{"id":363429,"date":"2026-06-16T23:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T23:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/363429\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T23:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T23:08:07","slug":"sameer-gupta-builds-an-artist-hub-in-north-oakland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/363429\/","title":{"rendered":"Sameer Gupta builds an artist hub in North Oakland"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, in a rare pilgrimage to the East Bay, the St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church set up in a former real estate office at the corner of Telegraph and 58th Street and delivered an ecstatic benediction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the first performance at the space recently rechristened as the RootStock Arts Center, but the San Francisco church\u2019s jubilant performance of its core musical liturgy heralded the arrival of a new cultural oasis that\u2019s already sending ripples of creative mojo around the region.<\/p>\n

The brainchild of Fremont-raised drummer Sameer Gupta and several close collaborators, the center is a physical manifestation of a community-building ethos that Gupta honed in New York City, where he co-founded the influential Indian classical music collective Brooklyn Raga Massive. Rather than creating a venue into which he shoehorns performances, he\u2019s developing a highly flexible space that can meet the needs of a broad spectrum of artists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a concept partly inspired by Gupta\u2019s early years on the Bay Area jazz scene in the \u201990s, when mentors like saxophonist Bishop Norman Williams, bassist Herbie Lewis and pianist BJ Papa worked as independent artists with little institutional support. \u201cThere was no safety net for them,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cThey were alone on their path, and a lot of musicians still feel very alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In responding to the music community\u2019s needs, the RootStock Arts Center is still very much a work in progress, and Gupta\u2019s goal is to keep it that way. With about 3,500 square feet and a large parking lot\/patio it\u2019s an enviably flexible building that contains more than a half-dozen discreet spaces that can accommodate an array of activities. Film screenings, conferences, workshops, classes, instrument repairs, recording sessions and of course concerts are all part of the mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking for a space where musicians can play with a bit of backline, and a gallery in the front,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cThe idea was to have resources they don\u2019t have at their house, almost like a gym with access to gear. You can get access to a keyboard, teach a lesson, or pop in and spend two or three hours practicing or composing.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, June 17, RootStock screens the classic 1974 blaxploitation-meets-science-fiction film, Space Is the Place<\/a>, which stars legendary keyboardist, composer and bandleader Sun Ra\u2014filmed while he was in residency at UC Berkeley teaching the course, \u201cThe Black Man in the Cosmos.\u201d Broun Fillinis saxophonist David Boyce, a comrade of Gupta\u2019s in the powerhouse improvisational combo the Supplicants, leads a post-screening audience discussion.<\/p>\n

On June 20 and July 18, RootStock Arts and Bay Artists United Collective present professional development workshops<\/a> for performing artists looking to take advantage of booking conference showcases, which can lead to high-profile and relatively lucrative gigs at performing arts centers. And on June 29, violinists Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy present Natural Elements<\/a>, their singular synthesis of Carnatic ragas, jazz, folk and Western chamber music.<\/p>\n

In many ways, RootStock Arts Center crystalizes the activities Gupta has pursued since he moved back to the East Bay in the summer of 2023 after an impressively productive 15-year stint in New York City. He had already forged deep ties between Brooklyn Raga Massive and the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in presenting an epic collaboration in 2017 with Classical Revolution reimagining Terry Riley\u2019s \u201cIn C\u201d and a 2022 tribute to Alice Coltrane featuring bass-legend Reggie Workman.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s transferred that relationship to RootStock, which curates \u201cColor Your Mind<\/a>\u201d Aug. 2 for the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. This year\u2019s program features the brilliant Carnatic violinist and vocalist Sruti Sarathy, multi-instrumentalist Siddique Ahmed, a founding member of Afghanistan\u2019s first rock band, and Delhi-born Suhail Yusuf Khan, a vocalist and master of the sarangi, the bowed, short-neck, three-string instrument that can sound strikingly like a human voice.<\/p>\n

Since launching RootStock Arts as a presenting organization, he\u2019s also partnered with the West Oakland space Wyldflowr Arts<\/a> run by vocalist Tiffany Austin and saxophonist Nora Free, presenting weekly sessions that often feature musicians versed in Indian classical music. In addition he\u2019s presented regular gigs at Medicine For Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery<\/a> in the Mission. And he\u2019s collaborated with the Berkeley Rep, presenting free Indian music performances in Michael\u2019s Second Act Bar in conjunction with the Bollywood-inspired musical, The Lunchbox. Next up, on June 27, is \u201cSongs of Many Lives<\/a>,\u201d a project featuring Carnatic vocalist Roopa Mahadaven and violinist\/composer Sruti Sarathy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dude blows my mind; he\u2019s such a doer,\u201d said Berkeley tenor saxophonist George Brooks, who\u2019s spent much of his career collaborating with the world\u2019s most acclaimed Indian classical musicians. \u201cHe moved back to the Bay Area and hit the ground running, and now he\u2019s transformed this space from a no-vibe real estate office into a place that feels like an artist sanctuary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gupta has tilled the soil, and with the RootStock Arts Center he\u2019s ready for a thousand flowers to bloom.<\/p>\n

RootStock Arts Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave., Oakland; rootstockarts.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n