By Eddrick Osborne
Photos by Z'ma Wyatt

Oakland’s ornate Paramount Theater provided the perfect backdrop for the Full Vision Arts Foundation’s 2009 Inspired Artist Awards reception Saturday night.

“This is something we do each year to honor and recognize outstanding contributors to the arts and community service throughout the entire Bay Area,” said Tony Spires, president and CEO of the foundation, or FVAF. The April 4 reception preceded the nationally renowned 2009 Bay Area Black Comedy Competition, won this year by Kareem Green from Brooklyn.

FVAF is a nonprofit organization committed to helping at-risk youth reach their potential through creation, production and promotion of artistic endeavors.

Emcees Barbara Roger and Bob Butler

“I was really humbled to be honored with an award,” said poet and hip-hop artist Ise Lyfe. “I’m a hip-hop and spoken word artist and to be honored for the work that I’m doing is very humbling.”

Former KPIX anchor Barbara Rodgers and Bob Butler, president of the Bay Area Black Journalists Association, emceed the event.

Several of the awardees emphasized their commitment to the neighborhoods of Oakland. Community activist Ronald Muhammad, violinist Tarika Lewis and visual artist Ron Smith all shared how the Oakland Black Panther Party influenced them and how that organization spurred them to community action.

“I put my (music) career on hold to join the Black Panthers,” Lewis said during her acceptance speech.

Front row, from left: Community activist and organizer Barbara Taylor; Ron Smith; Siri Brown, professor of African American studies at Merritt College; singer, actress and publisher Ajuana Black; violinist and community activist Tarika Lewis; poet, recording artist and community activist Ise Lyfe; and entreprenuer and community activist Ron Muhammad.
Back row, from left: Arts activist and event producer James Moore and Darrell Robinson, owner of the Linen Life Gallery.

Award winner Siri Brown, professor of African American studies at Merritt College, took the opportunity to remind those gathered that it was the anniversary of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“We need to use our lives to uplift others,” Brown said.

Singer and actress Ajuana Black acknowledged that “I have been completely inspired by my mom; everything that I am is because of my mother.”

Other awardees were Darrell Robinson, owner of Linen Life Gallery in San Leandro; Barbara Taylor, community activist; and James Moore, event producer and arts activist.