Duane Deterville
Duane Deterville is a visual artist, writer and co-founder
of Sankofa Cultural Institute. Duane has lived in Oakland, California since 1979. A graduate of California College of Arts and Crafts (Class of 1982) he has participated in the thriving Oakland arts scene. As Director of Sankofa Cultural Institute he has organized three symposiums on the topic of Jazz and served as moderator. The centerpiece of the Sankofa Jazz Symposium Series is in depth discussions with scholars, musicians and writers. The latest symposium entitled The Sacred Jazz Symposium was covered by the San Francisco Chronicle and other media outlets. Duane is currently doing graduate studies at the California College of the Arts in the Visual Criticism program.
Jerry Thompson
Jerry Thompson, was born and raised in the New Jersey/New York area. He traveled across country on Greyhound for a year before settling in the Bay Area. He is an accomplished violinist, playwright and poet. Before his 18th birthday he produced a series of one act plays that would be mounted in New Jersey and New York. His works have appeared in Zyzzyva, James White Review, and In the Life Edited by Joesph Beam. He was the owner of Black Spring Books, an independent full service bookstore that closed in 2001. He is the creator and organizer of the original Sister Circle Reading Series in San Francisco. He is writing a new book entitled, Nobody Knows I’m Here.
Jerry Speaks: "For as long as I’ve lived in Oakland I have associated my connection with it with my love for the Pointer Sisters. So when I read in the paper that June Pointer, the youngest sister of the group had passed away I was in a weird way very depressed about it. She, like her sisters was like family to me in my mind. As a very young kid in New Jersey I was introduced to their music and fell in love with them. They often say of Oakland and so I thought… wow, I want to go there… I want to know the place these amazing women grew up. They had an honest and trusting sound in their music that inspired and comforted me. I pitched the idea over the phone to Hannah Clayborn who immediately helped shape the root of the book into something that would attract the Arcadia audience in a way that was fresh, and thrilling. So I was inspired to create with my co author a kind of “journey” many of the artists in the book have taken to find seek out that “magical feeling” Oakland gave us. A book that will tell many of the stories, a map of faces, hands, and rhythms that connects community."
