The Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission, a volunteer-led body that advises the city on policies affecting arts and culture, is looking to fill four vacant commissioner positions — and applications are now open for Oakland residents.

The 11-member commission was dormant for many years, but was revived in 2020. The commissioners are charged with holding the city accountable for implementing its nine-year-old Cultural Development Plan, a road map to ensure that “every Oaklander in every neighborhood has access to cultural amenities.”

The commissioners will work hand in hand with Lyz Luke, the city’s dynamic new cultural affairs manager, who took on the role in March. 

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Luke, who has decades of experience working with nonprofit boards, said she appreciates the “good thought partnership” she gets from the commission.

Luke told the Oaklandside that she’s seeking applicants who are ready to engage with the community and the other commissioners; people with leadership skills and knowledge of how policy works; and those willing to serve as ambassadors at cultural events around town. Most importantly, Luke said, she invites applicants who are “excited about Oakland arts and culture.”

“If they come from a very culturally specific background,” she said, “can they bring those voices to the table as part of the representation?”

Luke said she is eager to fill the open commissioner spots and to have representation from across the city, especially from District 7, which the commission currently lacks.

In terms of time commitment, Luke said it adds up to about six hours a month, including the commission meetings, which take place every other month at City Hall and are open to the public. The next one is on Sept. 28. 

“We’re hoping they’re people that are already actively participating in Oakland arts and culture,” Luke said. “So I consider going to the symphony’s opening night to be part of that, or going to a smaller gallery opening.”

Applications are open now, and Luke is aiming to finish the interview process for this year’s term cycle by Oct. 15. She will partner with current commissioners in reading the applications and reaching final selections, which she said could take five to six months. 

“We’re spending September, maybe part of October, doing interviews,” she said. “Then, the mayor’s office has to approve them, and that includes getting the buy-in from the council members, and usually that’s another month right there. And then we have to go through two city council readings.”

At the end of this month, the commission will lose one of its longest-serving commissioners, Vanessa Whang, who co-wrote the city’s cultural plan in 2018. Whang is term-limited out after serving two consecutive three-year terms. 

When it was first established in 1991, the commission advised what was then called Oakland’s Cultural Arts and Marketing Division, which housed Oakland’s public information officer and KTOP TV 10, the city’s television station. The commission was shut down in 2011 during the Great Recession due to lack of funding. In 2016, as the city’s budget recovered, Roberto Bedoya was hired as Oakland’s first cultural affairs manager and in February 2020, the commission was revived — right before the pandemic hit. Bedoya retired in 2024, and the manager role was left vacant for two years. 

Today, the commission and the Cultural Affairs Division it advises are housed in the city’s Economic and Workforce Development Department, a place in the org chart that reflects the important role the arts play in Oakland’s economy.

Since taking on the role earlier this year, Luke has been meeting with the commission to workshop strategies for attracting funding for the arts since, in 2024, the city’s cultural grants funding was wiped out during a round of deep budget cuts. Luke said she also wants to work with the commission to revive the Oakland Poet Laureate program, which she hopes can be relaunched next year. The city’s only previous laureate was Dr. Ayodele “WordSlanger” Nzinga, who served from 2021 to 2023.

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