The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) kicked off their first Friday Night of the summer on July 10 in a multicultural celebration of art and togetherness.
Friday Nights at OMCA with Off the Grid, a weekly live event series running from April to October, invites people to kick off the weekend with music, food, and art. More than 2,400 people attended from 5 to 9 p.m. on July 10, according to OMCA experience and programming manager Triana Patel, well above the typical crowd of about 1,800 visitors.
While the lineup of vendors and performers changes weekly, every Friday Night is structured around a few recurring attractions: live music in the garden, dance lessons in the courtyard, gallery chats inside the museum, a DJ set in the amphitheatre, and a variety of Off the Grid food trucks. All of these interactive activities, Patel said, combine to create the “weekly block party” vibe that keeps visitors coming back.
“We really want to curate a layered experience on Friday nights, so we set up a lot of ways to engage with the museum and our galleries,” Patel said.
Aside from food purchases and an optional $25 gallery fee, Friday Nights are free to keep the museum safe and accessible, Patel said.
“You don’t necessarily need to know that we’re a multidisciplinary museum, or that we have a new exhibition on view,” Patel said. “All that’s important is this is a place for everyone.”
“Bringing people together and making it beautiful.”
The simplicity of this appeal is perhaps why Friday Nights have such a cross-generational appeal. Hattie Belusa, 5, and her mom Elise, for example, both enjoy coming every week, but for different reasons.
“We have treats on Fridays and Mondays, so my mom said we could come here,” Hattie said. “Because treats are supposed to be special.”
Elise added, “I want my kids to love the place they live.” She continued, “I want to show them that Oakland is a deeply special place, and I really love that the museum here has committed to the community and bringing people together and making it beautiful.”
But while Hattie enjoyed the treats, she found the garden a little loud.
“I don’t like hearing music from other people,” Hattie said. While other children danced and twirled in front of the Garden Stage speakers, she covered her ears.
Rosy Torres, on the other hand, couldn’t love the noise more. She and her children came to OMCA specifically to watch MXKA, a genre-bending Blaxican singer whose music fuses R&B and corridos, a regional Mexican ballad genre.
“My son is Black and Mexican, so I wanted him to see an artist of his culture and what those mixed together could look like and sound like,” Torres said.
Many eventgoers cited this multicultural nature of Friday Nights as one of the event’s main draws. Vendors also said the event’s diversity keeps them coming back to OMCA.
“Every week, it seems like they’re showcasing a new culture, whether it be through music or dance or food,” said Khaled Ramadan, owner of the falafel and shawarma food truck Sunrise Deli. “A lot of the stuff that we read and see on the news may not accurately reflect the community here in Oakland. So it’s always a blessing for the museum to put these kinds of events on and for us to be a part of representing what Oakland actually is.”
“A really good community vibe.”
Patel said that this summer, Oaklanders can look forward to more high-energy Friday Nights like this. But even though the performers and vendors will change week to week, the sense of connectivity that visitors like Serena Mata have come to love will not.
“This is a whole vibe, being able to sit on the grass and enjoy the sunshine,” Mata said. “It’s a really good community vibe.”
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