AAP cultivates experiences where artists of the global majority are elevated, creative practices are asked to deepen and where new ways of being are imagined through movement, performance art and sonic exploration.
Activation Arts Productions
Activation Arts Productions, founded by Amber Julian, cultivates community-centered arts experiences that amplify marginalized voices and foster collective healing. Through performance, movement, music, and storytelling rooted in Black culture and ancestral wisdom, we create immersive events that center QTBIPOC and underrepresented artists. Our mission is to activate spaces where art becomes a vehicle for liberation, equity, and belonging.
Image by: LexMex
Amber Julian, Artistic Director & Founder
An artist, performer, and writer dedicated to exploring themes of identity, gender, activism, and ancestral wisdom. Her practice beautifully integrates performance art, spoken word, and visual elements, with a deep connection to ancestral movement, the energies of the elements, and Orishas as guiding forces. As a movement educator, Amber shares knowledge and culture rooted in spirituality, hip-hop, house, and ritual dance, emphasizing that all movement is an invitation to explore what is present—both within ourselves and in our environment. She teaches at the University of San Francisco and previously at Oakland School of the Arts, creating accessible spaces that honor personal and collective transformation. Her work pushes boundaries around gender expression and social norms while fostering inclusive dialogue around marginalized identities. Through community-based projects and embodied practices, Amber encourages a reconnection to ancestral roots, the natural world, and the sacred within us all.
Our Activations
Ancestral practices, platforms, and collectives that are rooted in the ability to elevate shared narratives and provide space for the most marginalized to express while being celebrated.
HeartSpace
An annual invitation and platform for community artists to be witnessed while showcasing a new offering, work-in-progress or pre-existing piece through an open mic format plus an experimental movement exchange between dancers and live musicians guided by themes and prompts. Now approaching it’s 6th iteration…
Image by: Blk Light Productions
A Tinier Desk
Image by: B Dukes
An annual invitation and platform for community artists to be witnessed while showcasing a new offering, work-in-progress or pre-existing piece through an open mic format plus an experimental movement exchange between dancers and live musicians guided by themes and prompts. Now approaching it’s 6th iteration…
Onyx is an all-Black, femme dance collective dedicated to reclamation, healing, and truth-telling through Black dance forms encompassing Hip Hop, Afrofusion, Whacking and House. Each of these forms functions as both an aesthetic practice and a historical archive, carrying narratives of resistance, innovation, and community from the African diaspora. Hip Hop and House reflect social and cultural movements that emerged from Black and Brown urban communities as responses to systemic oppression and as affirmations of joy and liberation. Afrofusion integrates diasporic rhythms and contemporary expression, bridging ancestral memory with present-day creativity. Waacking, rooted in self-expression and femme empowerment, offers a performative language for exploring identity and visibility. Orisha dance, rooted in West African spiritual traditions, grounds the collective’s work in ancestral reverence and elemental balance. Through movement inspired by the water deities such as Oshun and Yemaya, Onyx explores water as both metaphor and methodology—a symbol of emotional depth, intuition, and transformation. The fluidity of water becomes a guiding force for the choreography, embodying the power of softness, adaptability, and flow as radical counterpoints to rigid societal expectations of strength.
Onyx
Image by: David Gaylord
Let’s Bring Your Vision To Life
From workshop facilitation, choregraphy, event production, and creative direction, let’s create intentional art together that uplifts the collective energy.
Image by: LexMex