Free Your Mind: Art, Culture & Conversation Benefitting Youth Alive!

Free Your Mind: An Evening of Art, Culture, and Conversation is a benefit event for Youth Alive! at The Crucible in Oakland. This powerful evening will showcase local artists inlcuding photos from the streets of Oakland's frontline healers, an active mural, fire demonstrations from Crucible Artists, a Car Show featuring Youth Alive! violence interrupters, live performances, and a panel discussion on how art is used to prevent and heal violence in our communities. Attendees will hear directly from artists and youth leaders about their impactful work, enjoy food from WahPehPah’s Kitchen, small-batch cocktails, and witness a special dance performance by Turf Inc. All proceeds will support Youth Alive!'s life-saving violence prevention programs.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Angie Shockness is a passionate Latina photographer with a deep commitment to storytelling and community empowerment. She dedicates her work to helping educators and small businesses connect with the best solutions and resources, believing that by strengthening these pillars, we can build stronger, more resilient communities. Angie has worked with Youth Alive! for over a year, capturing powerful photo essays of staff and clients, and creating a mobile gallery that will be showcased during the Free Your Mind event. Her work highlights the stories of resilience, healing, and empowerment in Oakland.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Leslie D. Lopez , affectionately known as "DIME," is a visionary artist and graffiti writer from East Oakland, CA. She is renowned for her translucent color schemes, flowing letters and distinctive hand styles that pulse with the beat of her community's culture.

Passionate about creating public art in her beloved barrio, being born and raised in Oakland, CA and mentored by EastSide Arts Alliance, Leslie fervently believes in the power of community collaboration and the healing and transformative potential of art. Her soft, yet bold work, tells stories of resilience, heals, inspires change and is seen locally and beyond. Leslie’s dedication to her craft is matched only by her unwavering commitment to serving the people, and sharing tools to the youth to inspire the next generation.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Camilo Velazquez is an Oakland native and dedicated Violence Interrupter with Youth Alive!, where he works in schools like Oakland High and Dewey to prevent conflicts and support youth in finding alternatives to violence. Raised in Oakland since the third grade, Camilo has always had a deep connection to the city and its creative culture. Art, in many forms—whether through graffiti, skating, or tattooing—has been central to his life since childhood. It was his passion for art that first connected him to Youth Alive!, where he discovered an opportunity to merge his love for creative expression with his commitment to community healing.

As a violence interrupter, Camilo leverages his calm, warm-hearted demeanor and his ability to communicate without judgment to guide young people toward better choices. He often reflects on how many youth are “caught up in something they don’t know anything about,” and he strives to be the person who helps them see their own worth and potential. His work with Youth Alive! is informed by his belief that violence only leads to more violence, but that art can serve as a powerful tool for healing and transformation.

Camilo has also collaborated with fellow artist Leslie Lopez on mural projects, using public art as a medium to promote peace and resilience in the Oakland community. Through his work, both as an artist and a violence interrupter, Camilo is committed to helping young people and communities heal, offering hope and a positive path forward.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Johnny Anthony Lopez better known as “Johnny5” was born in Oakland, California on December 18th, 1989. He is a Mexican / Latino professional Turf Dancer and the founder of TURFinc - a local Oakland/ Bay Area-based company that hopes to instill positive changes in the community through dance. TURFinc Mission: To spread the original dance culture of TURF that was established in Oakland, California and to utilize it as a positive platform for dancers, the youth, and the overall community. TURFinc has created a platform for inner city kids to learn the fundamentals of TURF dancing and has given them an engaging, exciting way to keep the youth off of the streets in order to give them a fighting chance in the world. The overall goal of TURFinc is to take this powerful dance style that is changing lives beyond the streets and into a safe, positive environment where dancers and the youth have the opportunity to showcase and share their story and skills with a broader audience.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

James O'Brien is a writer covering the aftermath of violence in Oakland, California. From 2015 to 2023 he was senior writer at Youth ALIVE!, Oakland's anchor agency for street-based violence prevention and intervention programs, like Caught in the Crossfire, Violence Interruption and homicide response. Currently, O’Brien is working on a book about Marilyn Washington Harris of Oakland. For more about Marilyn, the fundamental human and civic right to support and healing after violence which she brought to first light, and the selfless act of love she invented, please see the article, No Escape, No Surrender, or the many items about her life and work on O’Brien’s blog, Ice City Almanac.

Host or Publisher Youth ALIVE!