Oaklash, founded by Mama Celeste in 2018, began as a response to the political climate during Trump's presidency, aiming to foster community resilience in Oakland. Over seven years, it evolved from an intimate six-hour event to a major festival attracting 5,000 attendees across three days. However, financial challenges have arisen following budget cuts and reduced sponsorship due to the current political environment. Celeste emphasizes the importance of community-driven funding and urges the LGBTQ+ community to focus on grassroots organizing versus corporate sponsorships in order to sustain events like Oaklash in changing political times.
When Oaklash first started, it was a six-hour event attended by around 500 people. According to Celeste, 5,000 people attended last year's three-day festival.
Celeste said Oaklash was born out of the first Trump presidency. 'It was our inherent response to not knowing how else to control our environment, help the world around us, and the way to help our people was to organize,' Celeste said.
But putting together a three-day event is not easy or cheap. Celeste estimates that the yearly festival costs roughly around $100,000, with about a quarter of the cost historically funded by individual donations and half by grants.
A lot of us in the community have been urging San Francisco Pride and other prides throughout the country to decenter corporations and the programming they do,
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