Thanks to our volunteers who donated their time, cooking talents and all the food! Our volunteers, Louise Owling, Betsy Lim, Tina and Jerry Lowden, Liz Rebensdorf, Chisato Fujikawa, Richard and Chiho Solomon, and Howard and Pam Hatayama made the event made the event enjoyable for everyone on that glorious sunny Saturday. Plus OFFTA made more money to fund hands-on art education for underserved Oakland Public School children K-12.

Would you like to help us put together a house party? It’s a way for us to gather a small group of volunteers and invite 15-20 people over to enjoy the party and raise funds for our programs. If you love to cook, or have a home that can accommodate a small, but friendly group, or if you have an idea for a unique way to have fun, let us know. We’ll match up the ideas with the cooks and volunteers, and the venue, then market it. You don’t need to do it all, just the piece that is your forte! Contact Genni at genni@oaklandfundforthearts.org if you’d like to be involved in one of these fun events.

For more photos, visit our Smugmug page.

Board Event Organizer, Gina Scrivani, with sister Angela, enjoying the evening and fruits of her labor.

Guests filled the evening with conversation and laughter, while bidding on items such as a week-long vacation stay in Balboa and an ACT ticket package. Honorary Chair and guest Wendy Tokuda spoke about the importance of arts education for children to lead fulfilling lives, and board member Laurie Pitman led a suspense-filled wine raffle. Altogether, the evening was a fantastic success!

Oakland Fund for the Arts would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to the evening’s guests, donors and volunteers. We would also like to give a special thank you to our Silver Sponsors, Rolls-Royce Oakland and Kaiser Permanente; and our Gold Sponsor, Wells Fargo. Without your continued support we would not be able to contribute to Oakland arts education as we have for 15 years!

To view more photos, click here!

“Author, Author”

Saturday, December 3, 6pm-9pm
Urban Legend Cellars: 621 4th Street, Oakland, CA 94607

Enjoy a unique evening at Urban Legend Cellars with poetry and prose, seasonal inspired hors d’oeuvres, and award-winning wines. The event, to benefit OFFTA, is hosted by owners and winemakers Steve & Marilee Shaffer who will share their wines and talk about the recent phenomenon of Urban Wineries.

Join three local authors to hear excerpts from their works:

$50/person

Have dinner with Oakland Fund for the Arts, one of Bocanova’s favorite community partners, on Thursday, September 1. Bocanova will provide great food and wine and a spectacular waterside venue… you bring the friends and laughter!

Oakland Fund for the Arts will host a fun silent auction to raise money for arts education, with something for everyone–including a splendid Instant Wine Cellar raffle, tickets for local entertainment and restaurants, wonderful California vacation packages, and more, followed by a Pan-American feast by Bocanova Executive Chef Rick Hackett. Oh, yeah!

Tickets will be $100. Hurry and reserve your spot, because last year SOLD OUT!

Gumbo, macaroni and cheese, and pecan pie were just a few of the delectable dishes served at the sit-down dinner. The night rounded off with a showing of A Streetcar Named Desire, and who doesn’t want their evening to end with Marlon Brando?

But let’s not forget the main reason for the event: giving children the opportunity to have art programs in their schools. Altogether, the event raised over $1,000, which will all go to fund worthy programs throughout Oakland! The OFFTA board thanks all who participated, helped and supported the event!

Details — Friday, May 20th, park your car at Paramount Theater in Oakland (http://goo.gl/maps/benK) by 5pm. You’ll be shuttled to trendy Warehouse 416 (http://warehouse416.com/) in the uptown neighborhood of Oakland. First comes a beer-and-cheese tasting, including beers from Linden Street Brewery of Oakland. Then you’ll sit down to a speak-easy New Orleans dinner, topped off with Howard Hatayama’s world-famous sweet potato pie. Jazz by A Quart(et) Low.

After dinner, you’ll enjoy the 8PM showing of “Streetcar” at Oakland’s recently renovated Art-Deco masterpiece, the Paramount Theater. Could an evening be any more decadent?

But wait — there’s more! While enjoying a fun evening, you’ll be doing good in your community as well: the proceeds from this dinner will fund arts education programs during 2011 in Oakland public schools.

Tickets are on sale now! Seating is limited to provide our guests with an intimate evening. Only $50/person, and includes movie tickets!

Board members Pam (left) and Sally (right) stand with Clars Auction Gallery owner, Redge.

What better way to spend your Thursday evening than in the company of amazing people? Guests of the Spring Fundraiser brought all kinds of exciting antiques to be appraised by the Clars staff, from African prints, to kimonos, to small tables! Food and wine was passed out often, ensuring everyone had a good time.

The evening’s program included dance numbers by Sankofa Academy’s Afro-Brazilian dance program and a ham bone performance by Prescott Circus kids. Restaurant and wine raffles worth up to $75 were drawn, balloons were sold at $10 apiece for a chance to win museum tickets, movie tickets and more.

Best of all, the evening resulted in over $10,000 in funds! Such a fine achievement for children and arts education programs in Oakland! Thank you to all who attended, volunteered and donated!

To see more photos, click here!

A special thanks to the Scrivani’s for allowing us to use their space, Warehouse 416, for a fun night, and to board member Pam Hatayama for putting the whole shindig together.

If you couldn’t make it to the potluck, but you’d still like to help us volunteer, sign up for our volunteer mailing list here! Our upcoming volunteer opportunities include program site visits, writing for our newsletter, and event organization before and during our upcoming antique roadshow fundraiser at Clars Auction House on April 7th!

Maestro Michael Morgan with Board member Barbara Silverman

OFFTA Raises $33,000 for the kids!

It was the last day of August, the summer about to end, as a remarkable event happened at Jack London Square. In celebration of the first anniversary of the opening of Bocanova Restaurant, 180 kind and caring foodies gathered on the most beautiful evening of the year, to celebrate, and support the underserved children of Oakland. Special friend of OFFTA, Maestro Michael Morgan could not have been more poignant as he discussed our mutual concerns about the importance of art education for our youth. Indeed, in spite of the economic struggles we all face today this was the strongest showing of support in recent times.

Oakland Fund for the Arts would like to thank the many volunteers and sponsors that made this event possible with a special thanks to Boconova for their glorious generosity and their fabulous flavors. We will continue to visit them throughout the year to thank them for their kindness and enjoy their craft.

And please remember, it is not necessary to wait for an event to support our kids. Donations are always welcome. Just find that important button in the upper right corner of this page.

We hope to see you again next year. And thanks for being part of this important effort.