WHAT THE FUCK IS OAKLASH?
Oaklash hosts a weekend-long festival of drag and other queer performance that takes place annually in Oakland, California.
Founded by Beatrix LaHaine and Mama Celeste in 2018, Oaklash has featured hundreds of queer performers from the Bay Area and all around the world.
Oaklash is dedicated to building new and ever-expanding stages to showcase & elevate Bay Area queer talent. Our programming aims to create safe and welcoming environments that not only accept but celebrate members of the queer community, especially queer and trans people of color. Our organization was created to showcase performances that are boundary pushing, provocative, and unique to the sensibility of the Bay Area. We aim to stay true to the history of Oakland as a home to creative renaissance rooted in diversity. We hope that by amplifying and supporting the queer art community in the Bay Area, we can emphasize the need for investment in the arts in the face of systemic racism, growing economic disparities, and the Bay Area housing crisis.
Here's What People Are Saying About Oaklash
Lashing Out: Oaklash Drag Fest Reaches New Heights with Pandemic Performances
East Bay Express - 2020
Drag Performers Champion Anti-Racism, Disability Justice at Oaklash
KQED Arts - 2020
Grab that virtual wig, it’s all aboard for Oaklash!
48 Hills - 2020
‘Queens, kings and queers’ learn how to navigate the digital world for Oaklash 2020
Bay City News Foundation - 2020
Oaklash delivers deliciously deviant drag
Bay Area Reporter - 2020
Oaklash Goes Digital and Now More People Can Enjoy Drag
From the Comfort of Their Home
BobCut Magazine - 2020
Oaklash drag festival explores messy, punky Bay Area performance art
What is Bay Area drag? Oaklash Festival has some wild ideas
Oaklash - East Bay dragfest rocks
Oaklash 2019: a colorful weekend in Oakland
Oaklash 2019: Bay Area Drag Festival
Creative Mornings Oakland - 2019
Oaklash festival to celebrate diversity of Bay Area drag. Take that, RuPaul
SF Chronicle - 2018
Please credit Oaklash & any photographers and artists pictured
before distributing photos publicly
Oaklash is a 501(c)3 registered non-profit charity in the state of California (EIN: 38-4133258)
All donations to Oaklash are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Oaklash Board of Directors
President: Mama Celeste • Vice President: Beatrix LaHaine
Board Chair: VivvyAnne ForeverMore • Secretary: Maha Wam • Treasurer: Alyssa Jarvis
Directors: Kochina Rude • Vera Hannush • Beatrice Thomas • Emmett Chen-Ran