Amplifi Napa Valley celebrates one year of uplifting diverse voices through the arts
In a downtown Napa courtyard filled with music, laughter and soul, 17-year-old Andrea Barrera stepped onto the stage earlier this month to perform songs from her debut EP Capítulo No. 1. The performance, rich with personal storytelling and bilingual lyrics, marked more than just a coming-of-age moment for the young Latina singer-songwriter, it symbolized the beating heart of Amplifi Napa Valley.
This July, Amplifi celebrated its one-year anniversary, marking 12 months of investment in the belief that the arts can drive community connection, civic participation and cultural healing. The organization’s mission, to equip local artists with tools, resources and support to express themselves authentically, was on full display as Barrera, Amplifi’s first Emerging Artist grantee, took her work from a dream to the airwaves, thanks entirely to her Amplifi-funded grant.
But Amplifi isn’t just producing performances, it’s building a local movement.
Another Amplifi grantee making waves is local artist and producer Oke McFly, who was recently selected for the Recording Academy’s 2025 Los Angeles Chapter Class. The appointment places him among a national cohort of music professionals recognized for shaping the industry’s future.
In response to a national climate where diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are increasingly under fire, Amplifi has chosen to lean in rather than step back.
“Back in January, we came together as a team and asked, ‘What does this moment mean for us?’” Dennis M. Robinson, director of development for the organization, told the Napa Valley News Group. “A lot of nonprofits were unsure of their footing. We decided that meant it was even more important to step forward to elevate the community without shame or fear.”
That conversation sparked the creation of the Amplification Initiative, a long-term strategy to reimagine Napa’s arts ecosystem as one that is multilingual and multicultural.
Through partnerships with institutions like Napa Valley College and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Amplifi is working to evaluate how the arts can directly impact civic participation and entrepreneurship.
“If I go to something in Napa, I should feel welcomed because it’s presented with multilingual and multicultural sensitivity,” said Robinson. “We believe that will have ripple effects across the community.”
The approach is holistic: from multilingual artist outreach and bilingual event promotion to programming that challenges traditional Napa County silos.
A recent masterclass brought together Amplifi grantee Jenny Pan, a classical pianist, and Cuban jazz virtuoso Jorge Luis Pacheco in a genre-blending performance that symbolized the organization’s ethos of boundary-breaking collaboration.
“You can’t really keep arts in a bubble; it’s counter to what arts are about,” Robinson added. “When people can’t express themselves fully, they shrink back. But when we amplify our voices, we amplify our choices.”
Barrera’s debut event also launched Sound Space Sessions: Local Edition, a new collaboration between Amplifi and Wine Down Media’s KVYN “The Vine” and KVON “MegaMix.” Hosted at The Garden in downtown Napa, the show brought together families, music lovers and neighbors for an afternoon of storytelling and live performance and reached thousands more across the region through live radio and digital streaming.
“There’s so much rich talent waiting to be expressed in Napa,” Robinson emphasized. “We don’t intend to lose the opportunity to help that flourish. We intend to capitalize on it.”
