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Since 1998 Oakland Fund for the Arts have funded 87 programs for over $350,000 to date. Here are some of the recent programs that we have funded.
For more media on our programs, see our photos and videos.
After-School Bilingual Choir
Manzanita SEED Elementary School, Fruitvale/San Antonio (2011)
The after-school bilingual choir at Manzanita SEED Elementary will allow the participating students from grades K-5 to write and compose song lyrics in Spanish in an area of their own interest, develop performance skills and sing with confidence in…
Music from the Inside Out
Oakland School for the Arts, Chinatown Central (2011)
The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) will provide 40 serious young musicians at the Oakland School for the Arts with an enrichment program that integrates composition, interpretation and performance. The program will integrate composition, analysis performance, interpretation and ensemble-playing,…
Congolese Dance and Visual Arts
EnCompass Academy, Elmhurst (2011)
The Congolese Dance and Visual Arts program at EnCompass Academy will teach African dance, music and language arts through poetry to K-5th grade students. The program will introduce Congolese dance, drum and song which are traditional art forms rooted…
Music Therapy for Special Needs Students
Redwood Heights Elementary School, Lower Hills (2011)
Redwood Heights Elementary School’s special needs students will work with Kathy Quain, a board-certified Music Therapist, in a program that will teach students to communicate via signing, symbol systems and adaptive equipment such as electronic “talkers.” The Technology and…
Arts Integration at Acorn Woodland Elementary
Acorn Woodland Elementary School, East Oakland (2011)
The arts integration program at Acorn Woodland Elementary began in the 2007-2008 school year, when a local artist collaborated with K-5 classroom teachers to facilitate a final end-of-the-year visual art project that aligned with teachers’ social studies units. The…
Chain-Link Gallery
Emerson Elementary School, North Oakland (2011)
In partnership with Oakland’s Rock Paper Scissors Collective (RPSC), Emerson Elementary students will create art installations that will thoroughly transform the school. What are now long blocks of bare chain-link fences, will become a gallery for student work. The…
Academy of Art University (AAU) Pre-College Summer Program
Various Oakland high schools, 2011
In an incredible collaboration effort, OFFTA is proud to announce that ten students will be attending the Academy of Art University’s Pre-College Summer Program. Through the ProArts Youth Fellows program, ten outstanding art students were selected from several high…
Afro-Brazilian Dance Program
Sankofa Academy, North Oakland (2010)
4th and 5th grade students at Sankofa Academy were introduced to Afro-Brazilian history and art through interactive lectures, music, instrument demonstrations and dance lessons of various forms of Afro-Brazilian dance. The goal of the program was to give students…
Prescott Circus Theatre Satellite Program
Parker Elementary and Garfield Elementary School, Central East Oakland (2010)
Forty students from Garfield and Parker Elementary Schools worked closely with resident and specialty artists to learn and develop skills such as juggling, acrobatics, improv, balancing, unicycling, stilting, hip hop dance, body percussion and clowning. The goal of this…
Berkeley Rep School of Theatre’s Story Builders and Performance Lab
Elementary Schools, Middle Schools and High Schools throughout Oakland (2010)
OFFTA funded 100 hours of free arts education programming to Oakland students through Berkeley Rep School of Theatre’s Story Builders and Performance Lab workshops. Story Builders integrated music, performance, visuals and writing into story telling, encouraging students to participate…
Pro Arts Youth Fellows Initiative
Several high schools throughout Oakland (2010)
Students from five different Oakland high schools each participated in a 10 week “Art Intensive,” weekly after-school mentoring sessions with an artist. Lessons included introduction to perspective, envisioning and observation, and the development of journals, visual art, peer circles…
Life Cycles Project
ASCEND K – 8 School, Fruitvale District (2010)
OFFTA funding provided supplies for this 2nd grade program consisting of a science-art expedition to study the life cycles of plants and insects. Collaboratively taught by the art instructor and the classroom teachers, activities included: planting seeds and caring…
Luna Kids Dance
New Highland Academy, Elmhurst District (2010)
OFFTA funding supported this dance education program working to bring the first K-5 scope and sequence dance program to an OUSD (Oakland Unified School District) elementary school. Best practices developed at this model site will be used to develop…
Multi-generational Arts Education Program
Sankofa Academy in North Oakland (2009)
VALA (Visual Arts/Language Arts) provides programs with a focus on combining creative writing with the arts. For this program, Teaching Artists worked with and mentored high school student interns while instructing 3rd through 5th graders at Sankofa Academy. Internships…
The Oakland Youth Orchestra Bridge Program
Edna Brewer Middle School, Fruitvale District (2009)
The OYO Bridge Lesson Scholarship program is a pipeline or feeder program that allows gifted OUSD middle school music students from low-income families to receive private music lessons, thus improving their chances of being accepted into the Oakland Youth…
MuST (Music in Schools Today) Achieving Through Music Program
Elmhurst Community Prep Middle School, Elmhurst District (2009)
This therapeutic music intervention program supports at-risk children and youth—many of whom have been exposed to trauma—typically by using percussion circles. The purpose of the program is to lower the incidence of youth violence and other at-risk behaviors, and…
MOCHA (Museum of Children’s Art) After-school Artist Residency Program
Emerson and MLK Elementary Schools in West Oakland and North Oakland (2009), RISE Community School in East Oakland (2010)
This program introduced students to the fundamentals of visual art—line, color, shape, texture and space. Students built on these basic tools through developmentally appropriate lessons using a variety of techniques, styles and media. Typical lessons included line activities (line…
ArtEsteem
Explore College Prep Academy, Westlake Middle School, Claremont Middle School, and West Oakland Middle School, serving West Oakland and North Oakland (2009)
OFFTA funds supported Attitudinal Healing Connection’s ArtEsteem program activities (Visual Arts, Fashion Design, and Cultural Arts) during and after school in four Oakland public middle schools. Resident Artists taught art and literacy skills that engaged the students in creative,…
Cantare Con Vivo’s Music Education and Outreach Program
Lincoln Elementary, Cleveland Elementary, Melrose Leadership Academy and Lafayette Elementary in West Oakland, Chinatown, Haddon Hill and East Oakland (2009)
The goal of this residency program was to provide inner-city Oakland public school students with quality music education and meaningful musical experiences, and to impart to K – 12 students an appreciation, knowledge and understanding of skills in music…
Imagination and Discovery: New Routes to Learning for Underserved Youth
Bret Hart Middle School, Claremont Middle School, Dolores Huerta Leaning Academy, Fruitvale Elementary School, Oakland Senior High School, Oakland Military Institute, and Skyline High School. Areas served: West Oakland, Fruitvale, North Oakland, Lower Hills, and South Hills (2009)
OFFTA funding helped support California Shakespeare Theater residencies that partnered trained Teaching Artists with classroom teachers to integrate works of Shakespeare and other theater arts-based instruction into core curriculum at these Oakland schools. Residency lessons addressed state standards in…
Art: A Standard We Must Not Ignore Program
Bridges Academy at Melrose, Fruitvale District (2009)
A 6-month Artist Residency Program through MOCHA (Museum of Children’s Art), for which 4th grade teachers brainstormed about the best way to integrate various art projects into the social studies curriculum. Students were studying the various regions of California…
Voices of Oakland Magazine Project
ASCEND K – 8 School, Fruitvale District (2008)
This literary magazine written and illustrated by 7th graders was a collection of student answers to the questions: What is the power of words? And how does literacy affect our lives? Students interviewed friends, family and teachers about their…
A Day in the Life Program: A Narrative/Photography Documentary and Book
Futures Elementary School, Central East Oakland (2008)
Each 4th grade student learned how to use a digital camera, manipulate images on a computer, construct a hand-made 10-page book using photos they took, and engage in creative writing to interpret their images. Instruction included the history of…
Art for the People Program: Mural Painting & World Beats (Ethnic Dance and Drum)
Oakland International High School, North Oakland (2008 and 2010)
This program consisted of two components: conception and execution of a large school mural, and a performance workshop taught by local professional dance and drum artists. Grades 9 -12 students worked together under the supervision of a Teaching Artist…
MOCHA Artist Residency Program
Emerson Elementary School, North Oakland (2008)
This program provided 16 weekly visits from a MOCHA (Museum of Children’s Art) Teaching Artist to all grades K-5 classrooms at the school. Students explored a range of artistic techniques and styles, in lessons that were tied to school…
Instrumental Music Program
Westlake Middle School, Chinatown/Central Oakland, (2007 and 2008)
This program gave students a chance for individual instruction with local professionals outside of their regular school music classes. Professional musicians served as in-class coaches and private teachers on specific instruments. The program, serving over 155 students, began in…
ArtPLACE
Prescott Elementary (Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement), West Oakland (2008 and 2010)
ArtPLACE is a school-wide, school-day arts program for K-5 students. Teachers can sign up for an all year program that includes painting, collage, sculpture, and drawing, or for class by class special instruction in building missions, constructing dioramas, or…
Animation and Performance
Whittier Elementary School, East Oakland (2008)
This VALA (Visual Arts / Language Arts) program focused on combining creative writing with visual and performing arts. Three different classes of 5th graders were taught Claymation; students completed four short animations, designed six sets, molded seven clay characters,…
Performance Lab
Skyline High School, South Hills (2008)
OFFTA funds granted to the Performance Lab helped towards providing three semester-long residencies at Skyline High School in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson. Using the play as a framework…
The Ancestor Project
Manzanita Community School, Fruitvale District (2008)
OFFTA funded artist residencies through ALICE (Arts and Literacy in Children’s Education) that provided a 10-week theatre, dance, and visual arts residency to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students. The program celebrated the vast diversity of cultures that exists…
Discover Art Club
Fred Korematsu Discovery Academy, Fruitvale District (2008 and 2009)
OFFTA provides funds to cover art supplies costs for the program, “Artist of the Week Meets the Curriculum.” 3rd through 5th graders discovered themselves as artists while discovering art and artists from around the world. With OFFTA funds, students…