02/14/2025
Dear BoomShake Community,
With gratitude, mixed feelings, and a desire to push through, we are sharing that as of Sep 22, 2024, programs & activities under the name BoomShake Music have ceased.
BoomShake’s activities began in 2013 from our living rooms, and office spaces, and has traveled through many community spaces, in the streets, virtually, and probably most remarkable of all, in our spirits and bodies. One of our key co-conspirators Monica Hastings-Smith left us in June 2021 and things have just never been the same.
The work, the love and the play continues through the iterations of those who have put so much care into the various manifestations, and we invite you, our community, to keep in touch. While BoomShake Music will be transitioning, the energy continues.
Some previous BoomShake participants have created a new formation via The Heartbeat Collective, and you can join and be a part of this growing formation by sending an email to [email protected] or following on Instagram at .heartbeat.collective Tap in if you’re feeling energized about adult drumming classes (newcomers welcome!), showing up at street actions, and taking part in shaping what this formation will look like.
Public school street drumming residencies in Oakland are happening under the stewardship of teaching artists Sarah Norr, Tierra Allen, and Mira Manickam-Shirley. To follow this work and receive future updates or to volunteer with superstar kid drummers, please contact Sarah at [email protected].
BSM Co-founder Nkeiruka Oruche continues to do culture, arts, & liberation work; you can follow her at www.nkeirukaoruche.comand contact her at [email protected]
We will be doing work in the following years to share repositories of all that BoomShake has birthed and nurtured over the years. Thank you, to each person and community, that lead, witnessed, and acknowledged us through the times.
Until then,
Nkeiruka Oruche, Sarah Norr, and The Heartbeat Collective
