Founded in 2011 by a group of acclaimed artists–including legendary percussionist Sheila E. and Yoshi’s Jazz Club founder Yoshie Akiba–and creative professionals with a shared vision of providing inspiration and mentorship to Oakland’s youth, we operate with the goal of bolstering students’ engagement in school while fostering creative self-expression and improving all-around student mental health. We believe in the transformative power that opportunities in music and the arts can have on developing youth, especially those living low-income or high-trauma communities and contexts. Across our programs, our primary focus is not on creating professional musicians, but instead on utilizing music and the arts as a conduit to get students excited about learning and invested in their education. Elevate Oakland supports students by using this excitement to get kids to school, engage them in learning, and support the development of skills that will help them succeed both within and outside of the classroom.

Our foundational Artists in Residence (AiR) program embeds renowned artists from within the Bay Area community into Oakland public school classrooms, providing mentorship and learning opportunities for students and teachers alike throughout the school year. This program is built on a long-term (typically semester or year-long) partnership between school educators and one or more teaching artists who help develop and support the school’s music or arts curriculum throughout the school year. Our AiR programs typically culminate in a variety of performance opportunities for students throughout the year at different public venues, including Yoshi’s Jazz Club, the Oakland Museum of California and a variety of community-led festivals and events.

In addition to our Artists in Residence program, we also host immersive workshops, masterclasses, demos and speaker series that are offered to student groups in partnership with artists, arts professionals and community educators.