Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation

The San Francisco Bay Area is a wonderful place, but it can be an expensive place for the arts to flourish. The Oakland Civic Orchestra is facing a significant rise in rental fees next season. Please help us, if you can, to continue providing free concerts in Oakland!

The Oakland Civic Orchestra (OCO) celebrates its 28th season in 2019-2020. The orchestra was founded in 1992 by Enric Zappa through the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Oakland Office of Parks and Recreation. Martha Stoddard was appointed as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor in 1997.

A thriving community orchestra, OCO brings together musicians of all ages and backgrounds from throughout the Bay Area, to share in the joy and magic of music-making. The orchestra maintains a roster of 50 - 65 players who perform high quality, free, and accessible afternoon concerts in the beautiful lakeside setting of Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland. Our programming ranges from presenting beloved symphonic repertoire to showcasing emerging and established talents of local performers and composers.

Offering free and accessible concerts to all is a major part of our mission.  We are particularly happy to welcome young children to orchestra concerts in a kid-friendly and comfortable environment with floor seating available. OCO also regularly extends solo opportunities to young musicians and enjoys collaborations with other ensembles.

The Oakland Civic Orchestra is supported by the City Of Oakland, by patron donations, and through membership fees. Our fiscal sponsor is the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation. In order for us to continue to use our current facility we need your help, please donate!

Thank you!

Studio One Art Center needs your help in creating a more equitable tech and arts community in Oakland. Help us purchase 16 new iMac computers for our aging computer lab!

We are Oakland’s oldest city run vocational and expressive art center providing intergenerational programming to the community. Since 1948, we have provided hands-on, high-quality art experiences for children and adults through classes, workshops, labs, art receptions and community events. In recent years, Studio One has expanded its programming to include sliding scale summer camps and an after-school art program for Oakland Unified public school students. Digital art and web design are two of the most in-demand courses offered at Studio One.

Our computer lab is in desperate need of an upgrade. Currently, we are using donated Power Mac G5s with a duel 1.8 GH processor, 2 GB of memory, and a processor speed of 1.8 GH. These machines are over 10 years old and only 7 of our 14 computers are operating. This creates serious limitations. The computers are not capable of supporting online coding programs or Adobe Creative Suite, and they are slow in operating all apps including basic web browsing. Our children are routinely frustrated by these limitations, which interferes with their learning.  

For many Oakland youth, the digital art and design classes offered at Studio One help students develop essential digital competency skills while developing a passion for in-demand STEM careers. Working with up-to-date browsers and design software is crucial to receiving a meaningful experience in web design, programming, and digital art. Without new computers, software updates are impossible, which are critical to maintaining the digital security of the computer lab.

The Studio One Advisory Board has raised over $5,000 towards this goal thus far. Your donation is tax deductible and will directly support 16 new iMac computers, a projector, and Adobe Creative Suite monthly subscriptions for all 16 computers. With a new computer lab, we can expand children and adult programming to include cutting edge classes in coding, web design, digital photography, 3D printing, illustrator, photoshop and more. This will give our students the ability to work with the latest technology, develop 21st-century skills, and allow us to do our part in closing the digital divide. 

As a parent of a student who spent five years after-school at Studio One, I witnessed first hand how my daughter blossomed in this program. She was exposed to a variety of artistic disciplines, given opportunities to try new things, perform in front of an audience, and develop leadership skills. It's a true community. I was constantly impressed with Studio One's ability to develop programming on a tight budget and saw the limits placed on computer and media arts as a result of an antiquated computer lab. Studio One has become a cultural hub for families in Oakland, and now more than ever we need to create affordable STEAM programming for all our residents. 

Thank you!
Studio One