About OSA Opening its doors in 2002 with only 97 students and 9 faculty members, Oakland School for the Arts is guided by the ambitious vision of founder Jerry Brown, former Oakland Mayor and three-term California Governor: to provide an exceptional, tuition-free arts education program in the heart of Oakland. OSA’s tradition of excellence endures, with 2021 awards including the California Exemplary Arts Education Award and California Distinguished Blue Ribbon School Award. For two decades, the school has been anchored in the belief that an immersive arts education should be free and accessible to all students. Now in its 20th year, with nearly 800 students and 74 faculty members, the school remains rooted in diversity and inclusion, with the goal of ensuring that a stellar arts education is open to all in Oakland’s artistic and cultural core. The faculty at OSA is an exemplary group of educators, with a commitment to creativity and academic excellence. OSA arts faculty members are all professional, practicing artists that are deeply engaged in their respective artistic communities, which opens a world of opportunities for students to engage in community change and impact. Because OSA’s dedicated faculty go the extra mile to support each student in reaching their full artistic and academic potential, our students graduate from OSA prepared to take on life’s challenges. OSA invests in students’ career and college readiness through career pathway programming and rigorous instruction.These efforts continue to yield impressive results, demonstrated by the list of acceptances to prestigious institutions earned by the Senior Class of 2022. These colleges and universities include the San Francisco Conservatory, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Fordham University, University of the Arts London, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Stanford University, Princeton University, Oberlin Conservatory, and Berklee College of Music.
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