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OMCA Announces Public Programs and Events for Abril 2024

Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) has announced its schedule of public programs for Abril 2024, including the return of Viernes Nights at OMCA, a live recording of Burn the Wagon podcast, Spring Teacher Night, and Gallery Chats of which Members will have access to special Member Gallery Chat: The Art and History of Dorothea Lange. The full calendar may be seen below with details at www.museumca.org.

Viernes por la noche en OMCA

Every Viernes |  5—9 pm | OMCA Campus

Viernes Nights at OMCA are back and ready to kick off the season in style! Gather with family, friends, and community every Viernes 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 Viernes Nights is available in the OMCA Garage until 10 pm.
Viernes Nights at OMCA with Off the Grid is sponsored by the Oakland Museum Women’s Board and Bank of America.

Viernes, Abril 5  |  5—9 pm

Live Music by Dos Four, hands on nature printmaking, bubbles with The Bubble Lady and sets by DJ Lady Ryan

Oakland Museum of California kicks-off Viernes Nights at OMCA with fun for the whole family with a rhythmic night full of feel-good music for all ages! Dos Four pulls from a blend of Caribbean and Afro-Latin sounds like Salsa, Cumbia, Salsa Choque, Latino House and more, and are sure to get folks moving. The Bubble Lady, Rebecca Nile, and the multiple bubble stations arranged around the Garden encourage visitors to contribute to the good vibes and fill the sky with delight! The rhythmic energy will continue with a set from beloved DJ Lady Ryan and the evening is sure to be remembered with a nature print memento made of local flowers and leaves. 

Viernes, Abril 12  |  5—9 pm

Live Music by Artelia Green & the Bandanas, interactive dance experience with Shadja and set with DJ Benet 

Viernes Nights at OMCA keeps going strong with another Viernes of music and community! This week, the Museum invites guests to sink into the immersive and healing sounds of Artelia Green & the Bandanas whose music merges funk and gospel-vamping to speak to themes of subjugation and transcendence and invite audiences into new relationships with their feelings. The unique dance styles of Shadji Simone Correia call for guests to be drawn in the movement performance, react, and create a collaborative experience between art, audience, and performer. The night will be further fortified with a feel-good set from DJ Benet.

Viernes, Abril 19  |  5—9 pm

Non Stop Bhangra Community Dance Party, Spring Teacher Night and DJ set by Black

This Viernes Night at OMCA offers a chance for folks to express themselves with Non Stop Bhangra, known as the best dance party in the Bay Area. A celebration of the rhythms and music from Punjab, India, Non Stop Bhangra comes back to Viernes Nights at OMCA bringing high energy, vibrancy, and color. Featuring dance lessons, performances, DJs, live drummers and more, it’s a joyful release for the whole family and all the teachers being celebrated at our Spring Teacher Night! The night will be set with the skillful DJ spinnings of Black sure to keep the good times flowing.

More information about Spring Teacher Night can be found on OMCA’s website. 

Viernes, Abril 26  |  5—9 pm

Live Music by MacArthur Maze, Sketchboard Live Drawing Sessions, and set by DJ Ron Reeser

Viernes Nights at OMCA brings back a Jueves After Hours special, Sketchboard Live Drawing! This Viernes OMCA invites visitors to bring their sketch pads and appetites, and get creative in the Museum’s Gallery of California Art with live drawing sessions.

OMCA welcomes all skill levels, including those who have never drawn before and want to try drawing. Art supplies and clipboards will be available for use, and your artwork will be yours to take home or exchange with others. A costumed model representing the diversity of the Bay Area will be posing in the Gallery of California Art for times ranging from 2 to 20 minutes. Since drawing will take place in the gallery, please be mindful of the space and bring only the following media from home: sketchbooks (max size 9×12 inches) and pre-sharpened enclosed graphite or charcoal pencils.

Sketching in the gallery is included with the price of general Museum Gallery access and free for Museum Members. Between drawing sessions the excellent mixings of Bay Area favorite, DJ Ron Reeser as well as a special performance by MacArthur Maze happening on the main Garden Stage will be sure to get you moving. 

Entradas

Spotlight Sundays: Burn The Wagon live podcast with Juan Dominguez and Morning Star Gali on Environmental Justice

Domingo, Abril 21, 2024 | 1—2:30 pm  | James Moore Theater

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) welcomes Climate Action Month with a live recording of Burn the Wagon podcast. OMCA invites guests to join host Juan Dominguez  C’ya T’as (red hawk) and Morning Star Gali of the Pit River Tribe and founder of Indigenous Justice as they explore issues centering environmental justice including climate change, Indigenous sovereignty, and decolonization. The event will begin with a vibrant opening performance by a Pomo dance group from Point Arena and conclude with a Q+A session with the audience. 

Burn The Wagon  is a podcast series created by Juan Dominguez that is directed at amplifying the voices of people of color, offering platforms to tell their own stories, and talking about history in ways that are not talked about in history books. The podcast is here to verbally and metaphorically burn the wagon that is capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism. 

Entradas

Spring Teacher Night

Viernes, Abril 19, 2024 | 4:30—7 pm 

The Oakland Museum of California welcomes all teachers to come and enjoy a celebratory night at the Museum. 

Free of charge for teachers and chaperones, OMCA’s Spring Teacher Night offers a space as a resource for teachers to bring their teams or make new friends at neighboring schools while enjoying the many offerings of the Museum. Late night access to the Museum galleries includes the posters and graphic prints that highlight political and social justice issues in Por el Pueblo: The Legacy and Influence of Malaquías Montoya as well as a special drop-in workshop for teachers to screen print their own tote bag.

The OMCA Garden will be alive with the rhythms and music of Punjab, India with Non Stop Bhangra, one of the best dance parties in the Bay Area and accompanied by Off the Grid food trucks. No RSVP required. Check in at the Teacher Night table to receive free gallery admission for all teachers and chaperones, plus Off the Grid and bar tickets for the first 100 arrivals.

More information about Spring Teacher Night can be found on OMCA’s website. 

Gallery Chats at OMCA

Saturdays, 1—3 pm | OMCA Great Hall and Galleries of California Art, History, and Natural Sciences

Gallery Chats at OMCA takes an informal approach to the traditional museum tour. Following OMCA’s tradition of hands-on learning, visitors are invited to chat, ask questions, and connect in the galleries with our OMCA facilitators who combine content knowledge with lived experience to encourage meaningful dialogue and fresh interpretations of our Special Exhibitions and Galleries of California Art, History, and Natural Sciences.

Weekly Gallery Chats take place in our Special Exhibitions and our Galleries of California Art, History, and Natural Sciences every Sábado from 1 to 3 pm and are included with Museum and Special Exhibition admission. No reservation necessary.

OMCA Members have access to special Member Gallery Chats every second Sábado of the month from noon to 1 pm.

Member Gallery Chats at OMCA

Member Gallery Chats: The Art and History of Dorothea Lange~
Second Saturdays, 12— 1 pm | Gallery of California Art 

Members of the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) are invited to take a deep dive into the life and work of featured artist Dorothea Lange as part of OMCA’s Member Gallery Chats. This second Sábado, Abril 13 from 12 to 1 pm, OMCA’s knowledgeable and enthusiastic Gallery Chat facilitators are ready to engage Museum Members in discussion on the social value and impact of Lange and her work.

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) documented American life with riveting, intimate photographs that captured the human face of major social issues of the 20th century. Best known for iconic images of migrant farmworkers during the Depression of the 1930s, her many other projects include photographs of Japanese American citizens incarcerated during World War II, community displacement, and the urban criminal justice system. Though rooted in historical events, Lange’s photographs make powerful connections to important themes and events of today. Above all, they demonstrate how empathy and compassion—focused through art— can sway minds and prompt change.  

OMCA Architecture Walk and Talk

First Domingo of each month at 1 pm

Walk through OMCA’s landmark building and gardens with members of the Council on Architecture, and learn about the history, design, and evolution of this award-winning structure with guides who are passionate about OMCA and Oakland.

No reservations or tickets are required. Walk and Talk begins near the Mid Level ticketing desk and lasts approximately one hour.

If you’d like to visit OMCA’s Galleries or Special Exhibitions, please purchase a ticket online in advance or at the ticketing desk on the day of your visit.

About The Oakland Museum of California

El Museo de Oakland de California (OMCA) cuenta las muchas historias que componen California, creando el espacio y el contexto para una mayor conexión, confianza y comprensión entre las personas. A través de sus exposiciones inclusivas, programas públicos, iniciativas educativas y eventos culturales, el OMCA reúne a los californianos e inspira una mayor comprensión de lo que el arte, la historia y el entorno natural de nuestro estado nos enseñan sobre nosotros mismos y los demás. Con más de 1,9 millones de objetos, el OMCA reúne sus colecciones multidisciplinares de arte, historia y ciencias naturales con relatos en primera persona y, a menudo, con historias no contadas de California, todo ello en sus 110.000 pies cuadrados de galerías y en su campus de siete acres. El Museo es una de las principales instituciones culturales del Área de la Bahía y un recurso para la investigación y la comprensión del dinámico patrimonio cultural y medioambiental de California para los visitantes de la región, del estado y de todo el mundo.

Información para visitantes

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is at 1000 Oak Street, at 10th Street, in Oakland. Museum admission is $19 general; $16 seniors and students with valid ID, $12 youth ages 13 to 17, and free for Members and children 12 and under. There is a $6 charge in addition to general admission pricing for special exhibitions in the Great Hall. OMCA offers onsite underground parking and is conveniently located one block from the Lake Merritt BART station, on the corner of 10th Street and Oak Street. An accessibility ramp is located at the 1000 Oak Street main entrance to the Museum.