Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) is a nonprofit public charter school founded by Governor Jerry Brown – then Oakland’s Mayor – in 2002. Now in its 20th year, OSA serves over 800 students in grades 6-12 tuition-free. OSA is housed in Uptown Oakland’s historic Fox Theater and Newberry Building. 

OSA is a Linked Learning Pathway School offering an immersive arts program and a strong academic curriculum. We serve youth from across the Bay Area with a preference for Oakland-based students. OSA students complete a challenging academic curriculum with an emphasis in one of ten artistic fields: Audio Production and Engineering, Dance, Digital Media, Fashion Design, Instrumental Music, Literary Arts, Production Design, Theatre, Visual Arts and Vocal Music.

Mission Statement

Non-Discrimination Statement

OSA's Land Acknowledgement Statement

Student to Teacher Ratio:
Grades 6-8:  20 to 1 academic faculty & 12 to 1 arts faculty
Grades 9-12: 25 to 1 academic faculty & 15 to 1 arts faculty

2023-24 School Year Demographics:
38% Caucasian; 22% Multi-Ethnic; 23% African American; 6% Asian; 11% Hispanic/Latino; 52% of 6th graders attended Title I elementary schools, 72% of our students reside in Oakland.

Faculty & Arts Chairs:
The faculty is comprised of state-credentialed academic teachers. Our arts teachers have, or are in the process of obtaining, the Career Technical Education (CTE) Preliminary Credential in the industry sectors of Arts, Media, and Entertainment and Fashion Design and Merchandising.

Results:
In 2017, OSA students taking AP exams scored with a higher pass rate (74%) than both the California average (63.7%) and the national average (61.3%). On average, 25% of our students received a 5 (top score) on AP exams compared to the 15% California average.

OSA has a 98% graduation rate with students gaining admission to 2 and/or 4-year universities including: Carnegie Mellon University, Spelman College, Columbia University, Tufts University, Wesleyan College, Middlebury College, Amherst College, New York University, Scripps College, University of California at Berkeley, The Ailey School, Barnard College, DePaul University School of Theatre, Pratt Institute, Marymount Manhattan’s BFA Acting Program, Berklee College of Music, Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing, The New School (Parsons and Eugene Lang), Sarah Lawrence, California College of Art, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, UCLA, Rhode Island School of Design, California Institute of Arts and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance.

Community Partnerships:
We strive to create extraordinary student opportunities, including internships, gallery and museum exhibitions, and high-visibility performances at notable venues like the Fox Theater, Freight and Salvage, and Yoshi’s. Existing community partners include: Oakland Leaf, Savage Jazz Dance Company, The Arts Schools Network, Camp Reel Stories, Left Coast Ensemble, Youth Speaks, Oaktown Jazz, Oakland Youth Orchestra, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland Public Libraries, Cal Performances, and African American Shakespeare Theater.