Our In The Stax team is dedicated to fostering community, creativity, and cultural enrichment through intimate live music and other arts performances within the welcoming spaces of the Berkeley Public Library.
Our mission is to:
- Amplify diverse voices and local talent by prioritizing representation of marginalized identities with a focus on musicians and sound artists from the East Bay and greater San Francisco Bay Area, showcasing the rich cultural tapestry of our local communities
- Build community connections through joyful, shared experiences of music, storytelling, and collaborations with local vendors/businesses, artists, and creators
- Engage the community through collaborations with artists and cultural organizations, offering opportunities to celebrate and share knowledge, creativity, and culture.
- Empower library staff by providing cross-training opportunities in video production, audio recording, public programming facilitation and live sound engineering, fostering job satisfaction and expanding professional development in creative endeavors
- Preserve and celebrate local music by recording and archiving live performances to create a community archive, ensuring ongoing access to the vibrant artistry of our region’s musicians and performing artists.
Guided by the library's mission to inspire, empower, and connect, the In The Stax team works to create an inclusive and enriching environment where music serves as a bridge to culture, knowledge, and belonging.
Past performances
Connoisseur Rat - Black Power Is
Skip the Needle - Ain't Never Going Back / Space Invaders
Marisha Ashanti - More feat. Lamar Green
Gloomy June - Doing Great / Plans / This Party is a Warzone
Featured Artist Residency: Black American Sound System presents THE BREAK ROOM
Black American Sound System (BASS), led by artist and singer/composer Deon Brown, transforms Berkeley Public Library with "THE BREAK ROOM" sonic exhibition; a three-month exhibition of immersive listening rooms, sculptural hi-fidelity sound systems, music, and public programming rooted in Black Bay Area hip-hop, jazz, and funk traditions from 1975-2005. At the center of the exhibition is the premiere of Deon Brown's forthcoming album JOHN HENRY, which serves as the conceptual and sonic foundation of the exhibition, alongside the the debut of the John Henry Sound System
Black American Sound System: The Break Room
September 22 - December 12, 2026
Berkeley Public Library - Central Library
2090 Kittredge Street - Berkeley CA 94704
Free and open to the public
More about the Exhibition
Accessible text of above image: "On view September 22-december 12, Berkeley public library, In the Stax, and Black American Sound System (BASS) join forces to platform Bay Area music. Led by artist and singer/composer Deon Brown, the Berkeley Public library will transform into "THE BREAK ROOM", a three-month exhibition of immersive listening rooms, sculptural hi-fidelity sound systems, music, and public programming rooted in black bay area hip-hop, jazz, and funk traditions from 1975-2005. Inspired by the John Henry folktale, modern Black life in the American west, technology and Brown's lineage with the Oakland black cowboys, the break room is an immersive sonic exhibition that transforms Berkeley Public Library into a living Instrument where Black musical history, technology, sculpture, and performance converge. At the center of the exhibition is the premiere of Deon Brown's forthcoming album john henry, which serves as the conceptual and sonic foundation of the exhibition, alongside the debut of the JOHN HENRY sound system, a 6-foot, high-fidelity sculptural sound system built specifically to bring the album and the archival history of the exhibition into physical space.
The exhibition features two immersive environments: people's sonic park, an indoor landscape reimagining Berkeley's historic People's Park, a space born from community activism, gathering, expression, and resistance, as a future space for sound and rest; and 7th Street Cafe, a vinyl listening library honoring West Oakland's historic 7th street and its legacy as a center of Black music, nightlife, culture, and community. Together, these works pay homage to the activism, innovation, and cultural movements born from these historic Bay Area sites.
The break room activates the Berkeley Public Library system with a slate of performances, conversations, workshops, wellness experiences, and community gatherings that bring black bay area musical history into the present. Programming begins with an opening ceremony in People’s Sonic Park with surprise guest performances. The exhibition continues with a Women's Wild West Cypher, bringing together women in hip-hop and the living legacy of the Black West; sonic flow yoga; Funkdafied happy hour; community listening sessions; and media workshops. The season culminates with the premiere of Deon Brown's forthcoming album, JOHN HENRY. Together, these programs transform the library into a living Black musical archive and a place where hip-hop, jazz, funk, spirituality, movement, technology, and community memory are not simply preserved, but activated, celebrated, and carried forward.
BLACK AMERICAN SOUND SYSTEM: THE BREAK ROOM
SEPTEMBER 22-DECEMBER 12, 2026
BERKELEY PUBLIC LIBRARY CENTRAL
HIGH FIDELITY, HIGHER PURPOSE."
Full Schedule of Programs
- Tuesday, September 22, 2026 - Opening Reception for the Public
- Central Library: Mystery Room
- 4:00pm - 6:00pm
- Thursday, October 1, 2026 - In the Stax Jazz Ensemble Performance
- Claremont Branch
- 6:00pm - 7:00pm
- Tuesday, October 6, 2026 - Listening Session #1
- Central Library: 2nd Floor, People's Sonic Park
- 3:00pm - 5:00pm
- A curated listening session to showcasing the JOHN HENRY Sound System
- Tuesday, October 15, 2026 - CD Burning/Poster Collage
- West Branch
- 4:00pm - 6:00pm
- Burn your own playlist to a CD and collage the cover art
- Saturday, October 17, 2026 - In the Stax with Family Not a Group, Guapdad 4000 and Derwin Deon Brown II
- Central Library: Mystery Room
- 3:00pm - 5:00pm
- Tuesday October 20, 2026 - Listening Session #2
- Central Library: 2nd Floor, People's Sonic Park
- 3:00pm - 5:00pm
- A curated listening session to showcasing the JOHN HENRY Sound System
- Thursday October 22, 2026 - Radio Panel
- Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch
- 6:00pm - 7:30pm
- Description TBD
- Friday October 30, 2026 - Wild West Femme Cypher
- Central Library: Mystery Room
- 6:30pm - 8:30pm (special after hours event)
- Tuesday November 3, 2026 - Listening Session #3
- Central Library: 2nd Floor, People's Sonic Park
- 3:00pm - 5:00pm
- A curated listening session to showcasing the JOHN HENRY Sound System
- Saturday November 7, 2026 - In the Stax Kayatta Performance
- Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch
- 4:00pm - 5:00pm
- Tuesday November 10, 2026 - Beat Making/Song Writing Workshop with Black Agape and Sample Mode
- Central Library: Teen Room
- 3:30pm - 7:00pm
- Tuesday November 17, 2026 - Listening Session #4
- Central Library: 2nd Floor, People's Sonic Park
- 3:00pm - 5:00pm
- A curated listening session to showcasing the JOHN HENRY Sound System
- Tuesday November 24, 2026 - Cosmic Full Moon Jazz Affirmations
- North Branch Lawn
- 5:00pm - 7:00pm
- Full moon rises at 4:45pm in the north east!
- Tuesday December 1, 2026 - Listening Session #5
- Central Library: 2nd Floor, People's Sonic Park
- 3:00pm - 5:00pm
- A curated listening session to showcasing the JOHN HENRY Sound System
- Tuesday December 8, 2026 - Closing Reception
- Central Library: Mystery Room
- 5:00pm - 7:00pm
- Closing reception and release of JOHN HENRY from Derwin Deon Brown II
