Ecofutures Festival
2311 Magnolia St.
Oakland
June 15, 2024
Showing up “fashionably late” is perfectly acceptable for most evening fêtes, especially an outdoor event that runs until dusk during these long near solstice days in mid-June Northern California. But there was barely anything going on at the Ecofutures Festival when we showed up: not many people, not many interesting things to see and do, and not a lot of energy. And it wasn’t like we’d missed anything; after a couple hours of anticipating that the energy might pick-up, things didn’t even reach a simmer. There wasn’t much fest at this festival. To be frank, this event was pretty damn boring.
Touted as an event that “elevates environmental consciousness through the art of gathering” and held at O2 Artisans Aggregate on Magnolia Street in West Oakland — an open workspace for craftspeople and artists — the industrial architectural features and their sometimes whimsical elements were more engaging than the few booths scattered about the venue serving the sparsely attended gathering.
There really wasn’t too much there: a vendor selling cards and prints, a ceramicist, vintage clothing sellers, and a printmaking station for the arts, Mexican fare from Bolita, beer, wine, and snacks to tide us over, and a couple cornhole games and giant Jenga blocks for people to play. But there weren’t many attendees to partake of what was offered.
Bolita’s food was good. They specialize in “100% landrace, non-gmo maíz from México, nixtamalized & stone-ground in Oakland.” The green tomatoes in particular, (not tomatillos, I was told), were tender yet toothy, and perfectly spiced with just the right amount of red pepper and vinegar. But apart from that bit of tastiness, the overall vibe, the vigor and enthusiasm was … Well, where was it?
The truest energy was exuded by Fernanda Martinez, to whom I immediately gravitated. I’d met her recently in her studio during East Bay Open Studios. She was hard at work finishing a mural on the side of a shipping container she’d been laboring on since April, exhausted and anxious to be finished. But the mural’s carefully designed composition and the colors, creating a simple yet dazzling melody, made me steal a chair from a nearby table to sit and bug her with questions despite her fatigue. [I was mildly reprimanded for using the chair; for real?]
Born and raised in Mexico City, Martinez came to Oakland in 2015 to join her husband, Alan. She enrolled in an international business program at the University of California, Berkeley. Looking for a job, she started experimenting with art making and founded her own business from that. Given the sophistication of her work, I was surprised to learn that she’s never had any formal art training. Over the years she’s exhibited her work in local spaces, which has connected her with several organizations.
We talked briefly about Mexican muralists and muralism. “Mural painting has a big impact,” Martinez said. “To represent a new generation.”
Martinez makes things new, at least to my mind. Hey, I’m a fan.
After talking with Martinez, I listened to a conversation with Margaret Gordon, an elderly woman who’s worked for environmental justice in Oakland for over 30 years. Billed as a “fireside chat,” Ms. Gordon, who is a co-founder of West Oakland Indicators Project, spoke on the problem of pollution in West Oakland. The Port of Oakland and its trucks, trains, and ships are a major factor: between 10 and 20 thousand trucks run to and from the port 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Gordon and her colleagues were able to establish specific truck routes where the trucks may not run their engines for more than 5 minutes at a time when they’re stopped on the streets, just one of the measures meant to mitigate the port’s pollution.
Despite the interesting subject of the chat, it had few listeners. And afterwards there wasn’t much to keep us in place. We’d pretty much seen and done it all, and there was no indication that much more was going to happen. So my partner and her visiting mother and I split to hit Brenda’s for dinner.
Though the Ecofutures cause is a noble one, the event was oversold. If you’ve got a mission, give people a reason to care about what you’re trying to communicate. Give folks something to bite into by elevating environmental consciousness through a gathering where people are actually gathered, or give them a bigger reason to show up in droves.
