Saturday  •  Sept 20  •  8 PM  •  Ticketed Event • Wheelchair accessible
The 418 Project • 155 S. River St •  Santa Cruz

A cabaret-style performance celebrating the legacy of 20th-century Black women artists.

This evocative tribute is more than a show. It is a living testament to Black women who broke barriers, redefined artistic expression, and asserted their rightful place in history. It is a ceremony of remembrance and a passing of the torch, illuminating the path forward for the generations to come.

Through a dynamic fusion of song, dance, aerial artistry, burlesque, and spoken word, this all-Black women and gender-expansive cast from across California brings to life a vibrant, embodied exploration of lineage, liberation, and unapologetic creative power. Interwoven throughout the show, short documentary films reveal the artists’ reflections on their inspirations and journeys, reminding us to honor our own voices.

ONE NIGHT ONLY

The velvet-lit speakeasy opens its doors, with live jazz from the Mo’Zaic Band ushering us back in time as we travel through a kaleidoscope of eras and inspirations. Dress to the nines and experience a ritual of connection: to yourself, to each other, and to the foremothers who came before.
 

TICKETS HERE

Santa Cruz Black’s BLACK on Screen film offering for September

Tuesday • September 16 • Capitola Library • 2005 Wharf Rd • Capitola
Wednesday, September 17 • Resource Center for Nonviolence • 612 Ocean St • Santa Cruz
Doors open at 6 pm, film at 6:30 pm
Wheelchair accessible • Donation • RSVP requested

What does it mean to fall into a forbidden love? When your friends don’t understand or approve of your choices? What does it mean to live fully, despite fatal epidemics, whether AIDS of the 1990s or tuberculosis of the previous century?

How do we navigate the intersection of Blackness, deafness, happiness, status, and class identity?   

These are the questions the film, Compensation, by Zeinabu irene Davis poses for her characters, one century apart. Part of the Los Angeles Rebellion movement of independent films, 2025 is the first year audiences have been invited to see it as a theatrical release and newly restored in 4K. Deftly woven into this narrative film is archival footage which anchors the viewing experience in history.

Community discussion to follow the screening. Watch trailer HERE (scroll down for trailer)

This is Santa Cruz Black’s BLACK On Screen offering for September.
RSVP for the Capitola showing HERE
RSVP for the RCNV showing HERE

Tuesday • August 19 • Capitola Library • 2005 Wharf Rd • Capitola
Wednesday, August 20 • Resource Center for Nonviolence • 612 Ocean St • Santa Cruz
Doors open at 6 pm, film at 6:30 pm
Wheelchair accessible • Donation • RSVP requested

Gilda Sheppard’s film Since I Been Down brings to life the praxis of abolition within but not confined by prison walls. To be down, as this film shows, is not just to be locked up but to bear the power of knowledge and transformation in ways that in the words of a teacher/student “transcends this cage.”

“The more that we begin to educate ourselves, the more empowered we become, the less manipulated we can be, the less oppressed we can be.” —Kimonti Carter

There will be light refreshments before the film and community discussion following the screening. Watch trailer HERE

RSVP for the Capitola showing HERE
RSVP for the RCNV showing HERE

Friday  • July 18 (NEW DATE)  • 6-7 PM
Institute of Arts and Sciences • 100 Panetta Ave•  Santa Cruz
Wheelchair accessible  • Free
Join author Emile Suotonye DeWeaver for a book talk and signing of his first book, Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy and an Abolitionist Future. 

During his twenty-one years in prison, DeWeaver covertly organized to pass legislation impacting juveniles in California’s criminal legal system; was a culture writer for Easy Street Magazine; and co-founded Prison Renaissance, an organization centering incarcerated voices and incarcerated leadership. DeWeaver draws on these experiences to interrogate the central premise of reform efforts, including prisoner rehabilitation programs, arguing that they demand self-abnegation, entrench white supremacy, and ignore the role of structural oppression.

Tuesday • July 15 • Capitola Library • 2005 Wharf Rd • Capitola
Wednesday, July 16 • Resource Center for Nonviolence • 612 Ocean St • Santa Cruz
Doors open at 5:30, film at 6 pm
Wheelchair accessible • Donation • RSVP requested

In an era of intensifying civil rights struggle and as a global movement against imperialism was on the rise, Black Power entered the scene and shook the status quo in the United States. As cities were burning, people took to the streets in response to anti-Black police brutality and youth protested en masse against the genocidal U.S. war in Southeast Asia. 

During this historic juncture, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense emerged in Oakland, California, seizing the global imagination and forever transforming the landscape of radical organizing. Please join us for a screening of Stanley Nelson’s documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, which sheds light on the Black Panther Party from the perspective of its members, its supporters, and those who sought to bring it down. 

Community discussion to follow the screening.  Watch trailer here

RSVP for the Capitola showing here. 
RSVP for the RCNV showing here.

Upcoming Showings: