Now that the nights are getting longer and warmer, the Oakland Museum of California is introducing a new event: a monthly Summer Nights series that launched on Friday. Summer Nights events offer extended evening hours, half-price admission to all exhibits and galleries, as well as food and drink specials and special events such as book signings or screen printing demonstrations.
Oaksterdam University supporters celebrated 4/20—the calendar date that matches a code word often associated with pot smoking—with a march in Oakland protesting the recent federal raid of Oaksterdam’s facilities and demanding the federal legalization of medical marijuana. At 11 am, supporters gathered at the Federal Building on Clay Street in downtown Oakland. Starting off as a rather small gathering of some 30 medical marijuana activists and patients—many in wheelchairs—the group grew to around 200 people by midday. The protesters waved…
After a federal raid in early April on Oaksterdam University, an education center located in downtown Oakland that trains students to work in the marijuana industry, founder Richard Lee has decided to step down as head of the institution. His successor will be former executive chancellor Dale Sky Jones, which will officially be announced on Wednesday morning.
Festival director David Roche’s long term goal for the future is to make Oakland a safer city. By attracting a larger audience he hopes to also promote more volunteerism in Oakland. “There are a lot of neglected areas in Oakland that need support,” Roche says, “and the films create more awareness of that. Arts can play a huge part in changing the image of a city.”
Occupy Oakland protesters marked Occupy’s six-month anniversary on Saturday by hosting the first of what organizers intend to be a series of weekly neighborhood barbeques.