Oakland School for the Arts balances an immersive arts program with a comprehensive a and personal growth, building confidence and effectively preparing creative youth to ach
academic curriculum, providing students unique opportunities for learning, expression hieve their individual potential both in and outside of the arts.
An Immersive Education in the Arts The arts have a unique ability to communicate the ideas and emotions of the human spirit. Connecting us to history, traditions and heritage, the arts have a beauty and power unique in today’s global culture. At the same time, education in the arts provides significant cognitive benefits and bolsters academic achievement, beginning at an early age and continuing through school. OSA is a vibrant, diverse community of students, teachers and parents committed to the value of the arts in education. We strongly believe in the value of an integrated curriculum, in which youth are provided with a comprehensive, sequential program of academic instruction combined with an immersive program of instruction in the arts. At OSA, the arts are recognized as integral core disciplines, carried out with the same rigor and high expectations as instruction in academic subjects. Academics are taught with the goal of student engagement, in a comprehensive curriculum that allows each student opportunity for individual expression and creative growth. Come visit and see what an OSA education can mean!
Evan Kharrazi / CLASS OF 2012
Committed to Academic and Artistic Excellence OSA Dance emphasis student Evan Kharrazi has made Dance his life. The senior from Alameda will attend Cornell University.
Why did you choose OSA? I was dancing in a studio in Alameda and although I was really proud of what I’d learned there, I wanted to grow more. I’d heard about the OSA Dance program; I knew I would grow here. What have you learned at OSA? I’ve learned two important things: one is that we all have hardships. I was really opened up to the reality of the world by the other kids I go to school with, and by downtown Oakland, where we are located. I also learned that I have no right to judge anybody else and I don’t want people to judge me. How have you balanced arts and academics? You have a 4.2 grade point average? Yes, I have 4.2 grade point average; I have kept a 4.0 my whole time here. I have gone beyond what was asked with both academics and arts. Time management is key. In order to get somewhere you have to balance. I’m glad I pushed hard with academics, because although my original plan was to attend an arts conservatory after graduation, my final choice was a prestigious academic university. You are a senior now; what colleges have accepted you and what are plans after you graduate? I was accepted to Cornell, Fordham University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Bard College and the University of Miami. I’ve chosen to go to Cornell, because I have worked hard and I knew that I would benefit from a world-class education. I want the best of the best with dance and my second dream is hotel management. So I’ll be studying dance, and hotel management.
a new Generation of Creative Leadership
Tasion graduated from the School of Vocal Music. While singing remains her passion, she is today pursuing her graduate degree in Journalism– using her voice in a different, yet still moving way. What made you choose OSA for high school? I wanted something exciting and interesting. How did OSA impact your life post-graduation? I started college as a double major: Music and English. I really enjoyed music but I wanted to pursue a professional career that offered a little more stability. I still take my music seriously and I still perform. My experience at OSA has allowed me to see beyond what meets the eye. The arts open you up to see things you may not be familiar with. It is in those situations you learn the most. The OSA curriculum is disciplined and demands focus. It can be hard – as a young student, but the OSA experience helped me to have discipline and focus in college, and now in graduate school. I know you can’t have the party before you win the race. What are you doing now? I’m in graduate school in journalism at UC Berkeley. I produce and write my stories in our TV track. Our stories go on California News Service, UC Berkeley’s cable channel, and are picked up by other sites such as PBS. What do you plan to do after graduating from your Master’s Program? When I graduate, my goal is to have a job in the field of journalism. I’m ready to put to use everything I’ve been learning.
Tasion Kwamilele / CLASS OF 2006
Yohan Callen / CLASS OF 2012
A school as Diverse as its Oakland Home
OSA Production Design student Yohan Callan came to OSA in tenth grade with a passion for costume and fashion design. He will attend University of the Arts London, Europe’s leading arts and design school. You started at OSA in 10th grade. Where did you go before here? I failed 8th grade. I was teased in middle school. I come from a single parent household. Things have not been handed to me. I went to Far West High School in Oakland and learned the fundamentals of fashion design there. Fashion is my refuge. Why were you interested in OSA? I was inspired by fashion design and I’d heard that there was a costume design program as part of the School of Production Design. I started my tenth grade year with the desire to be the best I could be, welcomed by two wonderful teachers who are active in the industry. They infused a strong work ethic and encouraged me to design to my full ability. What have you learned at OSA? When I came to OSA I began to learn how to use my skills to build a career. I’ve learned how to lead, to organize large productions, and much more. When we did The Wiz, I did costumes for the Tin Man, Evelina, the Wicked Witch, and Glenda, the Good Witch. I’ve done sculptural head dresses; I was the first student to hand make wigs for costumes. I’m currently the lead designer for this year’s all-school musical, Les Miserables. As a young designer, I am extremely fortunate to attend a school like OSA that has supported my artistic growth. Going to OSA has given me the confidence to apply to and get into the University of the Arts London. Can you tell us about your long- range plans for the future? The designer Alexander McQueen has always inspired me. He brings visual arts, architecture and sculpture to the runway in such a theatrical way. I always wanted to meet him. He passed away when I was in 10th grade. I knew he went to Central Saint Martins in London. I applied and was accepted to the University of the Arts in London. Central St. Martins is one of six schools in the University of the Arts consortium. I plan to get my Master’s and do post graduate work and eventually hope to work with Giorgio Armani.
conveying Ideas In Powerful, New Ways
“The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people – artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, big picture thinkers – will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.” Daniel Pink – A Whole New Mind At OSA, our students succeed at the highest level because they learn to communicate ideas in powerful, innovative ways. Through art, dance, literature, performance, music and every aspect of their academic lives, our students form and communicate ideas about themselves and the world around them. They are motivated, intellectually engaged and artistically demanding of themselves. The results are the achievement of the highest standards of excellence in artistic and academic pursuits, and acceptance to leading colleges and universities.
DONN HARRIS / EXECUTIVE & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
creating a place for learning
Donn K. Harris has been the Executive and Artistic Director of OSA since he was recruited by Jerry Brown in 2007. Under Mr. Harris’s leadership, OSA has grown from 300 to over 600 students and reached an Academic Performance Index (API) of 788 in 2011; the highest academic rating in the history of the school. Prior to joining the OSA team, Mr. Harris was the Principal of the San Francisco School of the Arts and The Academy of Arts and Sciences. How did you first find your way to OSA? I found my way to OSA after meeting with Jerry Brown in October 2007. The then-Attorney General visited me at my San Francisco school and we began discussing his Oakland school. What started out as a casual conversation quickly became an agreement to work together. I first came out to OSA that October for a hard hat tour of the Fox Theater while it was still under construction. I immediately saw the enormous potential of OSA and I think we have come a long way toward the realization of that potential. You have spent a good part of your professional life in the arts. What do you see as the value of an arts education? Both my undergraduate and graduate degrees are in Theater Arts, and I have been an arts school administrator since 2001. There are no schools like arts schools! The arts energize everyone — the community, the families, the students, the staff. We have a natural propensity to create, to express ourselves, to make meaning of the world through artistic forms. An arts education makes full use of this wondrous human resource and creates a fertile environment in which all learning can flourish. The ability to both create and appreciate the arts will have lifelong benefits for our students and for the community. What do you see as the most crucial element to the success of OSA? The most crucial element to the success of OSA is our ability to support our students with world-class arts and academic programs. This support is financial, physical, structural and professional. By this I mean that we must continue to push for financial resources to keep our programs robust; we must procure the right physical spaces in which to develop and showcase our work; the structures of leadership and teaching need to be intelligently organized with students in mind; and we must continue to attract the very best professional teachers and teaching artists to OSA.
In and Around the City of Oakland Oakland’s creative and cultural community is one of the largest and most diverse in the country. Hundreds of visual arts, music, literary, dance, theater, culturally specific, multi-disciplinary and innovative organizations – from the internationally known, to neighborhood programs and offerings – flourish in this diverse city by the Bay. Against this vibrant backdrop, we are proud to call the City of Oakland our home. OSA’s state-of-the-art facility, in Oakland’s renovated Fox Theater, anchors the downtown arts and cultural district. It places students in proximity to the best galleries, theaters and music venues in the Bay Area. We are proud to play a significant role in the rejuvenation of this diverse, multi-cultural city, and have partnered with the Fox and other Oakland businesses and organizations, energizing the area with year-round, evening and summer arts programs and events, bringing thousands of visitors to downtown Oakland’s creative hub.
Achieving Academic and Artistic Potential OSA’s curriculum combines the rigor and discipline of an immersive education in the arts, with a comprehensive offering of academic classes that meet UC admissions standards.
OSA students are challenged, academically and artistically, with what’s unfamiliar and new. Their OSA mentors support them in exploring definitive, unique paths towards the achievement of their personal goals. At OSA, art doesn’t take second stage to academics. One is a complement to the other. The idea is that the more students explore their academic and artistic potential, the clearer their individual voices will be. Support Our Mission OSA’s charter school funding covers only a percentage of a student’s cost of attending. We rely on the generosity of donors from our parent, alumni and donor communities to fill the gap. You can be sure that your gift will count. Here are some examples of what past gifts have helped support: New digital cameras for the School of Digital Media New, state of the art computers The Marion E. Greene Black Box Theater The Wayne and Gladys Valley Student Center Microscopes for our science classrooms Replacing well-used paintbrushes in the School of Visual Arts studio Artists in Residence to provide specialized instruction in each of our disciplines To make a donation, visit our website www.oakarts.org or contact our Development Office at ssherman@oakarts.org or 510-873-8800.
OSA Quick Facts Life After OSA Since the school’s inception, 96% of OSA students have transitioned directly into colleges and universities all around the country, and abroad. Many graduates elect to continue to pursue their artistic disciplines and many take directions that allow them to use the skills they have learned here in new and surprising ways. Here is a sampling of colleges and universities our students have attended: Amherst College Bard College Berklee College of Music Boston Conservatory Columbia University Cornell University Oberlin Conservatory Pratt Institute The Ailey School The American University of Paris Stanford University Tisch School of the Arts at NYU UCLA’s renowned School of Film, Theater & Television University of California, Berkeley Visit Us Come see for yourself. Tour the campus; meet our faculty and students. You’ll see what a special place this is. OSA 530 Eighteenth Street Oakland, CA 94612 www.oakarts.org History Founded in 2002 by charter from the Oakland Unified School District, OSA was the vision of then Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. The school accepted its first class in 2002. In 2009, the school opened the doors of its new state of the art facility in the historic Fox Theater. Today, the school is home to over 600 middle and high school students from all over the Bay Area. Location Oakland, California, pop. 409,189; 20 minutes from San Francisco, with easy access by BART from all Bay Area locations. Faculty Over 71 faculty members. Student-to-faculty ratio in academic classes is 28:1. Arts classes offer intimate personal attention, with a varying ratio depending on the discipline.
Academic Features A comprehensive middle and high school academic curriculum is complemented by an immersive program in the arts. Students can choose from any one of nine Schools of Art: School of Circus Arts School of Dance School of Digital Media School of Instrumental Music School of Literary Arts School of Production Design School of Theater School of Visual Art School of Vocal Music Admissions Applicants must audition before a panel of faculty and staff who assess their artistic talent and potential. Upon acceptance to the school, academic placement options are determined based upon the student’s prior preparation for a challenging academic curriculum. Historically, more than 600 students audition each year for approximately 150 spaces. Acceptance rate: 1 in 4. Schedule Each academic class at OSA is fifty minutes. The high school day runs from 8:10 am to 4:10 p.m., with close to two (middle school) or three (high school) hours of each day devoted to immersion in the student’s artistic discipline. Off-campus performance opportunities and extra rehearsals often require additional student time in the evenings and on weekends. Curriculum OSA graduates meet the University of California A-G guidelines by completing a comprehensive course of class offerings in English, Foreign Language, Laboratory Science, Mathematics, Social Science and the Arts. Honors classes are offered in English, Geometry and Algebra II. AP courses are offered for seniors in Calculus, English Language and Composition, American Government, Psychology and English Literature. Students must receive a grade of C- or better to pass any class. Grade point averages are weighted for AP and Honors offerings. Contact Information Admissions: Michaela Peters, mpeters@oakarts.org Development: Sylvia Sherman, ssherman@oakarts.org To Apply To apply, simply download an application from our website www.oakarts.org or pick up an application at OSA, 530 Eighteenth Street, Oakland, CA 94612.
Students Approximately 615 full-time students in grades 6-12. Diversity Although numbers vary by year, the school prides itself on its diversity, with approximately 34% African American, 35% Caucasian, 17% Multi-Racial, 6% Asian American, 5% Latino, 3% Declined to State.
Design and Art Direction: JonesBecker. Photography: Steven Bollman. The OSA community is committed to acting in accordance with high standards that support, promote and ensure sustainable futures in which all generations can prosper.This includes using environmentally sound practices in the production of these materials.
530EighteenthStreet,Oakland,CA94612 www.OakArts.org Design & Art Direction: JonesBecker.com
Photography: StevenBollman.com