Oakland United is a A Night of Music and Stories featuring Christopher Willits, Dan Deacon, Gabe Meline (KQED), Fantastic Negrito, Geographer, Hieroglyphics, Jay Som, Josette Melchor (Gray Area), Kennedy Ashlyn and Anya Taylor (Them Are Us Too), Primus, Rogue Wave, Sam Lefebvre (East Bay Express), Sidecar Tommy (Beats Antique), The Coup, Thao Nguyen, tUnE-yArDs, Tycho and many more!

Bay Area promoters Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment, along with Paradigm Agency’s Oakland office, present this evening of remembrance and community. Hosted by Josette Melchor of the Gray Area Foundation For The Arts, which started a fund shortly after the tragedy and has collected over $500,000 to date. The fund is collaborating closely with the Oakland Mayor’s Office and the Red Cross as well as getting guidance from local arts institutions. The immediate needs of fire victims will be the fund’s priority with the Red Cross as the first point of contact for allocation of the funds received from the Oakland Sports Teams funds. Gray Area will be second point of contact after that and are working on a system for intake. When the immediate needs of families are resolved, Gray Area will be turning their attention to longer-term issues of safety and resilience across the larger creative community, applying efforts to ensure this tragedy is not repeated.

“It is unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to shed light on a broader situation around the need for safe venues for artists, musicians, and creatives in the Bay Area,” said Josette Melchor, Executive Director and Founder of Gray Area Foundation For The Arts. “We will continue to increase this goal as support comes in. We want this funding to stay in the community that was impacted.”