Donn K. Harris, Executive and Artistic Director
OSA's mission is to create a learning environment that fosters excellence in the arts and education. OSA's goal is that all students graduate with a range of options to continue their academic and artistic pursuits in the nation's top universities and conservatory arts.
Admission to the Oakland School for the Arts is by audition. Currently, there are seven arts emphases: Arts Management, Dance, Instrumental Music, Literary Arts, Theatre, Vocal Music and Visual Arts. The curriculum integrates arts into all areas of the academic program in order to enable students to develop sufficient skills to pursue post-secondary education. Small classes allow for individual attention and personal training. The academic program includes English, Mathematics, Science, Social Science and Romance Languages (French and Spanish). OSA offers additional support programs such as Saturday School and Peer Tutoring. All juniors have an opportunity to attend an SAT Preparatory class, and all seniors participate in college preparatory programs as part of their academic OSA's curriculum meets the entrance requirements for the University of California.
OSA's students are here by choice and like what they are doing. The attendance rate is 94%, among the highest in the City of Oakland. The first graduating class, the class of 2006, graduated with 100% of the class accepted to four year institutions of higher learning, both academic and artistic, including: Le Cordon Bleu California Culinary Academy, Columbia University, University of Michigan, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, Wesleyan University, Mount Holyoke College, The Theatre School at Depaul University, Barnard College, Howard University, Berklee College of Music, Pratt Institute, California College of the Arts, Boston Conservatory, Fordham University, Texas A&M, Fresno State University, San Francisco State University, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UC Santa Cruz, UC San Diego, Texas Southern University, and many others.
OSA was chartered by the Oakland Unified School District in May 2000 (renewed in 2005, for another 5 years) and opened its doors in September 2002 at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts on Alice Street. During the 2004-2005 school year, OSA was moved to portables on San Pablo Avenue, behind the Fox Oakland Theatre. On January 6, 2009, OSA students began attending school in OSA's new permanent home at the Fox Oakland Theater. OSA is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Core Values of the Executive Director:
- Students achieve best in an environment that is carefully balanced between high expectations and caring, well-designed support.
- Schools function best when faculty, staff and administrators are creative, flexible and innovative in all areas of their work.
- The arts and other creative endeavors stimulate critical thinking, natural curiosity about the world, and their study results in greater success in all areas of school and life.
- Collaboration among everyone in the school environment is essential to the success of the institution.
- Families play a central role in student success and the creation of a school culture that is both rigorous and filled with joy and excitement.
- There is a creative solution to every problem and challenge, and by working together these solutions can and will be found.