Occidental Center for the Arts

09/05/2026

Bring your instrument down to OCA for our Bluegrass Jam Session!

Led by multi-instrumentalist David Pascoe, our monthly jam session is held on the first Tuesday of each month. We’ll meet in the OCA studio and take turns leading/choosing songs. Guaranteed to be a great time for all! $5 donation requested of participants. BYOB.

See you at the jam!

09/05/2026

Drawing and Painting Classes for All Adults

OCA is offering ongoing art classes on Friday mornings. Making art together is a great way to keep learning and to create community in these challenging times.

Cost for Fall Semester: $150 OCA members, $175 nonmembers.

Fall Semester (Oct 2 - Dec 18) includes:

Drawing in Perspective with Linda Kammer and Patrick Fanning (First Fridays),

Watercolor Cityscapes with Patrick Fanning (Second Fridays),

Drawing the Head with John James (Third Fridays), and

Further Acrylic Explorations with Lesley Pickford (Fourth Fridays).

Pick a class series as your primary registration. You can switch after your first class if it is not meeting your needs. Space permitting, you may attend all twelve classes in the semester without additional charge.

Cost per semester is $150 for OCA members, $175 for non-members.

About Our Instructors:

Patrick Fanning has been teaching drawing and watercolor at OCA and elsewhere for years.

Linda Kammer is also an experienced teacher of watercolor with great patience and understanding. From time to time they will bring in guest teachers to cover topics like portraits, acrylics, figure drawing, or abstract painting.

John James has extensive experience in Figure Drawing, handmade book stitching, and other forms of art. He also organizes our OCA Figure Drawing Group that meets on Tuesday mornings and Thursday Evenings.

Lesley Pickford is an experienced painter and teacher in acrylic and oil. Her favorite subjects are figurative and include animals, particularly horses.

09/05/2026

Acorn MusEcology Project is proud to present the Northern California premiere of Alex Berko's Sacred Place, an immersive exploration of ecological spirituality set to the words of Wendell Berry, John Muir, William Stafford, and Rabindranath Tagore.
Acorn's 27-voice ensemble will be joined by violin, cello, and piano to offer up this song cycle of reverential texts within a richly-layered soundscape. Additional original music by co-directors Sarah Dupre and Robin Eschner includes a new setting of poetry by the late Steve Fowler, co-founder of the Sebastopol Peace Garden, soil ecologist, and community builder.
Acorn composer Chris Smith will usher listeners into the alchemical mysteries of human composting. Joni Mitchell, Moira Smiley, and other master songsmiths round out the program.
With Acorn's signature approach to melding rich vocal harmony with the values of deep ecology, this concert will invite reflection on our place and purpose on the Earth, and on the wild intelligence speaking to us from beneath our feet.

"The earth says have a place; be what that place requires; hear the sound the birds imply and see as deep as ridges go behind each other...Listening, I think that’s what the earth says."  – William Stafford.

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

Meets third Thursday of each month, 4-6 PM in the auditorium. Contact Jerri Miller for info.( [email protected])

09/05/2026

Join us for our monthly literary open mic night! Bring an original story to share or come and listen to stories told by your community members.

📚Storytelling

📜Prose

🗣️Recitations

all told in 7 minutes max

Please join us to share your original work. We will randomly select 7 (willing) audience members to read or recite their work. We want YOU!

$10/$5 for OCA members. Pay @ door. Beer/wine/refreshments available.

09/04/2026

Rest & Renew at our Sound Bath!

Tuesday, September 8
Tuesday, October 13
Tuesday, November 10
Tuesday, December 8

Support your nervous system, release anxiety and stress, and harmonize your body, mind and spirit on the 2nd Tuesday of every month! Laura Benson has a Masters in Intuition Medicine(R) and is a certified sound healer who will guide you through a gentle meditation before each sound bath session. Bring your own yoga mat & blanket and come ready to rest and renew! In the OCA Studio.

Sliding scale pricing $25-$35.

A sound bath is a whole-body, immersive listening experience. During a sound bath, participants often sit or lie down, and are surrounded by the mostly non-melodic soundscapes created by a range of instruments played by the sound bath facilitator. Hence, they are “bathed” in sound.

Sound therapy is a non-invasive healing modality that utilizes the physical and physiological interactions of sound on our bodies and nervous systems to produce therapeutic results. In a sound healing session, specific sonic frequencies are used to soothe the central nervous system, calm the breath, and quiet the mind by encouraging the brain to move into more relaxed states, down from beta (fight-or-flight) and into theta and alpha waves. This increases present-moment awareness and reduces stress and anxiety. Sound baths have been found to be effective in improving mood, cognitive function, and overall mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.

Crystal bowl sound baths are particularly powerful in that each bowl is tuned to a specific frequency that corresponds with a different chakra, or energy center, of the body. Based on specific needs, a practitioner can focus on releasing tension or clearing out stuck energy in specific chakras by playing certain bowls or intervals.

While attending a sound bath, you may experience physical sensations brought out by the crystal sound bowls or gong, such as tingling in your limbs or scalp, slowing of your breathing, eye flutters, or small muscle spasms. Not to worry! These sensations often indicate the release of tension or emotional energy stored in the body’s energy systems.

09/04/2026

2nd & 4th Tuesdays, 2-4 pm in the OCA Lobby

Interested in learning, sharing and reading short plays? Readers Theatre is a fun opportunity to express yourself.

Readers Theatre participants read scripts adapted from literature, while the ‘audience’ pictures the action by hearing the script being read aloud. It requires no sets, costumes, props, or memorized lines. Instead of acting literature as in a play, the performer’s goal is to read a script aloud effectively, enabling the audience to visualize the action. Performers bring the text alive by using voice, facial expressions, and some gestures. $15 participation fee, $10 for OCA members.

Alternating READER’S CHOICE nights: Can be play, poetry, story, essay, your own writing, OR ??????

For more information, email Joan Ambrosini ([email protected]) coordinator

09/04/2026

🥿Welcome to the wonderful world of Tap! 🥿

These classes are for those who wish to discover tap dance and those who wish to continue exploring. 

This class offering is weekly on Tuesdays in six-week sessions.

Three levels are taught:
Beginner from 10:15-11 AM
Intermediate from 11 AM - 12 Noon
and
Advanced from 12:30-1:30 PM

Summer Session starts Tuesday, September 8th and ends Tuesday, October 13. Additional classes can be taken on the same day for $5/class (pay on site).

Classes are led by Starr Hergenrather and Gabe Copeland. A limited supply of tap shoes is available for use at the class. Please contact us ahead of time to ensure we have the right size for you.

Participation fee is $120 for the series (six sessions), $90 for OCA members.

You can email us with any questions, or come to a class.

09/04/2026

Figure Drawing

Tuesdays 9 AM - 12 Noon,
and
Thursdays, 7 - 9:30 PM
in the OCA Studio

Live models, 5- to 20-minute poses. All experience & skill levels welcome. Bring your own drawing or watercolor materials.

Founded more than thirty years ago by Bill Wheeler, this group continues in his honor and is coordinated by a dedicated group of local artists led by John James.

$20 per person for OCA members, $25 for non-members. Payment accepted at the door, cash or check only. No minimum requirement of participation.

Please contact the coordinator before attending to ensure that there is space.