Public Debates
May 20, 2021: City/Cité: Reframing Sacramento - Looking ahead: lessons from Oakland/Saint-Denis
The event will bring artists and city government representatives from the Oakland/Saint-Denis project together with Sacramento artists and representatives. What can Sacramento learn from the project, with its emphasis on cultural equity and diversity, and its collaborations between immigrant and community groups, artist collectives, urban planners, and mayors?
This event is hosted by the UC Davis Humanities Institute, and is part of their Winter/Spring 2021 Conversation Series. It is also part of the international conversation series “City/Cité” presented by California Humanities & Villa San Francisco, with the support of the Institut Français. You can register here.
January 14, 2021: Two Cities, Two Mayors, One Goal
Join the Mayors of Oakland and Saint-Denis, Libby Schaaf and Mathieu Hanotin as they discuss what makes their cities special and their shared goal of engaging artists and communities to build creative and inclusive cities. Register here !
November 12, 2020: National Humanities Conference
The project Oakland/Saint-Denis - introduced by California Humanities - was selected to be presented at the National Humanities Conference in November 2020! Every year, the conference brings together representatives from colleges, universities, state humanities councils, cultural institutions, and other community-based organizations to explore approaches to deepening the public’s engagement with the humanities. The project was presented on November 12, 2020.
October 10, 2020: Presentation of the publication at Le 6b
On October 10, partners of the project (Laure Gayet/Légendes Urbaines, Juliette Bompoint/Mains d’Oeuvres) presented the publication “Translating Cities and Cultures” and participated in a discussion organized and hosted by another partner of the project, Le 6b.
April 27, 2021: City/Cité: participation in a UC Berkeley Class
On April 27, Juliette Donadieu, the cultural attachée in San Francisco, and Julie Fry (California Humanities CEO) will take part in a UC Berkeley class taught by French professor Nicholas Paige. It deals with the cultural history of Paris. They will discuss the Oakland/Saint-Denis project, and the concepts of banlieue, gentrification, and the role of artists in urban projects, among other themes.
March 29, 2021: City/Cité: Oakland/Chicago/Detroit
Cultural leaders Roberto Bedoya, Connie Spreen, Anya Sirota, and Juliette Donadieu, came together to share their perspectives and experiences. The event was moderated by Shannon Jackson from UC Berkeley. The panel discussed the role of artists, urban planners, scholars, and elected officials, in developing community-oriented cities across the US—Oakland, Chicago, Detroit—and Saint-Denis.
December 3, 2020: How Culture Makes the City (Brooklyn Rail)
A conversation organized by Brooklyn Rail featured special guests Juliette Donadieu, cultural attaché of the French Embassy in San Francisco & director of Villa San Francisco, Simón Adinia Hanukai, theatermaker & co-artistic director of Kaimera Productions, Lori Fogarty, director of the Oakland Museum of California, and Juliette Bompoint, cultural producer & director of Mains d’Oeuvres, a nonprofit arts space in Saint-Ouen, a suburb of Paris. They were joined by the Rail’s Malvika Jolly for a conversation on what our different cities can teach us, on reimagining the role of cultural actors in urban development, and why our cities must be built collectively. The conversation was concluded with a poetry reading by Farid Matuk. Watch it here !
October 13, 2020: Kick-Off of the City/Cité Conversation Series
In collaboration with California Humanities, the Oakland/Saint-Denis partners launched a series of public conversations to present and discuss some of the issues raised by the cooperation project, including artists, developers, and storytellers who can help make a difference in our cities. The first discussion, featuring Valentine Roy (Plaine Commune), Simon Adinia Hanukai (Kaimera Productions), Sarah Crowell (Destiny Arts Center) and Pierre-Emmanuel Becherand (Grand Paris Express) took place virtually on October 13, 2020 and celebrated the release of the publication “Translating Cities and Cultures”. Watch the inaugural event !