ALICE: Art and Literacy in Children's Education - www.aliceprogram.org
Arts Change presents innovative and artistically significant exhibitions that support cultural interchange and expression among the diverse communities of Richmond, as well as forge a new artistic tradition between professional artist, health care workers and patients. OCF supported phase II of “Food in Richmond: Envisioning Change/Creating Change” a multi-generational look at the complicated issues of quality of life, nutrition, food security and the decline of family meals as well as family food traditions. OCF also funded Youth Food Work, which uses culturally specific, local visual elements to inform, educate and activate youth to critically analyze their food environment. This year’s work will include a traveling bilingual puppet show, Carlitos and the Magic Garden. OCF supported Arts Change for three years.

Arts Change - www.artschange.org
Arts Change presents innovative and artistically significant exhibitions that support cultural interchange and expression among the diverse communities of Richmond, as well as forge a new artistic tradition between professional artist, health care workers and patients. OCF supported phase II of “Food in Richmond: Envisioning Change/Creating Change” a multi-generational look at the complicated issues of quality of life, nutrition, food security and the decline of family meals as well as family food traditions. OCF also funded Youth Food Work, which uses culturally specific, local visual elements to inform, educate and activate youth to critically analyze their food environment. This year’s work will include a traveling bilingual puppet show, Carlitos and the Magic Garden. OCF supported Arts Change for three years.

Berkeley Art Center - www.berkeleyartcenter.org
Berkeley Art Center serves the diverse and creative community of Berkeley, through the presentation of visual art exhibitions, music performances and literary programs relevant to its unique community. OCF supported Intimate Nature, an exhibition of local artists.

California College of the Arts - www.center.cca.edu/community/100families
OCF supported the California College of the Arts (CCA) 100 Families Oakland Project, an art and social change project that has engaged four Oakland neighborhoods since 2005. The program includes tours of the Oakland Museum and weekly art classes in painting, drawing ceramics/sculpture, printmaking and mask-making at a community location. Families select the medium they’re interested in and embark on a ten-week class in which they work with art instructors to create new works. The OCF grant supported the work of families in West Oakland.

The Crucible - www.thecrucible.org
The Crucible is a nonprofit arts education organization that fosters a collaboration of arts, industry and community. Through training in fine and industrial arts, the Crucible promotes creative expression, reuse of materials, and innovative design, while serving as an accessible arts venue for the general public. OCF supported the Crucible’s bike program, which offers free bike repairs to West Oakland residents and workshops where youth can earn a free bike.

DANCE MONKS - www.dancemonks.com
DANCE MONKS is an experimental dance-art company committed to collaborating with artists of diverse disciplines to make pieces that explore cross-cultural connections, as well as the intimate relationship between people and nature. OCF supported GREEN, an environmental community dance project that integrated oral history excerpts from East Bay residents’ reflections on the land with movement videos, and used a multigenerational cast of local East Bay residents as well as professional dancers. GREEN residencies and performances were held at Highland Elementary in Richmond and Green City Gallery in Berkeley.

EarthTeam Environmental Network - www.earthteam.net
An environmental network for teens, teachers and youth leaders, EarthTeam brings environmental experiences that inspire dedication to a healthy environment into the classroom and the community. EarthTeam’s projects range from replicable community service projects to restoration efforts that appeal to teens and meet the needs of teachers. OCF supported the creation of a Student Editorial Board and an expansion of The Green News, an online newsletter of youth perspectives on the environment and related social, economic and health issues.

El Cerrito Greenway Project - Baxter Creek, El Cerrito
OCF’s grant enabled the El Cerrito Greenway Project to bring together neighbors, artists, students and local Baxter Creek activists to develop a community-based vision for the site. This collaborative project resulted in construction and landscaping that honored the location and protected the environment. The Greenway Project received funding in 2001.

Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center - www.haywardrec.org/hayshore.html
The Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center is a wetland ecology facility located in Alameda County and operated by the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District. For more than 22 years, the Center has provided programs for local schoolchildren about the natural and cultural history of the San Francisco Bay - Estuary. OCF supports the 2009 Children’s Bay Trail Art Contest and Exhibit, which raises awareness of the Bay Trail and the plants and animals supported by the Bay in order to preserve for future generations.

“Heart of the Labyrinth” (HEARTH) - karmajamtsu@gmail.com
HEARTH explores the intersection of family, community, art, education, horticulture, ecology and the urban landscape. HEARTH nurtures the environment by utilizing art as a tool for social change and justice. OCF supported programming at Lincoln Elementary.

HerPic Performances - www.HerPic.org
OCF supported choreographic works by HerPic Performances, a Berkeley-based dance/theatre company led by Artistic Director, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, with a history of performing choreographic work in the natural world. Among a series of spring 2008 dances in the parks, HerPic Performances collaborated with East Bay Regional Parks in performances of In Praise of Insects and Water, Water Everywhere at Tilden Park in a program related to the Park’s watershed hikes.

Hugh Livingston for Sound & Place Oakland: Hidden Creeks - hugh@livingstonsound.com
Artists will explore real and imagined sounds of the creeks and streams of Oakland, almost entirely hidden in underground culverts. Oral histories and recordings of flowing water will be collected into a web archive. OCF supported Sound & Place Oakland: Hidden Creeks.

Junior Center of Art and Science - www.juniorcenter.org
OCF supported "Nature in Your Neighborhood" a program for fourth grade students at Allendale Elementary School in East Oakland. Students created a mural for the exterior walls of the school and produced laminated cards of animal drawings for extended uses in science classrooms. Junior Center of Art and Science was awarded three years of general support funding.

KALA Art - www.kala.org
Artists participating in the Residence and Fellowship programs at KALA received support for residencies at Jefferson and Oxford schools in Berkeley that served over 300 students ages 5 -11. Kala Art was awarded four years of general support funding.

Life Academy High School - 2111 International Blvd., Oakland, CA 94606
A small autonomous High School within the Oakland Unified School District, Life Academy offers three-week intensive courses between regular semesters. OCF’s grants supported Inner-City Outings (a Sierra Club organization) to offer two programs for students. One program offered day hikes and a four-day backpacking trip. Another course called "The Great Outdoors" combined hiking, camping, health education, artistic expression, team building, and environmental studies. As part of this program, each student produced a personal portfolio of their experiences to share with family and friends. Life Academy High School was awarded two years of funding for the Great Outdoors Project.

Oakland Asian Cultural Center - www.oacc.cc
OACC builds vibrant communities through Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) arts and culture programs that foster intergenerational and cross-cultural dialogue, cultural identity, collaborations, and social justice. OCF supported Bubble Tea Chats: Conversations over tea about community redevelopment in Oakland Chinatown and the creation of oral history exhibits featuring video and a memory map.

Oakland Based Urban Gardens - www.obugs.org
OBUGS builds healthy communities through neighborhood gardens. OCF supported OBUGS’ Youth Landscaping Training Program, which incorporates ecological principles and design basics.

Oakland High School - 1023 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94610
A grant from OCF supported the “Beautiful Struggle” mural project. Social commentary murals will be raised at Oakland High School addressing the United Nations’ Millennium Development goals including: the eradication of poverty and hunger, the achievement of universal primary education, the promotion of gender equality and the creation of environmental sustainability. Images capture hope and possibility by illustrating the works of Nobel Laureates who have addressed some of the most pressing issues of our times.

Oakland International High School - 4521 Webster St., Oakland CA 94609
A new small Oakland public school, Oakland International High School is designed to meet the academic and social needs of recently arrived immigrants. OCF supported a Multilingual Newspaper and Mural, two projects of the Foundations class, and a social studies class for 100 9th graders, all of whom have immigrated within the last four years. The newspaper was the first public forum for many of the students, showcasing their literacy development, and reaching both English and non-English speaking communities. An arts component to the curriculum, the mural will be a collaborative project, unifying the school with visual expression representative of all the students. OCF also supported “Storytelling Through Art,” a new course that focuses on building school culture by strengthening cross-cultural understanding between members of the ethnically diverse student body.

Our Oakland: Eastside Stories - 81st Avenue and Rudsdale Street, Oakland, CA
Oakland Speaks: Eastside Stories is an integrated public art project that will beautify the new East Oakland Community Library through an architectural art glass installation and create a related permanent digital archive of community stories told by residents through photos, videos, and recorded narratives. OCF supported the planning and implementation of community engagement through outreach and gathering of archive content.

Ohlone Cultural & Natural History Greenway Project
Beside the BART tracks in North Berkeley, along the Ohlone Greenway, the East Bay's cultural and natural history unfolds through a series of murals and art installations. The first grant focused on the East Bay’s agricultural history through an educational exhibit, steel wrought cows and tractor-seat benches under pear trees. The second grant focused on the Ohlone of the East Bay that yielded an installation incorporating a range of symbols representing the Ohlone way of life and culture. The Ohlone Natural and Cultural History Greenway Project was awarded two years of funding.

Peralta Elementary School - www.peraltaschool.org
Peralta Elementary is a small North Oakland elementary school with 42% of students who receive free and reduced lunch. OCF supported Peralta’s School Environmental Stewardship program.

Richard Lang & Judith Selby Lang - Judith@sfelectricworks.com
Artists Richard Lang & Judith Selby Lang have collected beach plastic detritus for a variety of artworks and installations to educate and demonstrate the ubiquity of plastic waste in the oceans. They will display image and text panels from “Disposable Truths,” a traveling exhibition, at the Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center in September 2009 to coincide with California Coastal Cleanup Day. OCF supported a public conversation with the artists, a hands-on workshop and follow up reception.

Richmond Mapping Project - http://nadc.ucla.edu/ncaladr.cfm | castle.art@sbcglobal.net
““Soul of the City” artist Christopher Castle collaborated with a variety of Richmond residents and students interested in the Baxter Creek watershed. This collaborative effort produced a richly layered cultural and physical history of Baxter Creek as well as a ten-foot-by-ten-foot map of Richmond with its sea-way connections to the Bay and the Carquinez Strait. This map is located in the Arts & Disability Center in Richmond where residents were invited and enabled to work on the map. The “Soul of the City” project was funded by OCF for three years.

River of Words - www.riverofwords.org
River of Words is an international education program that promotes watershed awareness and ecological literacy through art and poetry. This intergenerational public education pilot project engages young people and elders in an exploration of the Bay-Delta estuary, looking specifically at the Codornices Creek watershed. The project uses science, geography, history, culture as well as art and poetry to engage participants. River of Words was supported by OCF for three years.

Rock Paper Scissors Collective - www.rpscollective.com
Rock Paper Scissors Collective is an Oakland arts and craft collective and volunteer-run community space, where people of all skill levels share sustainable practices and alternative models, and exhibit, sell and learn about arts and crafts. OCF supported Green Street Style, a youth internship program for starting an art-based business in fashion and accessories. Using clothing that thrift stores and charities cannot use, interns took classes in hands-on sewing and screen-printing, as well as basic book-keeping and training in socially minded business practices. Classes were held at Rock Paper Scissors and after school at Metwest High School.

RYSE Center Mural Project - www.rysecenter.org
RYSE is a safe and welcoming center for diverse West Contra Costa youth that builds youth power and leadership towards personal and community health and transformation. Grounded in social justice, RYSE provides comprehensive and holistic programming and promotes multi-racial, cross-cultural relationships.

Satellite Housing Inc. - www.satellitehousing.org
Satellite Housing is a non-profit affordable housing provider formed collaboratively in 1966 by ecumenical and multi-racial community groups concerned about the housing needs of low-income seniors in the East Bay. Now serving 1,400 residents in over 1,300 units, Satellite’s twentieth community, Helios Corner, on the corner of Sacramento and University in Berkeley, provides 80 units of affordable senior housing. OCF supported the installation of artist Juana Alicia's "Wisdom of Elders/Huehuetlatoli" ceramic tile mural project, a beautification project depicting the natural elements and community members from diverse cultures.

Sharing the Watershed - creek.dancer@earthlink.net
OCF supports performance artist Patricia Bulitt’s “Honoring the Birds” and “Under the Wing” performances at Oakland’s Lake Merritt and in the Tilden Park Nature Center in Berkeley.  During these performances, Patricial holds storytelling, dance and singing workshops that encourage children to see the world through the eyes of birds.  Patricia Bulitt’s “Honoring the Birds” is in its third year of funding.

Sculpture from Recycled Plastic Toys
Through classroom visits at Emerson Elementary School in Berkeley, artist Sofie Siegmann explores making a sculpture out of recycled plastic toys with students. The students learn to think like artists as they research how plastic is made and the problems associated with recycling it, design and title a sculpture, and make a sculpture out of recycled materials that they can then take home. Critical thinking is encouraged as the students discuss the material world (what children play with around the globe) and make a field trip to the Transfer Station in San Leandro. The sculpture from recycled plastic toys will be installed for Earth Day on April 14th at the Education Center/Transfer Station in San Leandro.

Tinkers Workshop - www.tinkersworkshop.org
This Berkeley organization provides mentoring, teaching, as well as tools in an eclectic array of media including bicycle repair, sewing and creative electronics. Other innovative programs involve using found objects to build musical instruments, sewing workshops using specialized industrial equipment, and projects focusing on alternative energy sources for transportation. They also offer boat-building and repair, experiments with marine technology, alternative energy (wind and solar power), and a youth-run boat-rental business. Tinkers Workshop was awarded three years general support funding.

Urban Creeks Council Of California - www.urbancreeks.org
OCF gave support to East Bay muralist STEFEN to paint a mural celebrating Codornices Creek, San Francisco Bay, and Hetch Hetchy Valley. The mural is approximately 300 square feet and is located on Kaines Street between Harrison (Berkeley) and Dartmouth (Albany). The mural site overlooks a new low-income housing project, a bit of Codornices Creek, and a vacant lot. The creek and lot are slated for restoration to become a pocket-park. The mural project received one year of funding.

VALA (Visual Arts /Language Arts) - http://valaproject.org
Working with public school children and their teachers in Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond, VALA's uses the arts to overcome cultural barriers among children from different ethnic backgrounds and to improve their language arts skills. In addition it provides teachers with professional development opportunities that enable them to infuse the arts into the Open Court curriculum. VALA was awarded three years of general support funding.

Zach Pine Nature Sculpture - www.naturesculpture.com
OCF supported Art to Action on Codornices Creek with children of the Ursula Sherman Village. Environmental artist, Zach Pine, in partnership with environmental educator, Susan Schwartz, lead homeless children living at the Ursula Sherman Village in a series of hands-on art-making events on the banks of nearby Codornices Creek. Children learned basic facts about the creek and visited areas that have undergone a range of restoration efforts. Exploring the ecosystem, they made temporary art installations along the creek using natural materials found on site.


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