OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA ANNOUNCES MAY/JUNE FAMILY PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

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1 CONTACT: Claudia Leung CALENDAR EDITOR PLEASE LIST: FAMILY EVENTS, COMMUNITY EVENTS OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA ANNOUNCES MAY/JUNE FAMILY PROGRAMS AND EVENTS Reopening of Gallery of California Natural Sciences includes family-friendly drop-in activities during Friday OMCA and return of Gold Panning (OAKLAND, CA) April 3, 2013 The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) begins a Summer of Science in May and June with fun family activities inspired by the reopening of the Gallery of California Natural Sciences on May 31. With the popular annual Gold Panning returning to the Museum on Sundays in May, and the continuation of the weekly Friday OMCA with Off the Grid food trucks, family-friendly hands-on activities, live music, late Gallery hours, and half-off admission for adults and free admission for ages 18 and under, there s something to enjoy every week! OMCA always offers great deals on admission for families, with regular admission for youth ages 9 to 17 at $6; children 8 and under visit for free! For more information about OMCA s programs, events, and exhibitions, visit museumca.org or call FAMILY EVENTS Friday OMCA Fridays in May, 5 9 pm Join OMCA and Off the Grid on 10 th Street every Friday for a family-friendly take on a festive night market. In May, enjoy folk and acoustic-themed live music, free dance lessons, extended hours for the OMCA Store and Blue Oak café, and the final month of Customizer-in-Residence open studios. The popular family-friendly drop-in activity is back with something fun to try every week! Adults enjoy half-off gallery admission, and ages 18 and under are free! Bring the whole family to OMCA for great Bay Area curbside cuisine! Friday OMCA family-friendly drop-in activities in May: May 3, 5 8 pm: Nature button-making inspired by the Gallery of California Natural Sciences. May 10, 5 8 pm: Cat face painting inspired by the Oakland Internet Cat Video Festival. May 17, 5 8 pm: Nature button-making inspired by the Gallery of California Natural Sciences. May 24, 5 8 pm: Nature button-making inspired by the Gallery of California Natural Sciences. May 31, 5 8 pm: Gallery of California Natural Sciences reopens; Gold Panning in the gardens.

2 Customizer-in-Residence Open Studio Series Fridays Sundays, May 3 May 26 Fridays, 5 8 pm Saturdays & Sundays, 1 4 pm Catch Bay Area hackers, makers, and DIYers in action as part of the we/customize Customizerin-Residence series. Watch the processes of expert customizers and participate in transforming objects with clothing mash-ups, toy hacking, music remixing, and more! Customize something different every week, then see your finished work featured on Flickr and wecustomize.org! Free First Sunday Sunday, May 5, 2013, 11 am 5 pm OMCA is free all day the first Sunday of every month. Enjoy the Galleries of California Art and History and explore we/customize, Beth Yarnelle Edwards: Suburban Dreams, and Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu. Join the Customizer-in-Residence in an open studio workshop from 1 to 4 in the we/customize exhibition. Experience life as a Forty-Niner while panning for gold in the OMCA gardens. Grab lunch or a snack at Blue Oak café. OMCA Family: Gold Panning Sunday, May 5, 2013, 12 4 pm (During Free First Sunday!) Sunday, May 12, 2013, 12 4 pm Sunday, May 19, 2013, 12 4 pm Sunday, May 26, 2013, 12 4 pm Friday, May 31, 2013, 5 8 pm (During Friday OMCA!) Saturday, June 1, 2013, 12 3 pm Sunday, June 2, 2013, 12 3 pm (During Free First Sunday!) Gold fever returns to OMCA! Discover what life was like in the California Gold Rush days. Come and try your hand at panning for real gold, Forty-Niner style, in the Museum gardens. Learn how to tell the difference between real gold and fool s gold, and keep all you find! Friday OMCA: Natural Sciences Reopening! Friday, May 31, 5 pm midnight! Experience Friday OMCA like never before, with a celebration kicking off the reopening weekend of the Gallery of California Natural Sciences. Galleries are open til midnight, and the Gallery of California Natural Sciences reopens to the public with a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony at 7 pm. Enjoy a dozen food trucks from Off the Grid, with more food and drink to savor throughout the Museum and gardens. Families can try their hand at the panning for gold in the gardens, and take in live music, festive performers, and more! Adults enjoy half-off gallery admission, and ages 18 and under are free! Bring the whole family to the Museum for this festive event and see all that OMCA has to offer! Grand Reopening Weekend: Gallery of California Natural Sciences Reopening Ceremony: Friday, May 31, 7 pm Friday OMCA: Friday, May 31, 7pm Midnight

3 Public Viewing Hours: Saturday, June 1, 11 am 5 pm Free First Sundays: Sunday, June 2, 11 am 5 pm Come celebrate the reopening of the Gallery of California Natural Sciences with a weekend of events and opening celebrations! Starting with a reopening ceremony and ribbon cutting during Friday OMCA and culminating in Free First Sunday, there s a way for everyone to come and experience the Museum, fully open for the first time since Meet the staff that has led the Gallery of California Natural Sciences transformation. Explore activities that investigate urban wildlife. Learn about people in the East Bay who are engaged in community science projects. Hang out in the lounges and exchange ideas about protecting California s threatened landscape. Participate in special activities influenced by the more than twenty partner organizations that helped shape the new Gallery. Take the family to pan for gold in the Museum gardens! Check back at museumca.org for a full schedule of opening week events. we/customize Closing Weekend Saturday, June 1 Sunday, June 2, 2013 OMCA celebrates the run of this experimental, participatory exhibition with a weekend of customization activity throughout the Museum. Join the Oakland Rover, exhibition curators, and returning guest Customizers for a weekend showcasing the best hacks, modifications, and remixes. All day Saturday, enjoy a music showcase in Oak Street Plaza with customizers from the exhibition playing custom-instruments, re-mixed songs, and sampled sounds. On Sunday, check out an array of fun and funky customized vehicles on Oak Street. Check online for program updates on the closing weekend activities at museumca.org and wecustomize.org! Free First Sunday Sunday, June 2, 2013, 11 am 5 pm OMCA is free all day the first Sunday of every month. Experience the entire Museum for the first time since undergoing its transformation by exploring the newly reopened Gallery of California Natural Sciences, as well as the Galleries of California Art and California History. Celebrate the closing of the participatory, experimental exhibition we/customize with the final Customizer-in- Residence in the open studio from 1 to 4. Check out the major retrospective exhibition Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu. Join the Architecture Tour at 1 pm or tour the Gallery of California Art at 2 pm. Grab lunch or a snack at Blue Oak café. Friday OMCA Fridays in June, 5 9 pm Join OMCA and Off the Grid on 10 th Street every Friday for a family-friendly take on a festive night market. In June, enjoy live music with a focus on local bands and emerging musicians, free dance lessons, extended hours for the OMCA Store and Blue Oak café. The popular family-friendly drop-in activity features Gallery of California Natural Sciences-inspired plant leaf tracing 5 to 8 pm! Museum lovers of all ages can join in the new OMCA Pub Trivia series with Senior Curator of Natural Sciences Douglas Long. Adults enjoy half-off gallery admission, and ages 18 and under are free! Bring the whole family to OMCA for great Bay Area curbside cuisine!

4 ABOUT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) brings together collections of art, history and natural science under one roof to tell the extraordinary stories of California and its people. OMCA's groundbreaking exhibits tell the many stories that comprise California with many voices, often drawing on first-person accounts by people who have shaped California's cultural heritage. Visitors are invited to actively participate in the Museum as they learn about the natural, artistic and social forces that affect the state and investigate their own role in both its history and its future. With more than 1.8 million objects, OMCA is a leading cultural institution of the Bay Area and a resource for the research and understanding of California's dynamic cultural and environmental heritage. ABOUT THE GALLERY OF CALIFORNIA NATURAL SCIENCES On May 31 through June 2, 2013, OMCA will open its newly transformed Gallery of California Natural Sciences to the public after more than three years of redesigning and reinstalling its exhibitions and programs with public input and a completely new concept. Visitors to the new exhibits will experience the Golden's State's natural offerings like never before with a fresh focus on California's natural history, the threats it faces and humans' relationships with nature. ABOUT OMCA FAMILY The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is committed to being a welcoming and lively place for Bay Area families to visit, learn, and engage through OMCA Family, with artist-led activities, storytelling in the galleries, and frequent hands-on, drop-in projects throughout the Museum. OMCA s other family-friendly offerings include a free Family Gallery Guide and interactive Gallery Hunt cards available at the ticketing desks, docent-led family gallery tours, and large annual festivals such as Lunar New Year in February, the August summer reading event in conjunction with the Oakland Public Library, and the Days of the Dead celebration in October. OMCA Family is made possible in part by generous support from Chevron and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Free admission for children provided by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Free First Sundays are made possible in part by Wells Fargo. Friday OMCA is presented in partnership with Off the Grid: Lake OMCA. Media sponsorship is provided by East Bay Express. Made possible in part through the generous support of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund. VISITOR INFORMATION The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is at 1000 Oak Street, at 10th Street, in Oakland. OMCA is situated between downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt. Museum admission is $12 general; $9 seniors and students with valid ID, $6 youth ages 9 to 17, and free for Members and children 8 and under. During Friday OMCA, admission after 5 pm is half-off for adults, and free for ages 18 and under. OMCA offers onsite underground parking and is conveniently located one block from the Lake Merritt BART station, on the corner of 10th Street and Oak Street. The accessibility ramp is located at the new 1000 Oak Street main entrance. For more information, visit museumca.org.

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