With Epiphany Productions,
Rhythmix Cultural Works presents

Island City Waterways

 A free public art event along Alameda’s historic Waterfront Trail

Celebrate the birth of the Island City of Alameda, California, with a free public art event open to all ages. Audiences will be taken on a guided journey to four sites along the water’s edge — between the Fruitvale and the Park Street bridges — to experience art, dance, music and tales connecting them to Alameda’s rich maritime past.

Public Tours

Friday, May 20

Tours reserved for Alameda Unified middle school students.

Saturday, May 21 & Sunday, May 22

10:30 am–12 pm
12:30 pm–2 pm
2:30 pm–4 pm

This event is free and open to the public. Advance reservations are now full. Remaining slots will be held for walk-ups on the day of the events. Tours will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please arrive at least 30 minutes early to park and check in. Walking, biking and public transportation are strongly encouraged. Bicycle valets will be available, and volunteers will be on site to guide visitors to parking and registration.

Each tour covers a half-mile walking route. All outdoor pathways and indoor sites are ADA-compliant. Public restrooms and a water station will be available. Please, no pets (registered service animals only).

Related Programs

Waves of Origin

A free event featuring video selection of stories with a live musical performance by Maze Daiko. 
Alameda Free Library
Sunday, August 7, 2 pm

Waves of Migration

A History Talk by the Alameda Sun’s Dennis Evanosky & Eric J. Kos
Rhythmix Cultural Works
Thursday, June 16, 7 pm

Waves of Inspiration

An Art Exhibition Featuring Work by Ginny Parsons, Pons Maar & Marc Ribaud
K Gallery at Rhythmix Cultural Works
May 6–June 29

Waves of Movement

A Free Dance Talk with Choreographer Kim Epifano
Buena Vista United Methodist Church
Sunday, March 13, 1 pm

How Did You Get Here?

As part of Island City Waterways, we invite you to record a short video answering the question, “How did you get here?” Everyone comes from somewhere. Please tell us your story or your family’s story.

Record your video and upload it to YouTube with the title “Your First Name - Island City Waterways” and this brief description: How did you get here? As part of Island City Waterways, Rhythmix Cultural Works asks Bay Area residents to share stories about how their families came to live in the region. We’ll add it to our playlist so others can be inspired by your family’s history.

Watch the clips above for examples and follow these prompts to record your story:

1. What is your full name?
2. Where do you live?
3. Where is your family from?
4. How did you and/or your relatives get here?

Try to keep your video to two minutes or less. We recommend shooting it against a plain wall or background with your camera far enough away to include at least your head and shoulders in the frame.

By uploading your video with the words “Island City Waterways” in the title, you agree to allow Rhythmix Cultural Works, a nonprofit community arts center, to add your video to its YouTube playlist and include portions of it in programs and promotional materials related to Island City Waterways.

Key Artists

Janet Koike
Founder & Artistic Director, Rhythmix Cultural Works

Kim Epifano
Choreographer & Artistic Director,
Epiphany Productions

Ed Holmes
Actor/Director, San Francisco Mime Troupe

Maze Daiko
World Music Ensemble

Dancers

Brianna Anthony, Nuria Bowart, Colin Epstein, Sonsheree Giles, Lynda Gutierrez,
Antoine Hunter, Wayne Tai Lee, Megan Lowe, Priscilla Park, Zahna Simon

Musicians

bean (Tina Blaine), Kathryn Cabunoc, Elaine Fong, Jeannie Mckenzie, Diana Strong, Carolyn West

• Use the arts to celebrate and share Alameda’s unique cultural heritage with diverse audiences from around the Bay Area.

• Foster community by connecting audiences, local organizations and artists to one another, to history, and to the place they live.

• Expand access to the arts by producing a free public art event that invites audience involvement and participation.

• Create opportunities for families to share their personal cultural histories.

Public Tours

Saturday, May 21 & Sunday, May 22

10:30 am — 12 pm
12:30 pm — 2 pm
2:30 pm — 4 pm

This event is free and open to the public. Advance reservations are now full. Remaining slots will be held for walk-ups on the day of the events. Tours will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please arrive at least 30 minutes early to park and check in. Walking, biking and public transportation are strongly encouraged. Bicycle valets will be available, and volunteers will be on site to guide visitors to parking and registration.

Each tour covers a half-mile walking route. All outdoor pathways and indoor sites are ADA-compliant. Public restrooms and a water station will be available. Please, no pets (registered service animals only).

Related Programs

Throughout history, specific events have caused waves of population to crash onto Alameda’s shores. Whether Gold Rush settlers, World War veterans or recent tech transplants, certain groups have arrived at various times to change Alameda’s population significantly. Through the discussion of 12 historic waves of immigration, local historians Dennis Evanosky and Eric J. Kos will highlight events that transpired around the world to move people to Alameda. 

As part of the event, participants are invited to record a short video response to the question, “How did you get here?” in a kiosk dedicated to collecting stories about the circumstances that led people’s families to come to the Bay Area.

“The shore is an ancient world, for as long as there has been an earth and sea there has been this place of the meeting of land and water.” —Rachel Carson

In conjunction with Island City Waterways, the K Gallery at Rhythmix Cultural Works presents a three-person exhibition featuring new works by environmental painter Ginny Parsons, photographer Pons Maar, and industrial designer and artist Marc Ribaud. All three artists reside in Alameda, and each investigates the industrial landscape along the water’s edge.

Parsons draws inspiration from the natural environment to create abstracted landscapes that incorporate household materials such as Borax and house paint. Maar photographs the shoreline, deserted warehouses, and the natural beauty of Alameda Point as a way to capture what is disappearing to make way for a new planned community. For this exhibition, Ribaud will render a large-scale map of parts of the shoreline in a site-specific graphite wall drawing, as well as construct a video kiosk resembling a boat’s hull where audiences can record stories about how their families came to the Bay Area.

Gallery hours are Wednesdays 6 pm to 9 pm, for events, and by appointment.

Meet award-winning choreographer Kim Epifano, along with professional dancers Antoine Hunter and Zahn Simon, who are deaf, as they share how they communicate through movement and serve as role models for success in the arts. This lecture and demonstration features dance that integrates sign language as a source of choreography, text and audience echoing. Presented in partnership with the Asian Pacific Islander Disability Awareness Project of Buena Vista United Methodist Church and supported in part through a generous grant from the James Irvine Foundation.

Join Rhythmix Cultural Works founder and artistic director Janet Koike for a presentation about Island City Waterways, the organization’s recent free public art event that took audiences on a guided art tour exploring how the waterways have shaped Alameda’s past and present. Featuring nearly three dozen dancers, musicians, storytellers and visual artists, the event took place from May 20–22, with a total of eight 90-minute tours leading more than 1,000 participants to public performances along the Waterfront Trail between the Fruitvale and the Park Street bridges. Island City Waterways celebrated the waves of immigrants who came from many parts of the world to settle in Alameda, and asked the audience, “how did you get here?” Audiences were invited to record stories of how their own families came to be in Alameda and the Bay Area.

Waves of Origin will feature a video selection of the stories, as well as a live musical performance by taiko fusion ensemble Maze Daiko and actor Ed Holmes in character as the Old Mariner.

Press

“Art Walk: Don't Call It Verse-Eye,” SF Weekly - May 19, 2016

“Alameda’s History Honored Through a Mix of Dance, Storytelling and Song,” KQED Arts - May 18, 2016

“Island City Waterways,” Art Pick of the Week, East Bay Express - May 18, 2016

  An interview with creative director Janet Koike and actor Ed Holmes, KALW’s “Open Air” - May 12, 2016

“Art, dance, music coming to Estuary in special event,” East Bay Times - May 12, 2016

“Innovative art scene strengthens community,” San Francisco Chronicle - May 1, 2016

“Island City Waterways Celebrates Alameda’s Past and Present,” San Francisco Bay Crossings - May 2016

“Bay Area Choreographer Finds Inspiration in Alameda’s Waterways,” Alameda Sun - May 5, 2016

“Maritime Crossroads,” Oakland Magazine -May 2016

“Dancing on the Bridges of Alameda,” Critic’s Choice, The East Bay Monthly - May 2016

“Island City Waterways,” Curator’s Pick, SF Arts Monthly - May 2016

“Dance makers take in the sites,” San Francisco Chronicle Datebook - April 20, 2016

Photos

Credit for all photos: Andy Mogg

Video

Media Contact

John Hill
Download Press Release
Email: johnhillpr@gmail.com
Phone: 510.435.7128

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