Category: Community News

CREATE & PROTEST

Saturday, April 25th 12:00 – 3:00 PM

Join us for Create & Protest, a FREE hands-on workshop where art meets activism. This all-ages gathering is a chance to raise your voice, stand up for immigrant rights and free speech, and connect with others through the power of art.

We’re protesting mass deportations and standing in solidarity with immigrant communities—and we’re doing it with bold visuals, loud messages, and collective energy.

WHAT’S HAPPENING:

  • Live printmaking with a professional artist! Bring your own T-shirts or tote bags, or make a poster—we’ll have paper and ink ready to go.
  • DIY protest station and zine making with all the materials you need: poster board, cardboard, paint, markers, and more.
  • Community connection: Meet others, share your story, amplify your message.

Whether you come with a message in mind or just want to create in solidarity, everyone is welcome. Youth are especially welcome to join to create posters for May Day!

Date: Saturday, April 26th

Time: 12pm – 3pm

Location: 558 Bellevue Ave. Oakland, CA (Lake Merritt)

Cost: Free!

Open to all ages – families, teens, and first-time protesters encouraged.

About Saturdays at the Lab

Saturdays at the Lab is a unique series of weekend art workshops connecting professional artists with our local community. Designed to foster creativity and collaboration, these hands-on sessions welcome participants of all skill levels to explore new techniques, exchange ideas, and experience the transformative power of art.

See our other Saturdays at the Lab workshops

ACCESSIBILITY & INCLUSION

We’re committed to making all programs at the Junior Center of Art and Science accessible and inclusive. Our spaces are wheelchair-friendly, and we welcome learners of all abilities and learning styles. If you or your child need accommodations, please let us know—we’re happy to help! Read our Accessibility Statement here.


If you have any accommodation needs or concerns, reach out directly at contact@eastbaycreativelab.org

The Junior Center of Art and Science (JCAS) is a 501c nonprofit dedicated to cultivating curiosity and creative exploration through the arts and sciences. By blending creativity with experiential learning, we inspire big ideas and illuminate the everyday connections between art and science.

Your participation in these events not only nurtures your own creative potential but also supports our mission to provide equitable access to art and science programs for youth and families across Oakland and the greater East Bay Area. Learn more about us.

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Book your RENTAL
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STEAM FAIR – A Free Family Day

Saturday, April 11th 11 AM – 2 PM
A Hands-On Family Celebration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math 🔬⚙️🎨

Join us for a day of curiosity, creativity, and discovery at the Junior Center of Art and Science / East Bay Creative Lab! This hands-on community event invites children ages 5–13 and their families to explore the exciting intersections of science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) through playful experimentation and creative problem-solving.

Throughout the day, families can roam between interactive stations led by local scientists, naturalists, artists, and makers, each offering a chance to tinker, test, build, and create.

Whether your child loves messy experiments, inventive building challenges, or artistic exploration, there will be something to spark every imagination.

Hands-On STEAM Stations

Young innovators can explore a variety of engaging activities, including:

  • Slime Chemistry Lab – Mix, measure, and experiment with the science of polymers.
  • Light-Up Circuits – Learn the basics of electricity by creating glowing creations.
  • Strawberry DNA Extraction – Discover the building blocks of life by isolating real DNA.
  • Robotics Challenges – Test problem-solving skills with hands-on robotics activities.
  • Cyanotype Sun Prints – Use sunlight and natural materials to create beautiful blueprints.
  • Water Filtration Engineering – Design and build your own water purification system.
  • More surprise stations led by local STEAM experts!

Each station invites kids to experiment, ask questions, and learn by doing.

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STEAM Passport Adventure

When you arrive, each child will receive a STEAM Passport.

Visit stations, collect stamps, and complete your passport to earn a small prize at the end of your adventure!

Who Should Attend

This event is perfect for:

  • Curious kids ages 5–13
  • Families looking for hands-on learning experiences
  • Young creators, scientists, engineers, and artists
  • Anyone who loves making, experimenting, and discovering

No prior experience required—just bring your curiosity!

Event Details

Location: Junior Center of Art and Science / East Bay Creative Lab
558 Bellevue Ave. Oakland, CA
Ages: 5–13 (families welcome)
Cost: Free
Format: Drop-in, explore at your own pace

Come Invent the Future With Us

At Junior Center, we believe that curiosity, creativity, and experimentation help young people imagine new possibilities for our world. Join us for a joyful day of learning, making, and community.

Bring the whole family and get ready to explore STEAM together!

Book your RENTAL
Book your RENTAL
RSVP today
ACCESSIBILITY & INCLUSION

We’re committed to making all programs at the Junior Center of Art and Science accessible and inclusive. Our spaces are wheelchair-friendly, and we welcome learners of all abilities and learning styles. If you or your child need accommodations, please let us know—we’re happy to help! Read our Accessibility Statement here.


You can indicate any accommodation needs or concerns when registering your child under the “Special Instructions about my child” section. You can also reach out directly at contact@juniorcenter.org

Karma Cinema at The New Parkway

Karma Cinema (IG 4 5)

We are very excited to be chosen as The New Parkway Theater’s Karma Cinema partner for the month of January!

Every Wednesday in January, 20% of all movie ticket sales at the The New Parkway Theater (474 24th St, Oakland) will be donated to the Junior Center of Art and Science! Folks can chose the amount they would like to pay and 20% goes directly to supporting our mission. This is great opportunity to not only support our cause, but support this awesome, local, indie theater!

The New Parkway Theater is a community-centered cinema and pub located in Oakland’s Uptown district. Patrons can sit back and relax on cozy couches while watching new releases, cult classics, and fabulous special programming. Plus, enjoy yummy food and local beer and wine at the café or delivered right to your theater seat, all at affordable prices!

Visit www.thenewparkway.com for movie times and advance tickets!

Why Creative Learning Works: A Parent’s Testimony from Junior Center

Dean's Story Banner (1902 x 800 px)

“My son connects with the classes and teaching artists at Junior Center in a way that he doesn’t connect with any other activity or teacher in his life.” – Leah, Dean’s mom.

Maybe you can relate to Leah as a mom, or to her son Dean, and their not-so-positive experiences with traditional learning. Maybe you feel like your kid’s special spark never gets lit up by school or other after-school programs. 

This is why the Junior Center of Art and Science plays such an important and magical role in our students’ lives. We strive to ignite a unique spark in every one of our students. We need your donation support to do it.

Inclusivity is fundamental to our mission and a promise we keep by offering all our classes and camps at low or no cost. And every teaching artist at Junior Center is 100% committed to meeting each student where they are. Our fundamental mission is to make the exploration of the arts and science accessible for all. 

Leah’s son Dean has been coming to the Junior Center for after-school classes and summer camps for the past three years, since he was six years old. His positive experiences at Junior Center have meant the world to Dean, and to his whole family. Leah explained why:

Dean struggles with connection and focus. As his mom, I was getting nonstop negative feedback from his school about how distracted and disengaged he was.

He became a different kid at the Junior Center. His first experience was carpentry, and at six years old it was thrilling for him to build things with his own two hands using a hand saw. 

At the end of camp, the teaching artist came to tell me, “Dean was so engaged the whole time, it was so fun to work with him!” Wow. That was a profound moment for us. Dean’s gifts were finally being inspired and appreciated by a teacher. It was so awesome; I teared up.

Children of all ages and abilities are welcome at Junior Center, regardless of their learning style or family’s capacity to pay.

Will you make a gift today to keep Junior Center camps and classes accessible to all East Bay families?

The majority – 71% – of our students’ families receive some kind of financial assistance from the Junior Center. Donation support from community members like you make that generosity and accessibility possible, and we can’t do it without you.

Book your RENTAL
Book your RENTAL
Support our work

Winter Break Camp 2025

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Looking for a fun and enriching way for your young creative to spend the day while you finish your holiday preparations? Join us on Monday and Tuesday, December 22 & 23 for our Winter Camp!

Our 2 day camp is packed with hands-on activities that celebrate the season. Campers will explore printmaking, digital illustration, and crafts, creating festive projects like luminaries, sculptures, and holiday cards to take home.

Monday and Tuesday, Dec 22 & 23 9am – 3pm
$180 – $260 sliding scale
Scholarships available! See below

Campers will be split off into two age groups. Read the descriptions below to learn about each group’s focus. Please note, registration is for a 2 day camp, there are no 1-day sign ups.

REGISTER TODAY
REGISTER TODAY
REGISTER TODAY

LUMINARY WONDERLAND

Ages 6-8

Explore the natural and illuminated wonders of Oakland’s historic Lake Merritt! Campers will become Winter Light Keepers as they discover the migrating birds of this vital wildlife refuge, create art inspired by the lake’s famous “Necklace of Lights,” and craft nature-inspired holiday keepsakes that celebrate light. This camp is a perfect blend of Bay Area ecology, hands-on visual arts, and festive cheer!

FESTIVE DIGITAL ART

Ages 9-11

This camp is the perfect blend of tech digital design and hands-on festive crafting. We’re turning imagination into beautiful, personalized gifts and greeting cards just in time for the winter season.

Using iPads and the ProCreate drawing tool, you will learn the foundational skills of digital art: layers, brushes, and color palette. Whether it’s a sparkling snowflake pattern or a whimsical winter creature, your creation will be a one-of-a-kind digital illustration. We’ll dive into the world of both digital and multimedia artwork to bring your designs to life! You’ll learn to transfer your artwork onto materials to create custom cards, unique gifts, ornaments, and other holiday art. We’ll use traditional art supplies like paint, collage, and—of course—plenty of glitter!

SLIDING SCALE PRICING

All JCAS classes are made available to families on a sliding scale. Families choose the amount they are able to pay, considering the top end of our scale is how much it costs us to run the class. We encourage families to help support our efforts to make programs available to those in need.

If the sliding scale prices are still out of your family’s budget, we do offer scholarships. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Please give us 7 business days to process applications. All scholarship requests must be made by Friday, December 15th.

APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIP
APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIP
APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIP
PAY IT FORWARD PROGRAM

JCAS is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to offering equitable access to arts and science education. We serve more than 1,500 students every year and most of our students – more than 70% – receive financial assistance.

You can now support our mission directly using our Pay It Forward Program. When registering your student for a class, you’ll have the opportunity to Pay It Forward and contribute to our Scholarship Fund. Your donation ensures that students from all backgrounds can experience the joy and enrichment of our classes and camps—at little to no cost to them.

Learn more
Learn more
Learn more

REFUND POLICY


OUR REFUND POLICY HAS CHANGED.

ACTIVE now offers self-cancelations! If you need to cancel your registration for any reason, log in to your ACTIVE account, locate the registration you wish to cancel, and select ‘cancel’.

​

Our Refund Policy is as follows:

All purchases include a 10% non-refundable deposit to cover administrative costs.

From 11/07 – 12/07, you will receive a 90% refund.

From 12/08 – 12/19, you will receive a 40% refund.

From 12/20 on, we are not able to offer any refunds.

OUSD Winter Artist Market 2025

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Winter Artist Market Press Kit 2025 1 Letter Sized Flyer Large
Friday, December 5th 2025
11am – 2pm

Oakland Unified School District Visual and Performing Arts and the Junior Center for Art and Science are proud to present the fourth annual OUSD Winter Artist Market! Featuring student work from Oakland’s Arts, Entertainment, and Design high school and middle school pathways. Youth will be selling their unique and affordable gifts at this one-day artist market. Ceramics, soft sculpture, printmaking, greeting cards, original artworks, and so much more!

Deeply connected to the learning in their arts classes, this year, students will design their artist market collection around the guiding question, “How can I create art and design that centers my creative voice but is also marketable and a source of income?” For many students, this will be their first time marketing and selling their artwork. Please support and share this information widely! 

OUSD offers six high school Linked Learning Pathways that provide college and career preparatory experiences in the media arts, studio arts, and design fields. At the middle school level, OUSD offers visual and performing arts programs that center on creative joy and student voice.

Name our Bearded Dragon Contest!

Name our Bearded Dragon Contest 2025 IG
Name our Bearded Dragon Contest 2025 Flyer

We have a new animal friend—a bearded dragon! Stop by to meet her and help us choose her name.

Saturdays, Sept 6 – Oct 4 10am – 4pm

This will also kick off a standing lunch with our reptiles. Stop by at noon for a live feeding!

The winning name will be displayed on a special plaque next to her enclosure, and the winner will also receive a special STEAM prize! 

ACCESSIBILITY & INCLUSION

We’re committed to making all programs at the Junior Center of Art and Science accessible and inclusive. Our spaces are wheelchair-friendly, and we welcome learners of all abilities and learning styles. If you or your child need accommodations, please let us know—we’re happy to help! Read our Accessibility Statement here.


If you have any accommodation needs or concerns, reach out directly at contact@juniorenter.org

Celebrate Creek to Bay Day 2025 with us!

Creek to Bay Day 2025
Creek to Bay Day 2025

We are happy to announce that the Junior Center of Art and Science will be participating in Creek to Bay Day this year!

Creek to Bay Day ​​is a day of watershed cleanups, education, and commitment to practices to keep our city and water clean, from creek, to bay, and beyond! Be part of a citywide day of action as we roll up our sleeves to clean and green Oakland’s creeks, shorelines, parks, and neighborhoods.

We’ll gather at 10:00 AM on Saturday, Sept 20th at our center (558 Bellevue Ave.). We’ll work alongside our neighbors at the Rotary Nature Center to restore our shared outdoor spaces and Lake Merritt’s shoreline. Projects include trash removal, habitat restoration, and beautification.

The 30th annual Oakland Creek to Bay Day is part of California and International Coastal Cleanup Day. By participating, you’ll not only make a positive impact on our community but also help protect our creeks, bay, ocean, and beaches.

Please RSVP so we can plan accordingly.

Contact us
Contact us
RSVP
ACCESSIBILITY & INCLUSION

We’re committed to making all programs at the Junior Center of Art and Science accessible and inclusive. Our spaces are wheelchair-friendly, and we welcome learners of all abilities and learning styles. If you or your child need accommodations, please let us know—we’re happy to help! Read our Accessibility Statement here.


If you have any accommodation needs or concerns, reach out directly at contact@juniorenter.org

Collaboration with UC Berkeley Research Lab

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berkeley SOL

We are so excited for another fantastic year of Summer Camp. This year we have been approached by the UC Berkeley Social Origins Lab to be a partner in their research.

About the Social Origins Lab (SOL) 

The Social Origins Lab is a developmental psychology lab at UC Berkeley led by Professor Jan Engelmann. They study how children think, learn, and grow in comparison to our closest living relatives, chimpanzees! To answer these big questions, they bring research games to schools, camps, museums and programs, all across the bay area. You may have seen them at the Lawrence Hall of Science, the Oakland Zoo, or even at your school. The research games are designed to be fun, engaging, and age-appropriate for kids of many ages; younger students may be read stories and asked questions about the different characters, while older kids may be tasked with cooperative memory games alongside a friend. In our partnership, Berkeley SOL will be working with kids aged 6-12.

Why it’s important

We are excited by this project and partnership with SOL. By studying how we develop emotionally, socially, and cognitively, this research improves lives at every stage and helps shape smarter policies and better support systems for everyone. We are also dedicated to forging a continued partnership with SOL in a way that is intentional and helpful for our community. There will be workshops and presentations on their work with developmental psychology and chimpanzees. We will also make sure that findings on the research conducted this summer will be equitably accessible. If you have any thoughts on how you would like to see this partnership unfold, please feel free to contact us at contact@juniorcenter.org

Celebrate your birthday with us!

Book your next birthday party with Junior Center!

Ideal for ages 5 – 12, our Teaching Artists lead each party through an age-appropriate project which will leave your child and their friends feeling inspired and confident in their creative abilities. 

Our 2 hour birthday party packages come complete with everything you need for your young creative’s special day:

60 minute Art or Science Activity with a professional JCAS Teaching Artist 
60 minutes for cake & gifts
Dedicated party room for all the fun
All the necessary materials for each participant to create a keepsake to take home day of

Learn more about our Birthday Party Packages.

HOW TO BOOK YOUR PARTY

  1. Review our Birthday Party FAQ.
  2. Choose a Date & Time. Birthday parties are available on Saturdays at two time slots; 10am -12pm or 1pm-3pm
  3. Choose a Theme.
  4. Complete the form below with your decisions and leave the rest to us!
Book your party
Book your party
Book your party

Please make all birthday party requests at least a month in advance. Regrettably, we cannot accept any requests with less than 3 weeks notice.

Some customization can be accommodated, reach out to Program Director Elisa Oceguera at eoceguera@eastbaycreativelab.org for more information.