SARAH WEBSTER FABIO CENTER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
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Mission Statement
SARAH WEBSTER FABIO CENTER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE (SWFCenter) uses the arts to advance socially just ideas. We incorporate artistic practices, usually documentary film, to share the voices of our community (see www.swfcenter4sj.org, www.evolutionarybluesfilm.com, and www.arisingtidemovie.com). In addition, we take on and incubate the projects of others while they establish their purpose. Among those we have fiscally sponsored - Abundant Beginnings was one (http://abundantbeginnings.org/), Hummingbirds Urban Farming Collective (https://www.hummingbirdsurbanfarm.org/), productions of Ishmael Reed, and other filmmaking and book-making projects. SWFCENTER creates collaborative community-based spaces and takes on opportunities for dialogue & community building, particularly within African American communities and often in concert with our allies. By centering people of the African Diaspora and engaging with the arts and social justice-based programming, SWFCenter finds that our work puts words to the experiences of people who have had their past and present filtered through a lens that is at the same time, systematically excluding them. Whether it's short films by formerly incarcerated men and women who use their understanding of experiences to map how they got in the position they find themselves in and, more importantly, how they must move forward; or Oakland-based musicians who populated Oakland's historic 7th Street and the context for the music they created, or our film, East Oakland Counter Narratives, which is a documentary film that grew from 20 oral histories exploring the generational experiences of African Americans who witnessed their neighborhoods become disinvested and their families and friends face impossible odds in response. Our new feature-length film, A Rising Tide, completion date 4/15/2023, gives the mic to families who have been impacted, City and County legislators, Affordable Housing developers, Black psychologists, UCB Researchers, and Historians - talk about the current Alameda County Housing Crisis and how it continues to impact Black and brown families and the children they are raising. Our work takes a long time to produce and isn't a quick fix. Instead, these projects are designed to get the mental juices flowing. By supporting us, you are helping to support - often a facilitated process - of understanding, self-actualization, and community building. The impact is that folks begin to identify their own best next step.
About This Cause
We are a federally recognized 501C3 nonprofit that has been active since 2003. Our 20-year history as a community-based nonprofit allowed us to grow into a group that knows its purpose but has the flexibility to adjust to current strategies for tackling difficult issues. We feel the arts are a conduit for identifying solutions to tough issues. We make documentary films and we expose the process to new makers and new audiences. We feel we gift the power of storytelling about ordinary lives in the voice of the people we lift up. Our screenings are most frequently accompanied by Q&A sessions and can often be facilitated and held in community settings. When possible we raise funding so that our audiences can experience the film work for free. SWFCENTER is supported through grants from philanthropic and community foundations, art-based grants like the CA Arts Council, and the City of Oakland Cultural Arts Division. We also count on support from Individual donors and recently our earned revenue has become the staple of our activities. Our film screenings can provide income, the culture-based contracts also provide mostly media services to other groups. The earned revenue supports our film work and programming. The programs we offer are interactive. The value of the interactive practice is the conversations that folks have which flow toward understanding or civil arguing about current and tough socio-emotional and economic issues. Holding this type of activity, we can participate in helping the country move on to identifying solutions.