Oakland Museum Of California Announces May Public Programs And Events

(OAKLAND, CA) April 26, 2022—Comedy, music, dance and theater will take center stage outdoors at Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) for its schedule of public programs and events in May. Featured during the month will be Good Medicine: Native American Comedy, Latinx-inspired music by Inti Batey, New Waves of Hope, Orchestra Gold’s raucous fusion of music from Mali and the US, readings from a new hip-hop theater work by Oakland Theater Project’s Michael Wayne Turner III, and the return of Oakland Ballet. Popular Lunchtime Sessions feature free programming Saturdays at Noon. A complete list of May programs may be found below. For more information, visit museumca.org .

Oakland Museum of California May Public Programs and Events Schedule

Lunchtime Session
Saturday, May 7
12 PM
Inti Batey, New Waves of Hope

Inti Batey, New Waves of Hope explores a wide range of Latinx-inspired music and dance as medicine and activation during this time as we prepare to come together again. Through original and conscious lyrics and modern and traditional dance styles, Inti Batey shares a story of resilience and creativity calling forth values of radical compassion and acknowledgement of our relationship to the land. Fun and emotional, Inti shines the light on our Batey family.

Lunchtime Session
Saturday, May 14
12 PM
Orchestra Gold

Orchestra Gold (OG) celebrates the crossroads between Mali and the US. It’s where rowdy, psychedelic rock meets the analog tape sounds of West Africa. The band is spearheaded by the electric frontwoman Mariam Diakiteher, whose raucous vocals transport you to a street ceremony on a Sunday in Bamako. OG’s music draws deeply on Malian tradition, and goes beyond that, forging a path into American rock and psychedelia, Afrobeat and Funk. Join us for a live musical set, and a Malian dance class led by Mariam Diakite.

Saturday, May 14
7:30 PM
Good Medicine: A Night of Live Native Stand-Up featuring top Native American stand-up comedians Siena East, Kasey Nicholson, Dash Turner, and host Jackie Keliiaa

Good Medicine: A Night of Live Native Stand-Up features top Native American stand-up comedians Siena East, Kasey Nicholson, Dash Turner, and host Jackie Keliiaa in OMCA’s gardens for one night only. Tickets, priced $20-$25 and may be purchased at Your Order – Oakland Museum of California (acmeticketing.com)

Grab your favorite picnic blanket, and arrive early to enjoy dinner on the grounds before showtime. Food, drinks and alcoholic beverages are available for purchase. Guests are welcome to bring their own food, outside alcohol is not permitted.

The 90-minute show will be followed by a DJ and dance party. Doors open at 6:00 pm; show starts at 7:30 pm. General admission tickets are $25. Enter through the main entrance on Oak Street and proceed to the garden.

Good Medicine is generously sponsored by the Oakland Museum of California, the City of Oakland and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust facilitating the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Non-Indigenous people living on traditional Lisjan Ohlone territory are encouraged to pay Shuumi Land Tax to support the critical work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. The event includes adult content.

What to know about seating

The comedy show is held outdoors in the OMCA Garden on an open grassy field, under the stars. Bring blankets or low chairs that have a seat that rests on the ground with a low back. Tall chairs are not permitted as they obstruct views of the stage. Lawn space is first-come first-serve. Accessible seating is available. To request accessibility accommodations please call 510-318-8427 Wednesday-Sunday 11am-5pm, or email at [email protected] .

About the comedians

Siena East is a Choctaw writer, comedian, and actress based in Los Angeles. She writes for Grimsburg and Clone High coming to HBO Max. Siena regularly performs in LA and was in the Upright Citizens Brigade’s first-ever, all Native improv show. She was featured in IllumiNative’s 25 Native American Comedians to Follow, and ABC’s Native American Heritage Month campaign where she spoke about the freedom to be flawed, but they cut the part about her catching barf with her hands. Or rather…failing to catch a barf with her hands. Instagram – @sienaeast

Dash Turner is a comedian and TV writer based in Brooklyn. He is currently a staff writer for NBC’s Rutherford Falls. He was featured in Vulture, and named one of IllumiNative’s 25 Native American Comedians to Follow. He has created content for Comedy Central and @thegag. He co-hosts the Union Hall show Thanks But No Thanksgiving, and performs stand-up around New York City. Dash is an enrolled member of the Yurok Tribe, California’s #1 hottest tribe. Instagram – @disturbia2007film

Kasey Nicholson is a comedian, wellness educator and member of the A’aa’niii’nin (WhiteClay Nation) of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana. Kasey has awed crowds across the U.S. and Canada for over a decade, performing alongside comedy greats such as Ben Gleib, Dulcé Sloan, Tatanka Means, and Mark Curry. Kasey was named Montana’s Funniest Comedian and won Missoula’s Homegrown Comedy Competition. Instagram – @_rezzalicious_

Jackie Keliiaa is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor based in Oakland, California. You can find her in the 2021 release, We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy. She has been featured on Comedy Central, Team Coco, Illuminative’s 25 Native American Comedians to Follow, and was Comic of the Week on The Jackie And Laurie Show. She wrote for the web series You’re Welcome America and has been featured in Vulture, Uproxx, the LA Times and KQED. Jackie has opened for Judah Friedlander, Nikki Glaser, and was featured on the First Nations Comedy Experience streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Jackie is a regular at Bay Area venues and has performed at San Francisco SketchFest, Punch Line San Francisco and Cobb’s Comedy Club. Instagram – @jackiecomedy

Lunchtime Session
Saturday, May 21
12 PM
Hat Matter–Thoughts Of A Black Mad Hatter by Michael Wayne Turner III
Oakland Theater Project

Oakland Theater Project Company Member Michael Wayne Turner III will read from his work Hat Matter–Thoughts of a Black Mad Hatter, a one-man show of hip-hop theater comprising poems, stories, and monologues. This work uses movement and dance accompanied by original composed classical sting music to explore the head space of an American Black Dandy. We invite the audience into the dressing room of this Dandelion as he frolics about his fox hole making sense out of non-sense. Content may address serious, adult topics relating to identity.

Lunchtime Session
Saturday, May 28
12PM
Oakland Ballet

Celebrating the legacy of Oakland Ballet founder Ronn Guidi and looking towards the future with works featuring women choreographers, this performance will showcase highlights from Oakland Ballet’s 2022 season closing program. Oakland Ballet reflects the diversity of Oakland and the greater East Bay providing accessible, relevant, and exciting dance that inspires and educates all ages.

Artists and Programs Subject to Change.

About Lunchtime Sessions

Visitors can bring lunch to OMCA’s free program series, Lunchtime Sessions. Held for free every Saturday starting at noon, visitors are invited to come together and delight in the joy of live performances and the creative process. Lunchtime Sessions are free and open to the public; tickets and reservations are not required. In the event of rain, this event will be canceled. Food and beverages are not included. In order to maintain safety for all guests and staff, capacity may be limited. Visit museumca.org/lunchtime-sessions for details. 

 ABOUT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) tells the many stories that comprise California, creating the space and context for greater connection, trust, and understanding between people. Through its inclusive exhibitions, public programs, educational initiatives, and cultural events, OMCA brings Californians together and inspires greater understanding about what our state’s art, history, and natural surroundings teach us about ourselves and each other. With more than 1.9 million objects, OMCA brings together its multidisciplinary collections of art, history, and natural science with first-person accounts and often untold narratives of California, all within its 110,000 square feet of gallery space and seven-acre campus. The Museum 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 for visitors from the region, the state, and around the world.

VISITOR INFORMATION

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is at 1000 Oak Street, at 10th Street, in Oakland. Museum admission is $16 general; $11 seniors and students with valid ID, $7 youth ages 13 to 17, and free for Members and children 12 and under. There is a $5 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. museumca.org

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Please review our Safe Community Agreements in advance of your visit. 

COVID-19 HEALTH AND SAFETY INFORMATION

As of February 1, 2022, following the Oakland City Council emergency ordinance, OMCA will require proof of vaccination for all onsite activities. This includes access to galleries and special  exhibitions, programs and events in the theater, cafe, and garden. For unvaccinated individuals, a document from a licensed medical professional verifying a medical exemption and a recent negative test (within 72 hours) will also be accepted for entry to the Museum.

Adults are required to show proof of vaccination along with their photo ID; children ages 12 and older must show proof of vaccination but are not required to provide an ID. Thank you for

helping protect each other and our community.
 

OMCA will maintain its existing mask policy per our Safe Community Agreements until further notice. OMCA is taking a measured approach to ensure its making the right choices for its

community, while balancing the desire to return to normalcy.
 

Masks will continue to be required for all visitors ages two and older and OMCA staff, regardless of vaccination status, when not eating or drinking on OMCA’s campus. For more information  about OMCA’s COVID-19 Health & Safety protocols, visit museumca.org/covid-health-safety. 

For more details on upcoming programs and events, please visit museumca.org

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