The CJM is Free Through December 15! Plan Your Visit.
Courtesy of Nathan Clevenger Quartet

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Culture for Community

Thursday, Feb 20, 2020 │ 11am–8pm

ADMISSION: Free

In celebration of Black History Month, Culture for Community and Night at the Jewseum present a curator swap between The CJM, California History Museum, and Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD)! Join MoAD Director of Public Programs Elizabeth Gessel for a 6:30pm talk on the Berkeley Tigers, a Levi’s®-clad, African American East Bay motorcycle club that formed in the 1940s.

In addition, join us for Bartertown, a board game that explores how networks of sociability and care can adapt to climate change and other disasters, such as a market crash or even a divorce. All are welcome to watch or play. There will be ten players joining in a game-show style format for two hours. To play, please reserve a spot at this Eventbrite page to participate from 6–8pm. To watch, you are welcome to join us at the start of play at 6pm, or just stop by anytime between 6 and 8pm. The game is appropriate for adults, teenagers, and anyone interested in cities, strategy, social justice, and climate change. We look forward to seeing you!

Oakland composer Nathan Clevenger will also present the world premiere of “For David Berman,” an extended work dedicated to the memory of the late musician, poet, and muckraker David Berman. With a nod toward Morton Feldman’s titanic “For Phillip Guston,” the piece is scored for a quartet of wind, cello, percussion, and miscellany.

tickets

Tickets to Culture for Community are free, but an RSVP is highly encouraged.

FREE RSVP
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

6–8pm

Play the game Bartertown with Urban Works Agency

6:30–6:50PM

Curator Swap: Elizabeth Gessel discusses the history of the Berkeley Tigers

7–7:45PM

Nathan Clevenger Quartet performs a tribute to the poet and musician David Berkman

About the PRESENTERS
Nathan Clevenger
Nathan Clevenger
Musician

Nathan Clevenger is an Oakland–bred and –based composer, guitarist and keyboardist, working on the margins of jazz, modern classical, and free improvisation. Since 2003, Clevenger’s primary musical outlet has been his eight-piece Nathan Clevenger Group, which has recorded three albums, including Stateless (2019). Performances of note include appearances at the Switchboard Music Festival, San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music’s SFMusic Day, and the Center for New Music’s “Best Coast Composer” series. 

Outside of the Nathan Clevenger Group, Clevenger leads the avant-chamber ensemble Ashen Cleric (with Crystal Pascucci, Cory Wright, Jordan Glenn, and Tim DeCillis) and creates music for film in collaboration with violinist/composer Kristina Dutton. Clevenger and Dutton’s work has been presented at the Exploratorium, University of California, Berkeley’s Vision and Light symposium, and the LAST Science and Art Technology Festival. The duo’s work has been awarded grants from New Music USA and the Fleishhacker Foundation.

Elizabeth Gessel
Elizabeth Gessel
Director of Public Programs, Museum of the African Diaspora

Elizabeth Gessel has been developing and running public programs at Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) since 2010. Elizabeth participated in a Museum Studies program at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and has a Ph.D. in History from University of California, Berkeley. She launched new program series on spiritual practices, folktales, sacred music, and dance and has overseen the development of two residency programs, the Chef-in-Residence and Poets-in-Residence at MoAD. Elizabeth likes almost any activity she does with her family including her two sons, Milo and Henry, and her dog, Nova.

Janette Kim
Janette Kim

Janette Kim is a designer, researcher, and educator whose work focuses on the intersection of ecology, social equity, and the built environment. Janette is an assistant professor and director of Urban Works Agency at California College of the Arts; founding principal of All of the Above; and founding editor of ARPA Journal. Janette is also author of The Underdome Guide to Energy Reform. Her projects include the Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge, the Win-Win board game series, a boutique hotel in Sichuan, Safari audio tours on urban ecology, Pinterest Headquarters, National AIDS Memorial, and the Fall Kill Creek Master Plan.

ABOUT CULTURE FOR COMMUNITY

Culture for Community is a unique group of Yerba Buena district institutions who have joined together to open their doors for free on February 20, 2020, and to feature programs focused on an issue of special importance to the Bay Area community. All are invited to participate in a full day of special events, activities, and museum and gallery hopping in the Yerba Buena Neighborhood.

Accessibility

The CJM strives for a welcoming environment for all of our visitors. In addition to ample space for wheelchairs and a friendly environment for service animals, sign language interpretation (ASL) can be scheduled for all programs with at least two weeks notice.

FM assistive listening devices (ALDs) for sound enhancement are available for all talks and tours. Please note that we would like to maintain this as a scent-free environment, and encourage visitors to refrain from using scented products out of respect for visitors with allergies or chemical sensitivities. For additional accommodation requests, please contact The CJM’s Access and Community Engagement Manager at access@thecjm.org or 415.655.7856.

Accessibility Info
previously on night at the jewseum
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Levi Strauss: A History of American Style

In 1873, at the end of the Gold Rush, Levi Strauss & Co., named for a Bavarian Jewish dry goods merchant in San Francisco, obtained a U.S. patent with tailor Jacob Davis on the process of putting metal rivets in men’s denim work pants to increase their durability. It was the birth of the blue jean. The CJM original exhibition Levi Strauss: A History of American Style showcases the life of Levi Strauss, the invention of the blue jean, and their iconic place in the history of American style.

Seven women in cowboy hats lined up wearing Levi's jeans

“Showing their Levi’s” postcard from the California Rodeo Salinas (July 13–16, 1939), 1939. Levi Strauss & Co. Archives

About the Exhibition
supporters

Night at the Jewseum is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, and the Alan Templeton Endowment in Memory of Lieselotte and David Templeton.