Berkeley Animal Rights Center (ARC)
Berkeley Animal Rights Center (ARC) operates as a public organizing space in Berkeley, California, hosting community events, activist training, nonviolence workshops, and outreach for people working on animal liberation and related social justice causes. The center functions as an office, a materials-and-campaign-building shop, and a gathering point for the broader Bay Area animal rights community. It opened in July 2016 and grew out of Direct Action Everywhere’s strategy to build Berkeley into a base for long-term, place-rooted animal rights organizing. The ARC now runs two locations in the city, with the West location at 2414 Sixth Street serving as its main organizing base.
The ARC is closely tied to campaigns that have moved policy at the local and state level. Berkeley became the first US city to ban factory farms when voters passed a ballot measure in November 2024 with 62% support — a campaign in which ARC was involved. The center’s model draws explicitly from earlier social movement organizing spaces, including Harvey Milk’s Castro Camera in San Francisco, where retail, community gathering, and political work overlapped in a single storefront.
Weekly Saturday morning meetups welcome anyone from first-timers to seasoned organizers. The space carries vegan products, animal rights literature, and materials for ongoing campaigns. Trainings cover nonviolent direct action, free speech rights, and movement strategy. Membership in the broader DxE network that founded the center is not required to participate.
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