, a live hip-hop dance performance that shows us the raw and uncomfortable truths that accompany growth from seed to blossom.

Get your tickets now through the link in our bio or at destinyarts.org/events

🌼 Save the Dates! 🧡 Destiny Arts Center is proud to present Wildflower, an original dance and theater production about the uncomfortable truth of growth. Official flier and ticket release to come!

A little throwback to last year’s summer camp 🌞 In case you missed it, registration for Camp Destiny is open now!

https://destinyarts.org/summer-programs/

Camp Destiny registration is live! Sign up for a summer filled with movement and arts! For more information, visit destinyarts.org/summer-programs

Celebrate with us for an evening of drinks, dinner, and the beautiful closing performance of Wildflower, a Destiny Arts Center production. Join our community by becoming a sponsor today!

For more information, please visit: https://destinyarts.org/gala/

Guess who's performing this Sunday? Members of Destiny Junior Company and Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company will take the stage with as part of Exhibition!

Destiny Teaching Artists, Maddie and Arayah and the 1up crew will compete in the team event.

Let's show these dancers some love!

In an effort to cultivate and deepen the artistic aptitude, technical skills, and community bonds of the Destiny Junior Company, a 2-day overnight retreat was organized and facilitated by Director Marjorie Ortiz. Along with the support of Destiny staff Maddie Larkins, Bryan Massengale, Susan Andrien, Rashidi Omari, DJC Assistant Director Arayah Fleming and DJC caregiver volunteers, youth of the company ages 10-13 years old spent a fun-filled weekend that not only included events such as a company photoshoot, "secret sibling gift exchange," dance party, movie, and culminating community potluck - but also activities that enlivened DJC's growth mindset through individual reflection and peer conversations, dance workshops, a relay race trivia and obstacle course, art activities, theater games, affirmation yoga and more! It was a memorable weekend for all, sparking joy, curiosity and excitement for what is yet to come for the youngest company performers of Destiny Art Center.

Many bows to our extraordinary guest artists: Jordyn Bradley (photographer), Dionté Als-Jackson (breakin'), Antwan Davis (stepping and body percussion) and Kanukai Chigamba (Afro-Urban).

Destiny Arts partners with Oakland Public Library for Black Culture Fest in February by offering dance workshops on the next 3 Saturdays!

2/10 - Kanukai @ West Oakland Branch (1801 Adeline St, Oakland, CA) Join Miss Kanukai as she leads this fun dance workshop for children 7 and under along with their caregivers.

2/17 - Dionte @ 81st Ave Branch (1021 81st Ave, Oakland, CA) Introduce your kids to the culture of breakdancing with Dionte Als-Jackson, who leads a dynamic and engaging class where children can learn the fundamentals of breaking in a fun and supportive environment.

2/24 - Laurie (Adult class) @ Main Branch (125 14th St, Oakland, CA) Join Ms. Laurie to learn about Haitian dance and culture in this upbeat workshop for adults.

All workshops start at 1:00 PM.

Please register online by visiting https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons.com
Select: Events Key Word: Culture Fest

Check out Elders Project, a Destiny Arts Center dance company for ages 65+, proving it’s never too late to learn something new. Shown here with Senior Teaching Artist, Mentor & Destiny Junior Company Director Marjorie Ortiz who started a 3-day mini ‘Pop & Lock’ workshop with these bright, bold movers! We love you, Elders!❣️

Our 2024 Spring Classes are underway! One of Destiny's favorites is African Dance, headed by teaching artist Julia Tsitsi Chigamba on Wednesdays at our North Oakland Center. From Africa to the Caribbean, young people trace the evolution and innovation of African dance. Classes are high energy, inclusive of all levels, and they give ample opportunities for creative expression through dance, song and instruments.

All of our classes are pay what you can, NO ONE IS TURNED AWAY for lack of funds.

Visit: https://destinyarts.org/at-our-center/ to register or email us: [email protected]

As we reflect on 2023, Destiny Arts Center would like to thank our community -- our dedicated teaching artists and staff, collaborating school sites, beloved families and caregivers, expert funders and board members, generous vendors and volunteers, and most of all--our fantastic youth.

Thank you for all you have helped us accomplish this year! Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company (DAYPC), Destiny Junior Company (DJC), and The Elders Project performed 'The ReIntroduction' at several sold-out shows at Laney College. Our School and Community Program served over 5,000 youth at 40 school sites throughout the East Bay. Camp Destiny served hundreds of participants during the summer months, and we built new relationships in East Oakland during Town Nights, sponsored by the City of Oakland's Violence Prevention Program.

Our continued partnership with Alameda County Community Food Bank supported Destiny families with healthy food. Ballerina Misty Copeland invited DAYPC to dance on stage at the historic Oakland Paramount Theater during her "Flower" film premiere. Lastly, our student showcases, Moving for Peace and Love in Action, brought our entire community together to celebrate the power and love of Destiny.

We look forward to continuing to inspire and ignite social change through the arts in 2024, and hope you will consider supporting Destiny Arts Center by making a tax-deductible donation today. Please visit https://destinyarts/donate

Best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Photographers: Seth Marbin, Beatriz Escobar, Yoram Savion, Christina Chan, Kaia Marbin, Paula Dewart and more

Young people need places to feel safe, seen, and loved. Destiny Arts Center creates spaces to lean into love in every class, whether in a park, a school cafeteria, or the North Oakland studios for over 5,000 young people annually.

Thank you for making this work possible by making a year-end gift today. Visit http://destinyarts/donate

Photo by: Beatriz Escobar

Over the last two years, Brother Salani Matshoba (Moeketsi Gibe seen here supporting) has become a deep part of the Madison Park Academy community in Oakland. After school, Brother Salani teaches Zimbabwean drumming, dance and visual arts to students K - 12. He is BELOVED throughout the entire school community.

Our many thanks to the Madison community and Bay Area Community Resources for making Destiny a part of your family, week after week! Let's give Brother Salani and Moeketsi and these youth artists some love!

Photography by: Christina Chan

Teaching Artist Samara Watkins embodies Destiny Love through and through. Here Ms. Samara hypes up her students at Elmhurst Middle School in Oakland Unified School District

Connecting deeply with the dancers emotionally, Ms. Samara choreographs dances that allow the youth to fly.

Everyone, please show Ms. Samara some love and shine. No one deserves it more!

The joy on these students' faces comes from Ms. Julia, or 'Mama J' as she's affectionately known at ASCEND TK-8. Ms. Julia and Ms. Kanukai teach African and Zimbabwean dance at ASCEND five days per week. The students LOVE dancing, singing and drumming all week long.

Destiny Arts is honored to be a part of ASCEND's arts program and so proud of the students for performing at their Winter Expo on Saturday, December 2nd. Let's show them some love!

Summertime and the livin’ is… Expensive - many families cannot afford programs for their kids all summer. And boring - many young people spend the day in front of a screen to pass the time.

This past summer, Destiny Arts Center created a safe space for a new group of young people in Carter Gilmore Park in East Oakland. Neighborhood kids rode by and dropped their bikes to watch martial arts demonstrations. Young people practiced hip-hop moves to participate in weekly dance battles. Destiny created a space for the youth and their families to experience joy and lean into love.

Giving youth a space to move, process their emotions, and feel connected is essential to community healing and is grounded in the violence prevention roots upon which Destiny was founded.

You already know that Destiny is more than a Center, Destiny is a community, Destiny is a feeling. Destiny can create a safe space, no matter where that space is.

Bringing Destiny's love and care to community members where they live to access our programs easily is an embodiment of equity. This is why we now work in nearly 50 partnerships throughout the East Bay to reach over 5,000 young people in present and consistent ways, providing high-quality, culturally relevant movement arts classes.

With your contributions, we can continue to reach young people where they are and where they need us, providing a chance to move and be with a community that cares about them and their wellbeing.

It takes strength to lean into love and let it hold you.
https://destinyarts.org/donate2/

Photo credit: Beatriz Escobar

We're proud to announce that Destiny Arts Center is a 2023 California Arts Council grantee! California's state arts agency supports our work through its Impact Projects program, specifically for The Elders Project.

Created by Risa Jaroslow, Artistic Director of Risa Jaroslow & Dancers in partnership with Sarah Crowell, Artistic Director Emeritus of Destiny Arts Center in 2017, The Elders Project provides opportunities for youth and elders to support and learn about one another and co-create work that expands movement possibilities for all ages.

Thank you for helping us get close to our goal of $3,000. We made it to $2,450 last night! Wooooot!

Every dollar donated will go toward purchasing block rocker speakers for our beloved teaching artists to create safe spaces anywhere, helping young people deepen their sense of self and healing through movement, meditation, and embodied community.

In case you want to bring the music: https://destinyarts.org/donate2

We are grateful for your partnership. THANK YOU

Thank you for including Destiny Arts Center in your .

Our goal is for young people to utilize the movement arts to deepen their sense of self and work towards social change. With your support, our teaching artists will have the necessary equipment to create Destiny spaces.

We cannot do this work without your contributions; we are grateful for your partnership.

Haven’t made your gift yet? It’s not too late! Please visit: https://destinyarts.org/donate2/

At over 50 residencies, Destiny Arts Center’s teaching artists must be able to teach no matter what is happening at their site that day. A portable speaker brings joy into every space.

Starting each class with a moment of meditation brings everyone onto the same wavelength. Schools and afterschool programs can sometimes feel chaotic, and Destiny teaching artists can use their block rocker speakers to find a peaceful place to move together with young people.

By making a gift today, you will support our ability to provide teaching artists with this essential equipment and keep their focus on the young people in their classrooms. Please help us reach our goal today! We are so grateful for your support.

https://destinyarts.org/donate2

Destiny teaching artists hold space for young people to feel peaceful, powerful, and creative. A simple block rocker speaker creates a Destiny space in a park, a school cafeteria, or a playground.

Movement is vital to helping young people connect and unlock their emotions. Music can help set the tone for exploration and joy. Having reliable speakers available to our teaching artists to conduct a class wherever they need to is essential to reaching young people wherever they are.

Our goal this Giving Tuesday is to raise $3,000 towards the equipment that allows us to create a Destiny space anywhere.

Thank you for helping to bring the music this - visit https://destinyarts.org/donate2

The 2023 WARRIOR’S CODE AWARD

Every year, Destiny Arts Center honors three students with the Warrior's Code Awards. These students stand out in how they embody the tenets of the Warrior’s Code: Love, Care, Respect, Responsibility, Honor, and Peace.

It's always hard to choose because every Destiny young person embodies the Warrior's Code in their own way, and we honor each student in their journey.

This year, our awardees were Alex for the Dance Program, Ziva for our Center, and Ali-David for the Martial Arts Program. They stood out in their efforts, commitment, and serving as a role model for others.

In times of conflict, we are proud to say that these students are living proof that “the greatest warrior of all is the one that stands for peace” (excerpt from the Destiny Arts Center Warrior’s Code).

Take a bow, Destiny Warriors.