About
Reconnect with family, friends, and community every week during Friday Nights at OMCA. These free, family-friendly events provide a gathering place each week, including live music, hands-on activities, Off the Grid (OTG) food trucks, and the newly-launched Town Fare Sundeck, featuring an outdoor bar and select bar bites from the cafe menu. Take advantage of late-night access to our galleries and special exhibitions with a Museum ticket, or bring a blanket and lounge in our garden, now open with direct access to Lake Merritt.
Friday, October 7, 5—9 pm
DJ Danny Fathom; Samora Pinderhughes Live: Excerpts from The Healing Project & Grief
Starting at 7 pm, join us in the OMCA Garden for a live musical performance by Bay Area composer, pianist, vocalist, filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist, Samora Pinderhughes. Known for examining sociopolitical issues and fighting for change through his art, Pinderhughes will play excerpts from his current exhibition, The Healing Project at the Yerba Buena Arts Center, and his latest album, Grief. Developed over eight years, The Healing Project is based on Pinderhughes’ interviews with 100 incarcerated and formerly incarcerated narrators, and involves sustained collaboration with over 30 artists working across a range of mediums. Fundamentally abolitionist, this project draws inspiration from a number of abolition and prison scholars including Angela Davis, who is the subject of OMCA’s latest exhibition, Angela Davis — Seize the Time.
DJ Danny Fathom will be playing in the Amphitheater from 6 to 8 pm.
Friday, October 14, 5—9 pm
DJ Monk Earl; Power Pendant Activity and Books and Blankets
Join OMCA educators in the Garden to create a colorful, wooden-beaded Power Pendant that celebrates individuality, confidence, and self empowerment. Strut your stuff and be inspired by the power of feminism and art as activism by visiting Hella Feminist and Angela Davis — Seize the Time. Introduce your little one to other women who have changed the world through OMCA’s Books and Blankets offering, which feature books such as Dream Big, Little One by Vashti Harrison, Change Sings: A Children's Anthem by Amanda Gorman, and The ABCs of Black History by Rio Cortez. Books and Blankets are available for check out at the Level 2 Ticketing desk. DJ Monk Earl will be playing in the Amphitheater from 6 to 8 pm.
Friday, October 21, 5—9 pm
DJ Sake One; Comrade Sisters Book Release and Conversation with Ericka Huggins and Stephen Shames
Celebrate the book release of Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party by joining OMCA for a panel conversation with its authors, early Black Panther Party member and leader Ericka Huggins, and photographer Stephen Shames. It is estimated that six out of ten Panther Party members were women; Comrade Sisters is their story.
Kicking off the event in the OMCA Garden at 6:45 pm is a performance featuring Tarika Lewis, the first woman to join the Black Panther Party, as well as other former members Tureeda Mikell, Val Serrant, and Tacuma King. Following this, explore the power of photography to raise awareness of social issues with photographer Stephen Shames, and hear from Ericka Huggins and fellow former members as they share their reflections on the critical role women played in the Black Panther Party.
Copies of the book will be available for sale onsite, and visitors are welcome to have their copy signed following the program from 8-8:30 pm. DJ Sake One will be playing in the Amphitheater from 6 to 8 pm.
Friday, October 28, 5—9 pm
DJ Lady Ryan; Oakland Public Library's Bike Library; My Oakland Pop-Up, Inti Batey
Get ready for heart pounding drum beats, love ballads, Indie voices, and dance! In honor of el Día de los Muertos, join us in the OMCA Garden for a musical performance titled “La Muerte Vive” by Inti Batey (The Sun-Gathering), a collective of “artivists” from different latitudes of the Latin American diaspora, who create unique experiences with Latinx, Afro-Latin, and Indigenous-inspired musical roots, poetry, and dance creations.
“La Muerte Vive” is an energetic and heart opening musical experience that commemorates Day of the Dead by honoring our beloved ones who have passed, celebrating their legacies, and reactivating our powers through healing modalities, creating a space for community joy and reflection.
Prepare for election season with My Oakland, a community advocacy and voter registration pop-up event, in the OMCA Garden hosted by the Oakland Lowdown and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Learn critical ballot information for the upcoming November election and engage in conversations about what’s important to Oaklanders.
Enjoy music in the Amphitheater by DJ Lady Ryan from 6 to 8 pm. Make sure to stop by Oakland Public Library's Bike Library to grab a free book, sign up for a library card, and find out about upcoming library events.
