Welcoming Raphael Cohen as BCNM's Events & Communications Manager

We're thrilled to announce that Raphael Cohen has been appointed BCNM's Events & Communications Manager, following three years as the center's Events Coordinator. In this newly created role, Raphael will continue to lead the planning and execution of BCNM's events, conferences, and meetings, in addition to telling the story of BCNM to the campus community and broader public. He'll work in coordination with the center's faculty and staff, to guide communications by creating overall strategy and implementing print and digital materials to reach our campus and public audiences, as well as BCNM’s own Executive Committee and students.

Raphael is a writer, journalist, and longtime events programmer committed to using creativity, culture, and the study of media to inform and inspire.

As a reporter, his work frequently spotlights remarkable figures at the intersection of arts, athletics, and activism, with a particular focus on the Bay Area. Raphael’s profile of Yusef Wright, Stephen Curry's longtime barber, for KALW’s Bounce podcast won the Public Media Journalists Association’s Best Sports Feature award in 2020. More recently, he’s profiled Charley Nordin, an Oakland-raised Paralympic rower who used his sporting success to speak out against racial injustice, and Charley Crockett, a country and blues singer from the Rio Grande Valley who credits his time in Northern California with catapulting his career. Raphael’s also the author of Rebel Elegant, a poetry book and solo performance paying tribute to 1990s NBA star Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, whose principled protest of the national anthem led to his exile from the league in the prime of his playing days.

Prior to joining BCNM, Raphael served as Communications Manager for Justice Outside, an organization advancing racial equity in the outdoor and environmental movement. He also produced and curated multiple interdisciplinary arts events, fusing literary, performance, film, and music mediums, in venues ranging from libraries to live-work lofts, community centers to rooftop gardens. He's delighted to continue supporting BCNM's inimitable work in media transition and emergence, critical thinking and making, and technological equity and justice.

You can reach him directly at raphaelcohen@berkeley.edu