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Oakland Museum of California Announces Events & Programs for July & August, 2016

(OAKLAND, CA)—Summer is in full swing at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) with an exciting lineup of programs and events in July and August. Activities range from the cool and family-friendly to explorations of hot topics and reflect OMCA’s dynamic, community-responsive approach.

The fourth season of Friday Nights @ OMCA continues to be a favorite weekly event for the  community, including expanded food truck offerings and extended hours to explore OMCA’s more than 100,000 square feet of exhibitions at half-price Museum admission for adults, with free admission for ages 18 and under. This summer, don’t miss OMCA’s Ask an Expert series of in-depth conversations with experts in cannabis law, health, economics, and politics in correlation with the Altered State: Marijuana in California exhibition.

Bring the family to Read, Create, Explore! for OMCA’s 12th annual Summer Reading Celebration on August 7, held on the Museum’s lush outdoor gardens on Free First Sundays. Get crafty at the American Craft Council Pop-Up Event on July 29; hear from engaging local experts at OMCA’s Pop-Up Talks on July 15 and August 19; tour Oakland on two wheels with OMCA’s monthly bike tours. All visitors enjoy free admission on Free First Sundays on July 3 and August 7. For more information, visit museumca.org.

CALENDAR EDITOR PLEASE LIST:

FAMILY EVENTS; COMMUNITY EVENTS; ART EVENTS; FOOD EVENTS

Friday Nights @ OMCA
Every Friday, 5–10 pm
July 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29
August 5, 12, 19, and 26
Enjoy the best—and biggest—street market in the Bay this summer with OMCA and Off the Grid! Friday Nights @ OMCA is now open an extra hour later until 10 pm, expanding onto Oak Street with five more food trucks from Off the Grid to help satisfy your hunger for delicious local cuisine. Savor California beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages around the Koi Pond at the Blue Oak beer garden. Enjoy half-price admission, live music, hands-on activities for kids, a pop-up art market in the Redwood Burl area, and extended OMCA Store hours. Get a taste of the hottest in Bay Area culture and food at Friday Nights @ OMCA!


Free First Sunday
Sunday, July 3, 2016, 10 am–6 pm
Celebrate summer with a free visit to OMCA! Visit the Galleries of California Art, History, and Natural Sciences. Check out the popular exhibition Altered State: Marijuana in California, the first-ever museum exhibition to explore the many ways that people consider cannabis, presented through the perspectives, knowledge, and opinions of a diverse range of community members and groups. The whole family will love Bees: Tiny Insect, Big Impact in the Gallery of California Natural Sciences. Check out the Architecture Tour at 1 pm, and the California Art Tour at 2 pm. Pick up a treat for yourself or a loved one in the OMCA Store. Enjoy a lunch or snack in Blue Oak café. 

Ask an Expert | Peter Hecht, author of Weedland
Friday, July 8, 2016, 6:30–8 pm 
Got burning questions about marijuana? Join Ask an Expert with Peter Hecht, author of “Weedland” and Senior Writer for the Sacramento Bee whose coverage of the marijuana industry won the “Best of the West” journalism awards. Meet with Hecht during “office hours” in Altered State: Marijuana in California, and get your cannabis policy inquiries answered. Throughout the series, meet experts with backgrounds ranging from cannabis law, health, economics, and politics. Deepen your understanding of cannabis as a plant and as a social phenomenon. Each month, a different knowledgeable individual will take questions from inquisitive visitors and hold a candid conversation on the facts. Included with Museum admission. During Friday Nights @ OMCA, from 5 to 9 pm, admission is half-price for adults, free for ages 18 and under. Admission for Members is always free.

Tour | Architecture of the Museum
Sunday, July 10, 2016, 1 pm
Experience OMCA’s remarkable mid-century modernist landmark building with the guidance of the Museum’s expert members of the Council on Architecture. This tour shares with you just a few of the highlights of the incredible building, from views of Lake Merritt and downtown Oakland from atop a three-tiered roof garden to the serene Koi Pond, and a truly Californian indoor/outdoor design that still delights and attracts visitors today. Designed in 1969 by Kevin Roche, with landscaping by Dan Kiley, the Museum recently completed a major renovation and expansion project overseen by San Francisco-based firm Mark Cavagnero Associates, which honors Roche and Kiley’s original vision of a vibrant urban park and public space. Free with paid admission to the Museum. Meet in front of the Ticketing Desk on Level 2.

Pop-up Talk: Tess Elliot
Friday, July 15, 2016,  7–7:30 pm
Join OMCA in the Gallery of California Natural Sciences at the Cordell Bank section for a talk by Tess Elliot, editor of the Pt. Reyes Light. Elliot writes the police blotter entries, chronicling rural life in West Marin, and studied poetry at the Jack Kerouac School for Disembodied Poetics. Her 40 word entries describe life in West Marin, in spare and evocative sentences. While her work has been the source of some controversy, as some felt that treating crime and misfortune as entertainment was crass, she feels that documenting these kinds of stories are what make us human, and that she feels “there is much true succor to be had from understanding that one’s suffering is a universal experience”. Included with Museum admission. During Friday Nights @ OMCA, from 5 to 10 pm, admission is half-price for adults, free for ages 18 and under. Admission for Members is always free.

Bike Tour | Oakland on Two Wheels
Sunday, July 17, 2016, 10 am
Explore Oakland’s diverse and rich patchwork of neighborhoods by cycling through them with an experienced guide from OMCA. On select Sundays each month, from May through October, OMCA Docents lead bike tours of this eclectic city; destinations include downtown Oakland, the port area, Lake Merritt, and Fruitvale. Free. Meet in front of the Museum’s Oak Street entrance at 10 am. Bring your own bikes, helmets, repair kits, and water. For more information and to make a reservation, call 510-318-8470 or [email protected].

American Craft Council Pop-Up
Friday, July 29, 2016, 5–10 pm
Get your craft on with a pop-up the American Craft Council (ACC) during Friday Nights @ OMCA. Check out a sampling of local emerging artists and connect to the process of making with a hands-on design activity. Join OMCA Docents and curators with snack-sized tours of the Craft section in the Gallery of California Art from 5 to 7 pm, all while enjoying everything Friday Nights @ OMCA has to offer from food trucks to live music to dancing to half-off gallery admission. Gear up for the annual American Craft Council show at Fort Mason on August 5-7. Presented in partnership with the American Craft Council. Included with Museum admission. During Friday Nights @ OMCA, from 5 to 10 pm, admission is half-price for adults, free for ages 18 and under. Admission for Members is always free.


Free First Sunday | Summer Reading Celebration: “Read, Create, Explore!”
Sunday, August 7, 2016, 10 am–6 pm; Celebration 12–4 pm 
Don’t miss the 12th annual Summer Reading Celebration at the Oakland Museum of California with the Oakland Public Library. Held in OMCA’s lush gardens on our monthly free day, activities will highlight this year’s theme, “Read, Create, Explore!” Enjoy music and movement with the Alphabet Rockers, get your portrait drawn by caricature artist Rad Sanza, and watch a printmaking demonstration. Say hello to Clifford the Big Red Dog, play games, have your face painted by staff from Oakland Parks and Recreation, try your hand at art activities with California Historical Society, explore your imagination with story time, and enjoy so much more. Pick up a book from East Bay Children’s Book Project for free. Presented in partnership with the Oakland Public Library and City of Oakland Parks and Recreation. Supporters of the 2016 Summer Reading Program include the Friends of the Oakland Public Library, Fentons Creamery, William G. Gilmore Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, The Kenneth J. Rainin Foundation, and Union Pacific Foundation. OMCA Family is made possible by generous support from the Oakland Museum Women’s Board.      


Tour | Architecture of the Museum
Sunday, August 7, 2016, 1 pm
Experience OMCA’s remarkable mid-century modernist landmark building with the guidance of the Museum’s expert members of the Council on Architecture. Built in 1969 with a design by Kevin Roche, and landscaping by Dan Kiley, the Museum recently completed a major renovation and expansion project overseen by San Francisco-based firm Mark Cavagnero Associates, which honors Roche and Kiley’s original vision of a vibrant urban park and public space. This tour shares with you just a few of the highlights of the incredible building, from views of Lake Merritt and downtown Oakland from atop a three-tiered roof garden to the serene Koi Pond, and a truly Californian indoor/outdoor design that still delights and attracts visitors today. Free as a part of Free First Sunday. Meet in front of the Ticketing Desk on Level 2.


Ask an Expert | Abdi Soltani of the ACLU
Friday, August 12, 2016, 6:30–8 pm 
Got burning questions about marijuana? Join Ask an Expert with Abdi Soltani, Executive Director of the ACLU of Northern California during “office hours” in Altered State: Marijuana in California, and get your inquiries on marijuana policy and the implications of decriminalization answered. Throughout the series, meet experts with backgrounds ranging from cannabis law, health, economics, and politics. Deepen your understanding of cannabis as a plant and as a social phenomenon. Each month, a different knowledgeable individual will take questions from inquisitive visitors and hold a candid conversation on the facts. Included with Museum admission. During Friday Nights @ OMCA, from 5 to 9 pm, admission is half-price for adults, free for ages 18 and under. Admission for Members is always free.

Bike Tour | African American History in Oakland
Sunday, August 14, 2016, 10 am
Explore African American History in Oakland on a special bike tour, held in collaboration with Walk Oakland, Bike Oakland (WOBO). Hear vivid stories illustrating African-American life in Oakland over the last 150 years. Hear about the Pullman porters union, see historical Black Panthers’ sites, and visit other significant landmarks of African American History in Oakland. Tickets for this special tour with WOBO are $10. OMCA and WOBO Members ride for free. Meet in front of the Museum’s Oak Street entrance at 10 am. Bring your own bikes, helmets, repair kits, and water. Pre-registration is required. For more information, call 510-318-8470 or [email protected].

Pop-up Talk: Christian Nagler
Friday, August 19, 2016, 7–7:30 pm
Join us in the Gallery of California History for a talk by performer, writer, and translator Christian Nagler. Nagler will conduct a séance focused on famed writer Upton Sinclair’s End Poverty in California campaign when Sinclair ran for Governor of California in 1934. Nagler’s interests span a wide range, including labor, poetics, exercise, political economics, psychoanalysis, and global risk management. Included with Museum admission. During Friday Nights @ OMCA, from 5 to 10 pm, admission is half-price for adults, free for ages 18 and under. Admission for Members is always free.

Weekly Tours in July and August
Join an OMCA Docent for in-depth tours of the Museum’s gallery’s throughout the month. Learn about California Land, California People, and California Creativity on the California Art Tour, held on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month and every Sunday at 2 pm. The California History Tour is held on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of the month at 1 pm, exploring the overarching concept of “Coming to California.” At 2 pm on the third Saturday of the month and 1 pm on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, OMCA’s California Natural Sciences Tour focuses on the gallery’s overarching concept, “Changing California.” Every Friday and Saturday at 1 pm, an OMCA Highlight Tour introduces visitors to the Museum’s history, architecture, and collections.  

ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHTS @ OMCA
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) presents Friday Nights @ OMCA, a regular evening series every Friday from 5 to 10 pm, in partnership with Off the Grid: Lake Merritt @ OMCA—the first major food truck market in the East Bay. Friday Nights @ OMCA features extended Museum hours, in-gallery programming, a beer garden from Blue Oak café, live music, dancing, hands-on family activities, and more. Gallery admission is half-off for adults, free for ages 18 and under. Event parking in the Museum garage is $5. Presented in partnership with Off the Grid: Lake Merritt @ OMCA. Friday Nights @ OMCA is made possible in part by generous support from Bank of America, the Oakland Museum Women’s Board, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Koret Foundation. museumca.org/friday-nights-omca

ABOUT OMCA FAMILY
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is committed to being a welcoming and lively place for multi-generational Bay Area families to visit, learn, and engage through OMCA Family, with art activities, storytelling, and hands-on, drop-in projects throughout the Museum. OMCA’s other family-friendly offerings include free Family Guides to the Galleries available at ticketing desks, free activity Books & Blankets available for check-out anytime the Museum is open, and three large annual festivals: Lunar New Year in February, the Summer Reading Celebration in August with the Oakland Public Library, and the Days of the Dead Celebration in October. Free admission for children provided by the Bernard Osher Foundation. The Lunar New Year Community Celebration is made possible in part by generous support from Macy’s and the Oakland Museum Women’s Board. museumca.org/family

ABOUT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) brings together collections of art, history and natural science under one roof to tell the extraordinary stories of California and its people. OMCA’s groundbreaking exhibits tell the many stories that comprise California with many voices, often drawing on first-person accounts by people who have shaped California’s cultural heritage. Visitors are invited to actively participate in the Museum as they learn about the natural, artistic and social forces that affect the state and investigate their own role in both its history and its future. With more than 1.9 million objects, OMCA is a leading cultural institution of the Bay Area and a resource for the research and understanding of California’s dynamic cultural and environmental heritage.

VISITOR INFORMATION
Museum admission is $15.95 general; $10.95 seniors and students with valid ID, $6.95 youth ages 9 to 17, and free for children 8 and under and Members. OMCA offers onsite underground parking, with validation for Museum visitors, and is conveniently located one block from the Lake Merritt BART station, on the corner of 10th Street and Oak Street. The accessibility ramp is located at the new 1000 Oak Street main entrance. Regular hours are 11 am to 5 pm, Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am to 9 pm Fridays. museumca.org

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