{"id":224597,"date":"2026-03-18T01:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T01:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/224597\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T01:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T01:55:09","slug":"oaklands-golden-moment-oscars-grammys-and-olympic-wins-shift-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/224597\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland\u2019s ‘golden moment’: Oscars, Grammys and Olympic wins shift narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Oakland's Oakland’s moment in the spotlight<\/a> <\/p>\n

Oakland is experiencing a wave of positive recognition following major wins from locals, including an Olympic gold medalist and Oscar winner Ryan Coogler.<\/p>\n

OAKLAND, Calif. – Ryan Coogler opened his Academy Award acceptance speech<\/a> Sunday with a message that resonated beyond Hollywood.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m from Oakland-Richmond, California, and we can talk a lot,” he said, drawing cheers from the audience.<\/p>\n

“The narrative has changed. We\u2019re having what we\u2019re calling a golden moment,” said Peter Gamez, president and CEO of Visit Oakland.<\/p>\n

In recent months, a steady stream of negative headlines about Oakland has been replaced by positive news on a global stage.<\/p>\n

\"Ryan Big wins on global stage <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

Oakland native Alysa Liu won gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m so lucky to grow up here and still live here today,” Liu said at a recent celebration at Oakland City Hall.<\/p>\n

Singer Kehlani, also from Oakland, won two Grammys in February for best R&B performance and best R&B song. Coogler added to the momentum with an Oscar for best screenplay.<\/p>\n

Mayor Barbara Lee said the city\u2019s recent successes reflect a long-standing reality.<\/p>\n

“It feels really hopeful for me, joyful, recognizing I\u2019m the mayor of a city that deserves the best,” Lee said. “That deserves joy and deserves to highlight the beauty in our city.”<\/p>\n

Legacy of talent <\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

Longtime residents say Oakland has always produced nationally and internationally recognized talent, including Sheila E., Tom Hanks, the Pointer Sisters, Joe Morgan, Bill Russell<\/a>, Marshawn Lynch<\/a> and Rickey Henderson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We have talent in the city,” said Noel Gallo, the District 5 representative on the City Council. “You have the [Oakland School for the Arts\u2019] music program down the street, and their students are performing on Broadway. But we don\u2019t talk about that.”
\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Oakland Oakland native Sheila E. honored with Hollywood star<\/a> <\/p>\n

Iconic drummer and Oakland native Sheila E. has made history once again becoming first female solo percussionist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. KTVU talked with her Thursday about the achievement.<\/p>\n

Shifting the narrative <\/p>\n

Big picture view:<\/p>\n

Public relations experts say consistent positive exposure can help reshape public perception.<\/p>\n

“When you have a negative perception or a crisis, all it takes is a couple of positive stories to start changing the perception of a brand or an area,” said Briana Gallo, an account executive with PRxDigital, a South Bay public relations firm. “It doesn\u2019t happen overnight, but with time and consistency, you can really start to see a shift in perception of a city or a community.”<\/p>\n

Looking ahead <\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

City leaders say they plan to build on the momentum.<\/p>\n

“This summer, we\u2019re going to have the World Cup in the Bay Area. We have the Australian team choosing Oakland as their home base,” Gamez said.<\/p>\n

World Cup matches begin June 13 at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara.]=<\/p>\n

Also of note, Autumn Arkapaw, a Danville native, won an Oscar on March 15 for best cinematography for her work on “Sinners,” becoming the first woman to win the award.<\/p>\n

Oakland<\/a>Entertainment<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oakland’s moment in the spotlight Oakland is experiencing a wave of positive recognition following major wins from locals,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,1184,967,100,143,145,144,1181],"class_list":["post-224597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county","tag-ca","tag-entertainment","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}