Friday Nights at OMCA | Live Music with Alphabet Rockers, Drag Storytime with Per Sia, Wire Sculpture Making, Gallery Chats, and DJ set with Siyah

Pump up the joy this first Friday at Friday Nights at OMCA! Join us as the intergenerational hip hop group, Alphabet Rockers, explores elements of hip hop and leads audiences to shared moments of joyful expression, uplifting affirmations, and celebratory movement. Drag Storytime keeps the empowering energy flowing as drag artist Per Sia brings Tyler Feder’s preschool picture book, Bodies are Cool, to life with an exuberant read-aloud alongside bright and friendly illustrations to captivate all.

Feel further inspired by the change makers highlighted in our collection with a hands-on wire sculpture activity inspired by Ruth Asawa’s Untitled, 1974 piece on display in Oak Street Plaza, and  the insightful Gallery Chats being held in our Special Exhibition, Por el Pueblo: The Legacy and Influence of Malaquías Montoya. And as the night unfolds, the seasoned DJ music stylings of Siyah are sure to keep the good vibrations flowing high.

Program Schedule:

5—9 pm Core Galleries and Special Exhibitions evening hours with Museum ticket

5:15—5:30 pm Drag Storytime with Per Sia  | The Garden

5:30—7:30 pm Wire Sculpture Making |  The Garden

6—8 pm Gallery Chats  | The Great Hall 

6:30—7:20 pm The Alphabet Rockers  | The Garden Stage

6:45—8:45 pm Siyah |  Amphitheater

About Friday Nights:

Gather with family, friends, and community every Friday at 5 pm for free live music and hands-on activities, Off the Grid food trucks, and late night access to our galleries and special exhibitions, with a Museum ticket.

Bring your own or grab dinner from any one of the 8 Off the Grid food trucks on 10th Street between Oak and Fallon Streets. Beer, wine, mixed and non-alcoholic drinks are available for sale. After grabbing a meal from a wide and weekly changing menu of culinary creations, head to the OMCA Garden where you’ll find picnic tables and blankets to enjoy your local eats. Play lawn and table games, enjoy weekly rotating Museum programming, and create new memories at one of the Town’s most treasured spaces right in the heart of Oakland.

No outside alcohol permitted. Performances are subject to change. Limited $10 flat rate parking for Friday Nights is available in the OMCA Garage until 10 pm.

Accessibility 

Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is committed to providing programs that are accessible, welcoming, and inclusive of our community. Wheelchairs, sensory inclusive devices, and additional amenities are available for checkout on a first come, first served basis at the Ticketing Desk. To request other accommodations, like American Sign Language (ASL), Cantonese, Spanish or another language interpreter, please email [email protected] at least three weeks before the event. Learn more about our accessibility options.

Per Sia comes with a pedigree from weekly performances at the late, iconic Esta Noche. Her trajectory has gone on to include art curation, stand-up, television, and maybe a quinceañera or two, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and México. Per Sia is currently a regular performer in the nationally acclaimed “Drag Story Hour” as well as an educator in residence at an after school arts program in the San Francisco Unified School District profiled on KQED Arts, National Public Radio, and CNN.

Alphabet Rockers make music that sparks change. Kaitlin McGaw (she/her) and Tommy Soulati Shepherd (he/him/they), are visionary artists and leaders who create a culture of belonging for all of us.

They are GRAMMY-winners, 4-time GRAMMY nominees, nationally renowned children’s book authors, influential media creatives, keynote speakers, and resident artists of esteemed programs such as Othering & Belonging Institute, Destiny Arts Center, and Hiiwav Black Music Incubator. Their music and leadership is built from their combined pedigree of applied research and creative practice (Kaitlin McGaw is a Harvard University graduate in African American Studies; Tommy Shepherd is a Pacific Conservatory of Theatre graduate).

Sponsors

Friday Nights at OMCA with Off the Grid is sponsored by the Oakland Museum Women’s Board and Bank of America.